Surfing Waves

I got to surf twice a week during the summer instead of once a week, now my right elbow hurts a little on the inside It could be because I've injured that elbow skiing over 20 years ago but besides that is it mostly due to overuse, bad paddling technique, or a combination of both? Focusing on keeping my elbows high when my hands enter the water as well as when I pull out my arms seems to aggravate the pain, which is odd since I don't have any issues swimming freestyle w/ the same focus. Could it also be that my board is too wide at 22 1/8" for my shoulders? I'm whopping 5'2" tall.

First thing I`d do is relax for a week to let it rest, then use a smaller board, see if that helps.

saltydog wrote:I got to surf twice a week during the summer instead of once a week, now my right elbow hurts a little on the inside It could be because I've injured that elbow skiing over 20 years ago but besides that is it mostly due to overuse, bad paddling technique, or a combination of both? Focusing on keeping my elbows high when my hands enter the water as well as when I pull out my arms seems to aggravate the pain, which is odd since I don't have any issues swimming freestyle w/ the same focus. Could it also be that my board is too wide at 22 1/8" for my shoulders? I'm whopping 5'2" tall.

saltydog wrote:now my right elbow hurts a little on the inside
Could it also be that my board is too wide at 22 1/8" for my shoulders?
I'm whopping 5'2" tall.

I'm about your height and have boards wider than 22 1/8. I think if it was because of board width, BOTH elbows would hurt, not just the right side. Of course it could come down to some paddle technique/form, but I think it might be something you're not conscious about. It could be pulling your self onto the board from the left side or turtle rolling, ripping the board over and back. Even something little as carrying your board on the left side might help.

jimmyz1988 wrote:First thing I`d do is relax for a week to let it rest, then use a smaller board, see if that helps.

Yeah, now that the school is starting (I'm in the field of education) I'm pretty much back to a weekend warrior status so my elbow is getting a much needed rest and the pain is subsiding.

waikikikichan wrote:I'm about your height and have boards wider than 22 1/8. I think if it was because of board width, BOTH elbows would hurt, not just the right side. Of course it could come down to some paddle technique/form, but I think it might be something you're not conscious about. It could be pulling your self onto the board from the left side or turtle rolling, ripping the board over and back. Even something little as carrying your board on the left side might help.

That's a great point about one elbow vs both elbows being affected. I never thought of that. Come to think of it, I'm almost always on the left side of the board, for wading in, for turtle rolling, for climbing back on the board... I'll try to mix up sides. That should be x100 easier than learning to ride switch foot.

Thanks, guys!

When winter comes along and you start wearing fullsuits, check to see the wax build up on your right elbow compared to the left. I'm always leaning and push off my left elbow when sitting hunched over on the board.

No need to wait for winter to wear wetsuit. Water and air here are cool enough for some to wear full suit year-round, unfortunately. I'll check on the sleeves tomorrow after my weekly session unless my wetsuit has residual wax from last weekend. Off to find my suit.

I suffer from surfer's elbow a bit. I suspect that the cause in my case might be related to stiffening my arms into a straight line on my popup as well as when I pull myself up into a seated position on my board. In other words, I'm locking my elbow when I pull myself up instead of leaving some flex in my arm. The locked elbow combined with an unstable takeoff and a death grip on the rail of my board puts a lot of strain on my elbow joint. I'm trying to get away from gripping my rails so tightly. I don't know if that's the cause of surfer's elbow, but I think it exacerbates it.

waikikikichan wrote:When winter comes along and you start wearing fullsuits, check to see the wax build up on your right elbow compared to the left. I'm always leaning and push off my left elbow when sitting hunched over on the board.

I can't see much difference in the amount of wax residue btw right and left sleeves, but if I have to distinguish I'd say I have more localized wax spot around the right elbow as opposed to a little wider coverage around the left. So the right elbow is probably getting more concentrated force. During today's session I noticed that I grab and pull the board w/ the right hand exclusively when I wipe out. In addition I spin on my board before paddling for waves mostly clockwise using the right!

RinkyDink wrote:I suffer from surfer's elbow a bit. I suspect that the cause in my case might be related to stiffening my arms into a straight line on my popup as well as when I pull myself up into a seated position on my board. In other words, I'm locking my elbow when I pull myself up instead of leaving some flex in my arm. The locked elbow combined with an unstable takeoff and a death grip on the rail of my board puts a lot of strain on my elbow joint. I'm trying to get away from gripping my rails so tightly. I don't know if that's the cause of surfer's elbow, but I think it exacerbates it.

Hyperextending definitely does it to my right elbow, mostly when I carry my board on my right side. No issues to my healthy left elbow when I carry on my left.

Knee paddling seems to give my elbows a break but I guess there are lots or other small stuff that I've been doing that are stressing my elbow. I'll try to balance out non-paddling activities and see what happens.

If you could me more specific about the site of pain I could maybe give a rough diagnosis. My instinct is tendonitis at the long head of bicrps where it inserts into the radial head. This would suggest a bias to the amount of work done by your biceps or perhaps a weakness in one. I am a physio and a surfer by the way, not just rambling nonsense.

barber87 wrote:If you could me more specific about the site of pain I could maybe give a rough diagnosis. My instinct is tendonitis at the long head of bicrps where it inserts into the radial head. This would suggest a bias to the amount of work done by your biceps or perhaps a weakness in one. I am a physio and a surfer by the way, not just rambling nonsense.

Your mentioning of biceps made me look closely at what I have going, and w/ some help from google I think my right arm brachial is the culprit.


I guess the first step of the treatment is rest I was going to surf today for my birthday but I decided against it (mostly due to the lack of swell ). I hope my arm is appreciative of my concern and and try hard to heal quickly

i get flare ups in shiulders and elbows when I ease off my stretching program. Something as simple as hanging on a chin up bar a minute befire I dhower (installed in the bathroom door frame) takes care of lats, shoulders, biceps and the little tendons around the elbows....I do more than that but if in a hurry that alone will keep most pains at bay.

So true, Big H. I've been slacking off on stretching but started doing more recently and seems to alleviate the discomfort. I need to stick w/ it especially since I want to gradually increase to 2-3 sessions per week.

I've paid more attention to what I do each session in comparison to the use of branchia. It seems like bad paddling technique and hanging onto the board as I wipe out are the main cause as they both have similar movement to hammer curls which I can't do without discomfort right now. I guess time to look into a new board?? I also noticed that when I'm paddling for waves in the sate of adrenalin rush I tend to hit the water as my hands enter the water (I noticed the audible "splash, splash" not good) instead of smoothly entering from the tips of fingers like when I paddle to get out back. I'll work on correcting that and hope that would take care of the pain