Cortisone shot for tennis elbow?

OldAndStrong

Well-known member
Trusted Member
I’ve been dealing with tennis elbow for about 3 months.

I’m scheduled for an ultrasound to diagnose the problem and determine the injection site for cortisone.

Any monsters have experience with this? I’ve read/heard good and bad about cortisone and I don’t know an alternative.
 
Some recent thoughts re; good/bad here - https://canadianbrawn.com/threads/training-after-cortisone-shot-in-hand.4138/ . I'm on the pro side for sure mostly due to personal and anecdotal reports and lack of science either way as discussed in that thread. I've had a few in each elbow for Tennis elbow and a bunch in my shoulders and biceps. Most of them were pretty painless or mild at best. The bad one feel like you got hit with a 100 mile an hour slap shot for a day or two.

I said that I was on the pro side but I hope you give rehab a serious shot first. 3 months isn't long compared to some. I've had a lot of success using eccentric only rehab exercises for tendon issues including the therabar. A bunch of times it has worked for me in less than a week. About half the people I've used it with get relief really quick and the other half get pretty much nothing from it, at least short term. Great videos out there of reverse wrist curls and therabar stuff.

I've only used the cortisone when I get stuck in a loop of partial recovery and then worsening symptoms that I can't break out of. Used the cortisone to allow me to put some serious rehab time in without inflammation getting in the way.
 
I have had two cortisone shots into the lower back, the relief i got from them made me feel like a new man when i rolled out of bed! But the effect from the shots was very short lived, about 4 days. Like gondar1 said it works for some people and not at all for others, also the surgeon i seen said they would only give injections about once every six months.
 
Just read a study, i think it was posted here. It was showing that cortisone actually makes it worse over the long term.

Have you tried jello? Yes , jello. Its all the rage over on another board... cheap gellatin and suppose to work wonders for tendons. I know there is sugar free jello in the states. Dont think they make it here
 
Just read a study, i think it was posted here. It was showing that cortisone actually makes it worse over the long term.

Have you tried jello? Yes , jello. Its all the rage over on another board... cheap gellatin and suppose to work wonders for tendons. I know there is sugar free jello in the states. Dont think they make it here
Jello is collagen. I’ve suggested collagen numerous times in the past, not thinking you could use cheaper jello instead. I’m going to check into it more to see if there is different quality levels.
 
Cortisone shots can work well. They’re degenerative to the tissues long term so you can only have so many.

The problem is they don’t get the the root of the problem. You need to figure out what is causing the tendinitis or this could be and endless cycle.

Sometimes they are very difficult to figure out. The last time I battled tendinitis in my elbow I all but eliminated all push exercise thinking it must be pressing movements. It wasn’t until I saw a video from Ed Coan (I think) where I figured out it was my lack of should flexibility and my hand placement while squatting was responsible for this.

So difficult to say the least! Who would ever think squatting would cause tendinitis in the elbow?!?!?
 
Some recent thoughts re; good/bad here - https://canadianbrawn.com/threads/training-after-cortisone-shot-in-hand.4138/ . I'm on the pro side for sure mostly due to personal and anecdotal reports and lack of science either way as discussed in that thread. I've had a few in each elbow for Tennis elbow and a bunch in my shoulders and biceps. Most of them were pretty painless or mild at best. The bad one feel like you got hit with a 100 mile an hour slap shot for a day or two.

I said that I was on the pro side but I hope you give rehab a serious shot first. 3 months isn't long compared to some. I've had a lot of success using eccentric only rehab exercises for tendon issues including the therabar. A bunch of times it has worked for me in less than a week. About half the people I've used it with get relief really quick and the other half get pretty much nothing from it, at least short term. Great videos out there of reverse wrist curls and therabar stuff.

I've only used the cortisone when I get stuck in a loop of partial recovery and then worsening symptoms that I can't break out of. Used the cortisone to allow me to put some serious rehab time in without inflammation getting in the way.

That’s helpful @gondar1 thanks. I’ll give it a shot, but pay for some physio first.
 
Just read a study, i think it was posted here. It was showing that cortisone actually makes it worse over the long term.

