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Joint Articulation in Terms of Injury Prevention Part 3: The Elbow
So this is a continuance of the series I have started on joint articulation in terms of injury prevention. With weight training the most common injuries or problems we see with the elbow and wrist are tendonitis and general wrist pain. More times than not I see bodybuilders with pre-existing injuries that they had prior to them starting lifting, which is a good thing because it means that they don’t have horrible form! However, some of the pre-existing problems are or can be aggravated by lifting.
Usually the most problems we see at the elbow are in baseball players because of the intense force transferred through the elbow via the chain of momentum that begins at the rotation of the hips. There are only two actions that should occur at the elbow, flexion and extension. However, with pitchers we see injury, which is a product of deviations of these two movements, that being rotary forces, which the elbow is not designed to withstand. However, the technique of throwing does not insist that you perfectly extend your arm with no deviation. Thank goodness for us lifters, we are supposed to have good form and deviations can result in our demise. So therefore, you should concentrate on form, always. To relate a baseball pitch to training we would equate it to a unilateral exercise, that is singles, or an exercise that works out one side independent of the other. More importantly for prevention purposes overall we want to observe extension movements like single tricep kickbacks, single pressdowns and single presses.
Why are we more concerned with extension? The more powerful of the two movements that occur at the elbow is extension. That is also the movement that is more dangerous at the extreme because it is most powerful. Also, in the very extreme case, if you were to hyperextend at the elbow you could potentially break the olecranon process off. This is preciously the reason why the ligaments are structured the way that they are at the elbow. The stronger of the two ligaments of the elbow is situated in such a way that there is an anterior cord-like band and a fan shaped posterior band. The cord-like band being stronger because it will under go more powerful extension movements than the posterior fan which will exhibit flexion movements. .jpg)
Tennis elbow is of the most common injuries or pains that occurs at the elbow. Once again it is usually a byproduct of poor form and more importantly, repetitive poor form. With poor form as we observed in what happens during the baseball pitching you can severely injury the ligaments and tendons that act on the muscles at the elbow. Tennis elbow can be product of weaker underlying muscles, but is usually and most likely a direct results of poor biomechanical alignment of your limbs while undergoing strain, such as lifting. By placing the arm in a biomechanical position that is not conducive to the desired lift you are basically asking the joint and muscle to perform outside of the optimal zone. You can see that this will begin to create problems because it would essentially equate to you trying to use machines or equipment that did note fit your body. This is also precisely why the machines in the gym are adjustable, so that you can place your joints in the proper alignment so that your muscles have the correct and best line of pull. Free weights are fantastic, however, they are much more likely to be performed in correctly and should therefore be used with caution for beginners. The triceps brachii are powerful extensors of the elbow and can thus result in injury because of the ability to produce such a great amount of force. But not to worry, because if you have proper form the triceps will only be an asset to your physique and not a pain in your side.
Whilst I do realize many lifts include the use of the elbow and use it in the fashion of extension like most chest and shoulder exercises do, these exercises are usually performed in a bilateral fashion. This is not to say that bilateral exercises are at a lesser susceptibility to injury, but more so that the nature and positioning of the elbow in said exercises is different. Also with the bilateral exercises there is usually an exhibition of greater stability because of the bilateral nature itself. .jpg)
Sources and Pictures from:
http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/get-rid-of-tennis-elbow.html
Kemerly, S. (2008). Biomechanics: Analyzing human movement.
http://www.projectswole.com/weight-training/tricep-kickbacks-the-king-of-all-triceps-exercises/
http://munfitnessblog.com/triceps-workout-3-one-arm-dumbbell-tricep-extension/
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