How to Handle Summer Wrist and Elbow Pain
As the weather warms up, it’s time to start enjoying the outdoors! It’s the season’s peak for many of our favorite activities, like rock climbing or golfing. Unfortunately, starting up these new activities can lead to musculoskeletal pain, especially in your wrist and elbow.
At Jenna Howe and Associates, we don’t want to just mask your symptoms–we want to help you uncover the root cause of your discomfort. When it comes to sudden wrist or elbow pain, the root cause can often stem from an overuse injury, in which repetitive motions or awkward postures strain the soft tissue.
Overuse injuries often develop when you start a new activity after some time away–such as jumping into a kayak as soon as the weather’s warm enough. For that reason, summer can often bring unexpected aches and pains.
Today, we want to explore how our favorite summertime activities can impact your hand or wrist–and offer insight into how our osteopathic manual therapists can help!
Summertime Sources of Upper Extremity Problems
Here are four activities that people tend to pick back up in the summer–and how they can impact their elbows and wrists.
Golfing
- The powerful swings necessary to rule on the golf course can lead to a condition commonly known as “golfer’s elbow,” in which the tendons in your forearm become irritated or inflamed. It causes pain along the inner side of your elbow that might extend down to your forearm, plus restricted mobility.
Kayaking
- The paddling motion in kayaking can lead to wrist or elbow tendonitis, which causes inflammation in the tendons of the upper extremities. This is especially true if you tend to grip your paddle too tightly.
Paddle Boarding
- Overuse injuries in paddleboarding tend to affect the rotator cuff, the muscles that wrap and support the shoulder joint. Paddling while standing up (as opposed to sitting down, like in kayaking) puts a lot of strain on your shoulders.
Rock Climbing
- Rock climbing requires a great deal of hand strength and can, as such, really stress your wrist and elbow. The overhead motions necessary in rock climbing can also lead to shoulder injuries, like a rotator cuff tear.
How Manual Osteopathic or Athletic Therapy Can Help
If you’re noticing wrist or elbow pain whenever you engage in your favorite activities, it’s likely an overuse injury–and fortunately, osteopathic manual therapy and athletic therapy can help you find relief!
We’ll begin with a comprehensive evaluation to determine which movements might have contributed to your injury. Next, we’ll create a customized treatment plan based on hands-on osteopathic manual therapy techniques. While these techniques vary, they use human touch to promote blood flow, reduce pain, and improve mobility.
We can also guide you through a tailored therapeutic exercise program focused on restoring strength in your upper extremities, including addressing muscular imbalances that might have contributed to your injury.
We also emphasize prevention. You can help prevent overuse injuries by engaging in cross-training and slowly easing into activity. Even if you aren’t experiencing pain, we can assess your upper extremity and develop an exercise program suited to your goals.
Don’t let wrist or elbow pain keep you from an active, healthy summer! Schedule an appointment with Jenna Howe and Associates to get started.
Osteopathic Manual Therapist
Staff Spotlight
Tara is a new graduate of Manual Osteopathy and has recently completed her Level 1 Neurokinetic Therapy training. Tara has been a student and teacher of yoga for over 20 years. She is well skilled at watching bodies move, and strives to use that knowledge to promote healing and recovery. She believes that a synergy between Osteopathy and therapeutic movement will have a true positive effect.
Tara joins the Victoria practice and is available on Saturdays and for a limited time only we have reduced her fee as a welcome to the practice. She’s a brilliant therapist and loves to work with those pesky SI joints and pelvic imbalances.
Vegan Greek Sheet Pan Dinner
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsps Dijon mustard
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 (350g/ 12.3oz) block extra-firm tofu, drained, and torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, sliced
- 1 medium red onion, thickly sliced
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, left whole
- ½ c kalamata olives
- ¼ c vegan feta, crumbled
- Optional for serving: cooked rice, warmed pita bread, vegan tzatziki, hummus, roasted potatoes, fresh oregano, or parsley
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). In a small bowl, add all of the Greek seasoning ingredients, stir and set aside.
- On a large baking sheet, spread the tofu, zucchini, bell pepper, red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle the Greek seasoning mixture over top and use your hands to toss the ingredients well until everything is well coated in the seasoning.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, stopping to stir halfway through, until everything is cooked and golden brown in some places.
- Remove from the oven then sprinkle over the olives and vegan feta. Serve hot alone or with cooked rice, warmed pita bread, vegan tzatziki, hummus, roasted potatoes, fresh oregano, or parsley, if desired.