Have you tried jello? Yes , jello. Its all the rage over on another board... cheap gellatin and suppose to work wonders for tendons. I know there is sugar free jello in the states. Dont think they make it here

...just read about gelatine... seems to make sense, in an odd way.
 
Cortisone shots can work well. They’re degenerative to the tissues long term so you can only have so many.

The problem is they don’t get the the root of the problem. You need to figure out what is causing the tendinitis or this could be and endless cycle.

Sometimes they are very difficult to figure out. The last time I battled tendinitis in my elbow I all but eliminated all push exercise thinking it must be pressing movements. It wasn’t until I saw a video from Ed Coan (I think) where I figured out it was my lack of should flexibility and my hand placement while squatting was responsible for this.

So difficult to say the least! Who would ever think squatting would cause tendinitis in the elbow?!?!?

that’s interesting... I think the cause is over exertion, but I can’t say for sure what the root cause is.
 
that’s interesting... I think the cause is over exertion, but I can’t say for sure what the root cause is.

Could be? But what over use? And how do you curb it while still being able to train and work and did whatever worse it is you do.

Possible posture related? Or even muscle imbalance?

This is where a good physio is worth his or her weight in diamonds! Without getting to the root cause it’s just going to come back.
 
...just read about gelatine... seems to make sense, in an odd way.
My wife has had issues in the tendons in her knee for years, she takes her collagen and it goes away, she doesn’t it comes back. It a heredity issue, her mom has it as well. But it comes from working on her feet and spinning around and moving fast at work. It bothered her more this last week with the massive increase in business at work.
 
My wife has had issues in the tendons in her knee for years, she takes her collagen and it goes away, she doesn’t it comes back. It a heredity issue, her mom has it as well. But it comes from working on her feet and spinning around and moving fast at work. It bothered her more this last week with the massive increase in business at work.

thanks... worth looking into... I’ll see if Costco has it on my next protein/vitamin run.
 
I had what I thought was a bad elbow
It locked and snapped. It felt like there was a chunk of bone loose or something and at times it would lock up.

Turns out it was only some muscle issues the chiro easily fixed
 
I had what I thought was a bad elbow
It locked and snapped. It felt like there was a chunk of bone loose or something and at times it would lock up.

Turns out it was only some muscle issues the chiro easily fixed

interesting... I’m interested to see what the ultrasound shows... or doesn’t show.
 
interesting... I’m interested to see what the ultrasound shows... or doesn’t show.

Don’t invest much faith in the ultrasound. In 2014 I tore my left bicep. Doc ordered ultrasound and it came back negative. I argued for more imaging with no success. Doctor told me that no further imaging was required and will use be senseless. Symptoms were definitive audio tear, substantial pain immediately and ridiculous bruising.

Well I have a 3 inch + gap now between where my bicep used to insert vs where it does now to argue.

Point is.... ultrasounds aren’t terribly reliable.
 
Don’t invest much faith in the ultrasound. In 2014 I tore my left bicep. Doc ordered ultrasound and it came back negative. I argued for more imaging with no success. Doctor told me that no further imaging was required and will use be senseless. Symptoms were definitive audio tear, substantial pain immediately and ridiculous bruising.

Well I have a 3 inch + gap now between where my bicep used to insert vs where it does now to argue.

Point is.... ultrasounds aren’t terribly reliable.
I had an ultrasound done on my leg and I was asking the guy questions and he had no idea. He literally told me he only does the ultrasound,.. doesn't really know what it means.. just sends it off to the doc...like wtf?
 
Don’t invest much faith in the ultrasound. In 2014 I tore my left bicep. Doc ordered ultrasound and it came back negative. I argued for more imaging with no success. Doctor told me that no further imaging was required and will use be senseless. Symptoms were definitive audio tear, substantial pain immediately and ridiculous bruising.

Well I have a 3 inch + gap now between where my bicep used to insert vs where it does now to argue.

Point is.... ultrasounds aren’t terribly reliable.

Thats a major mis-diagnosis.

Yeah, I call this tennis elbow but who knows what it ends up being.
 
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