Elbow Pain Doing Pull Ups

Pull ups are a great exercise to help build upper body strength.  If you know anyone who does Crossfit, you are all too familiar with this exhausting exercise.  But what if you have elbow pain doing pull ups.  What is the cause and how do you stop it?

The key to preventing elbow pain when you perform pull ups is all about proper technique.  The pain that you are experiencing on the outside of your elbow is very similar to tennis elbow.  Except when you have tennis elbow, your extensor tendon becomes inflamed and torn.  If you are not careful, you may get tennis elbow.

You can do this simple 5 second test for tennis elbow to see if you already have it.

The first thing you can do to help decrease your elbow pain is apply ice to your affected arm.  This will immediately control any swelling and inflammation you may have.  Apply ice for 10-15 minutes at least twice a day and definitely after a workout.

What you need to do is take a closer look at your grip.  If you are gripping the bar too tight, then this puts extreme pressure on your extensor tendon which attaches at your elbow.  Regardless of whether you are using an overhand or underhand grip, you also need to make sure that your wrists are straight and not bent.  If they become bent backwards, then your wrist flexors and extensor tendons are under stress and pressure.  These all lead to and connect at your elbow.

A little tip if you want to keep doing pull ups but without the elbow pain is to use 4 fingers without your thumb.  This will not make your injury worse but will be more challenging.  Due to the fact that you are using 4 fingers, the strain will be taken off your forearm muscles and elbow and engage your back muscles more.  If you really want to take the strain off your elbow, use an underhand grip.  Even individuals with the most severe case of tennis elbow can do this exercise with an underhand grip using 4 fingers.

If you do have tennis elbow and want to still do your workouts without elbow pain especially doing pull ups, click here to learn how you can cure and treat tennis elbow at home in just 5 easy steps!

 

 

 

 

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