I wanted to add my experience with elbow tendinitis as I have had a lot of trouble over the years.  I’m currently 47 and was an avid climber from 78 to 93 and then took an 8 year layoff to 2001.  From there I have climbed a little, but started “hard” climbing in 2005/06 and have had  4 instances of elbow  trouble over the last 5 years (both elbows, and both inside and out on each side).   For both instances of outer elbow (tennis elbow), the traditional approaches of rest, ice, physical therapy and that worked.   For both inner elbows, I tried for 5 to 6 months everything including cortizone shots, physical therapy, ice, rest, exercises, etc, but nothing worked.  

At about the 6 or 7 month point, I decided to do PRP (platelet rich plasma) shots.  I had read about this experimental procedure in the Wall Street Journal, discussing all the baseball players, as well as Tiger Woods who used this with success.  The medical profession does not endorse this yet, but when the high dollar athletes start using something, I decided it might have some merit.  From doing a little research I realized that one of the premier practitioners was nearby (Dr. Payson Flattery, Redmond, OR) (website below).  He told me has done this for almost 10 years on both rock climbers and rodeo professionals with good results.

He told me this works almost the opposite of cortizone (cortizone, you leave the office “healed”, but then it wears off and injury often returns).  With PRP, after the shot, you can hardly straighten your arm for about a week and it hurts for 3 to 4 weeks.  Slowly it starts to quit hurting and then I start climbing again.   Over the next 2-3 months, I can still feel a little “pain”, but it gradually gets better until it is totally gone.   I have now done this with both elbows and am a big believer in the procedure and Dr. Flattery.  His cost is reasonable as well, but insurance does not cover this.  

http://centerforintegratedmed.com/payson-flattery-nd-dc-daapm/

I will also post a small information about my training and how I think it relates to injuries.  In the old days (80s) I would train very hard, 15-20 hours a week and climb lots.  This led to many injuries.  When I started back in 2005, I was training very hard again (climbing, weights, pullups, weighted pulls, hangboarding, campus board, etc.)  Again, lots of injuries.   So earlier this year, when I finally got healed I made a major decision and wanted to do an experiment on “myself”.  I live near Smith Rocks and I’m getting older, but I really want to be able to climb 1-2 times a week for the next 10-20 years and do so without injuries, and at a level I have fun.  

So my experiment is this:  how little can I train and yet stay in shape and climb at a decent level (5.13).  

So now, my training is very simple: for cardio, I do a 30 minute run/walk/sprint 2-3 times a week (run intervals of 45 seconds sprint/45 seconds run for 6 sets and mix some small jogging in, and a set of 10 times up the movie stairs total of 500 steps).  This simple training really helps me recover my “wind” on routes after a hard section, and I realized I don’t need to run 10 miles (which was giving me knee injuries)

For climbing, I do a treadwall ARC workout (see more on the below) 3 times a week for 30 minutes of continuous climbing.  This workout gets your blood really circulating well and really seems to help me strengthen my elbow tendons.   Then I just go climb at Smith once, or maybe twice a week.   So far, I feel great, no injuries, and having lots of fun, and I never workout more than 30 minutes on an off day.  (I do stay active, a little yoga, hiking, etc.)

Anyway, this is my experience with injuries and training, and I hope this helps!

From post on rock climbing.com about ARC training:

“ARC
The purpose of Aerobic Restoration and Capillarity training is to improve your muscles’ ability to produce sustained effort without surpassing the “anaerobic threshold”. There are many books that I’m not going to plagiarize that will give you a more scientific explanation, but basically, ARC increases the level you can climb at without getting hopelessly pumped. For example, if you can execute sustained 5.10 moves for 30 minutes without getting pumped, then you can probably climb most 5.11 routes, which probably consist of “mostly” 5.10 climbing, with a 10+ or 11- crux. So if you could raise that “threshold”, then your climbing ability would improve.

An ARC workout involves sustained climbing, usually in a climbing gym, right below your anaerobic threshold. I typically do this workout by bouldering, without a break, for 30 minutes straight. The trick is to temper the difficulty of moves just right so that you are right below your threshold. Here are some tips: If you get severely pumped, the moves are too difficult. If you are climbing without any feeling of pump, and are not sweating, then they are too easy. A good ARC session should have you breathing heavily, slightly pumped (on the verge of pumping out, but not quite), and lightly sweating after the first 10 minutes or so. It takes practice to figure this out. “

 

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