One elbow clicks while lowering overhead press. Fixes/workarounds?

August 26, 2015 7:16 AM

My left elbow clicks on the medial side while I'm lowering the barbell during overhead press. It feels like a tendon's out of alignment and is having problems sliding over the bone or something - maybe an early case of golfer's elbow, but I don't know. It happens every rep, and has gotten more pronounced over a few sessions. My right elbow doesn't do this, and my form looks symmetrical.

I've done some research, and here's what I've tried so far:
-Dumbbell overhead press instead - it still happened.
-Barbell bicep curls to build enough muscle to protect the joint - perhaps I need to do this longer, but it hasn't made any difference so far. Though it might be worth noting that I don't feel a pop or click while doing curls.

Any recommendations for fixing this problem, or if it can't be fixed, substituting an elbow-safe shoulder exercise?

posted by randomname25 to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

In general I figure those pops are a little bit on instability of the tendon, and doing exercises on counter muscles groups is the best fix (e.g. doing some bicep curls). You could also pair an overhead press with chin-ups or lat bar pull downs (great bicep work with an emphasize or core stability).

I found when doing more "whole body" exercises that engage more muscle groups I had less problems with joint pops in the long term but you're already doing a press so I don't know what the ultimate answer in lift change up would be. For the overhead press, you may want to play with the angle you hold your elbows. You could also vary between a high angle incline bench press and a military press to see if that helps.
posted by midmarch snowman at 8:23 AM on August 26, 2015

There's a decent chance the elbow tendon is just a reaction to something messed up in your shoulder.
A really good trainer or physical therapist might be able to figure out what it is and if it is a sign of a worsening problem or just a pop.
posted by littlewater at 8:26 AM on August 26, 2015

Another option: assuming you're relatively young and your joints are relatively healthy, trying to safely "gut it out" is also an option. Some people will wear some elbow support to help keep everything in place while muscle strength of all the muscles supporting the elbow is increasing. Eventually the Biceps and brachioradialis will get to a point where they will keep the triceps tend in place, but in the mean time you could wear a soft brace.

In general, from less to more support, your options are: neoprene sleeve, mueller band, brace. Most sports med docs believe the Neoprene Sleeve is a placebo, but it really helps me get through the spring running, getting back in to shape knee pains I get every wear.

Some people will also take some ibuprofen before lifting, with the idea that a less inflamed and swollen tendon will sit more comfortably in the space it's supposed to travel in and less likely to pop out.

This isn't medical advice, cause if you're intemperate with training through these pops you can get some bad tendonitis, but it's what a lot of people successfully do.
posted by midmarch snowman at 8:36 AM on August 26, 2015

Response by poster: midmarch snowman: I'm about to turn 25 and I think I have cranky joints in general. I also had a knee injury at 19 that I'm still dealing with the consequences of, so I'm wary of trying to just power through this. It's promising though that you think strengthening the biceps and brachioradialis will help - do you think it would be reasonable to pause OHP for a few weeks and focus on exercising those muscles?
posted by randomname25 at 8:47 AM on August 26, 2015

If it doesn't hurt, there's likely nothing to worry about.

When not accompanied by pain, noisy joints are harmless.

If you hear joint pops and clicks with no associated pain in a joint, you don't need to worry, but you may want to begin some conditioning exercises to improve the overall integrity of the joint. Stronger muscles will take the weight off of the joint and help reduce the pressure on the articulating surfaces.

posted by ludwig_van at 9:39 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

This sounds potentially similar to my left elbow during triceps (elbows-in) push-ups. I'm pretty sure it's my ulnar nerve slipping in and out of its notch, and my only solution is to do as few push-ups as possible. Just wanted to mention this possibility in case your popping is nerve rather than tendon. Does it feel like the pop is causing irritation? Is it getting more painful/irritated the more often it happens? Does it feel a little bit "twangy" like a minor version of hitting your funny bone (i.e. your ulnar nerve)?
posted by nevers at 10:54 AM on August 26, 2015

Response by poster: ludwig_van: I'm guessing it's not creptitis because it feels like one very distinct thing is popping the same way every time. And it's more an issue of feeling than hearing.

nevers: Yeah, it feels like the pop is causing some irritation. It's popping now just bending my arm, ugh. But, no twanginess. I've hit my funny bone before and this is nothing like that.
posted by randomname25 at 11:05 AM on August 26, 2015

Does the clicking feel kind of grindy?

Also, does it happen when you do a jerk or push press, and thus get your legs involved?
posted by culfinglin at 1:47 PM on August 26, 2015

I click and clack like nobody's business when training, and the overhead press is one of the biggest offenders. However, I don't experience any pain or even discomfort, really - just the clicking.

Are you in pain? Do you have any visible swelling or redness around the joint? Is it puffy or hot to the touch? If so then it is a problem with inflammation, usually caused by overuse, and you need to rest up for a week or two, using ice packs, vitamin I, turmeric, and high volume at a low weight (probably just the bar, for ten sets of ten) to assist the healing process.

You could also look at your hand position, and try bringing it in slightly, or taking it out slightly. If you press with thumbs around, try thumbless. If you press thumbless...well that's actually the optimal way to press, because it keeps the bar in a better spot right over your wrists, but you may want to try thumbs around.

It may be worth experimenting with high incline bench pressing to see if this makes any difference. It may also be worth adding more pulling to your routine, to balance out the pressing. Pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, and rows are the staple counter movements for OHP.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:38 PM on August 26, 2015

I ended up having surgery to correct my left elbow popping because I developed funny-bone symptoms à la nevers (and, disturbingly, occasional weakness in my last two fingers on the left side after heavy lifting sessions). It turned out to be ulnar nerve subluxation, but the surgeon realized after opening me up that I also had snapping triceps from the medial head of the triceps popping over (I think?) the epicondyle, so that had to be corrected also. As you can imagine the recovery period was long and annoying (6 weeks before I could pick up anything heavier than a pound or two, 6 months before I could do body-weight exercise again, lots of PT in the interim) but the surgery totally helped me in a way that nothing came close to touching beforehand; I still occasionally have a little pain at the surgery site if I'm doing an exercise I'm not used to but it's not major, there's no popping or twanging, and I've never had weak fingers since.

Anyway, my elbow was pretty idiosyncratic (always a bad sign when your surgeon gets excited about all the new stuff she found in there, lol), so don't take this as a sign that you def need surgery or anything, particularly if the popping isn't painful or causing you any other symptoms. However, if you do develop pain or "pins and needles" type of symptoms -- especially tingling, numbness, or weakness in the last two fingers (pinky and ring) on the affected side -- that could be a sign of the ulnar nerve being affected. Pain or irritation right at the site can also be caused by snapping triceps. (Also, if you need a recommendation for an orthopedic elbow surgeon in the Bay Area, I can hook you up.)

Anyway, the thing that helped me a little before I had surgery is unfortunately something you've already tried (pressing with dumbbells), though in my case it also didn't help a ton, it just made it go from bad to okay. The popping would also always be worse after I had recently used that elbow to do something weight-bearing, so something that also helped was to reduce the volume a lot (no sets with lots of push-ups or bodybuilding-style low-weight high-reps workouts; 5 reps maximum per set) and to avoid any extraneous exercise that contributed to setting it off (e.g., curls and dips, the fucking worst). You can also try only pressing twice a week, which I know is not super fun but it's at least an option.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:34 PM on August 26, 2015