Has anybody else suffered much in the way of windsurfing induced elbow soreness. Mine kills. Feels like major tendonitis but spreads up into bicep/tricep area. Gets set off as soon as I start sleeving the sail onto the mast and worsens throughout sailing. Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water. Anyone had it and got miracle cures?

This has been mentioned a couple of times here Bondalucci.

My elbow started playing up over time after a clown told me to go to shorter harness lines. I think my Doc called it Golfers Elbow. I went back to my original line lenght, then longer again after some advice from Elmo regarding speed, now my elbow is heaps better.

May or may not be the cause of your problem, but worth a look

am having a similar problem through repitious arm movement at work,sailing seems to exadurate it tenfold,causing tennis elbow and carpal tunnel chucked in.Ihad a 3 week course of accupuncture from shoulder to hand and this treatment made a big difference,but sailing aggravates this condition for me so i need to go for tuneups-accupuncture-every now and again .good remedial massage will also help

m dad had it for ages, he used to freeze foam cups with ice and would always ice it... maybe try draging your bad arm in the water, at least youll hurt in style

accupuncture is the way to go! Does a great job and keeps me on the water.

i have had a tendonitis type pain(tennis elbow?) for prob 15 yrs now i think brought on from too much pumping in imco's during the early ninetys.i used to treat it with heaps of dencorub and a plastic u shaped thingy that clipped over the trouble area and kept the tendon from flexing.
its been coming and going ever since sometimes painful sometimes not noticeable until after sailing.
late last year i decided i should see some one about it..ended up at the local physio who manipulated it with voltaren and did some ultra sound on it over 4 weekly sessions. it seems to have come good for the time being and i can report its prob 80-90 per cent good now....fingers crossed,when it starts to gniggle i just wack on the voltaren and it seems to settle it down again.
what you (bondalucci) descibes sounds a lot worst so i wouldnt dither around too much... like they say if the problem persists see your doc and get a referall to a specialist.

Yes - I've had it.. It's really painful, and for me lasted for about 4 days after sailing until I stopped noticing the pain, and then about 4 minutes after I started sailing it would be back at full strength.

It's caused mainly by sailing with bent elbows, and also by taking too much weight in your arms, and not enough in the harness.

If you're in the harness, you should be able to sail with a really light touch on the boom - if you're clenching your hands on it, that'll be doing your forearms in. Also, if you're hanging on really hard, there's a good chance that you're also pulling it towards you with bent elbows.

The solution for me was longer harness lines (in the right place on the boom), consciously relaxing my grip, and making sure that my arms were straight whenever possible.

Haven't had it again since..

From what I've heard, it's not something you want to have for any great length of time - it does permanent damage, and you'll be feeling it for the rest of your life if it gets bad enough.

Thanks for the tips guys. Sorry to hear it seems to be fairly common to windsurfing, but nice to know I'm not Robinson Caruso. I reckon it's made worse on days when the wind drops out and you have to get back in using a balancing act rather than being able to lean back into the harness.
As for taking sore arm off the boom and dragging it in the water..... that has been a necessity for a while now.
I also use a z-boom as it's always felt more comfortable. Thought it might be a contributing factor, but it seems as though it affects straight boom users too.
Will try the longer harness lines though.

Hey Bondalucci
I had this same problem; after like others have said, I shortened my harness lines too much. It results in golfers elbow. I read that a fix is to hang from a bar for a minute at a time. This must stretch it out or something.
Like magic all gone. One day I hung off a bar at my local park for about 6 x 1 minute. Afterwards it was feeling a little better. After 2 days all gone!!! I was happy with this cheap and effective fix. Since then I never shortened my lines that much!!

sounds like minute muscle tear to me

a) go to physio - had a chronic case once and a physio got some knots out of my arm and it was fine.
b) Neurofen was ok to treat the symptoms, but not a cure!

Select to expand quote

Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water.

Obviously this isn't acceptable! Go to physio!

a) go to physio - had a chronic case once and a physio got some knots out of my arm and it was fine.
b) Neurofen was ok to treat the symptoms, but not a cure!

Select to expand quote

Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water.

Obviously this isn't acceptable! Go to physio!

a) go to physio - had a chronic case once and a physio got some knots out of my arm and it was fine.
b) Neurofen was ok to treat the symptoms, but not a cure!

Select to expand quote

Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water.

Obviously this isn't acceptable! Go to physio!

a) go to physio - had a chronic case once and a physio got some knots out of my arm and it was fine.
b) Neurofen was ok to treat the symptoms, but not a cure!

Select to expand quote

Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water.

Obviously this isn't acceptable! Go to physio!

Select to expand quote

Bondalucci said...

Has anybody else suffered much in the way of windsurfing induced elbow soreness. Mine kills. Feels like major tendonitis but spreads up into bicep/tricep area. Gets set off as soon as I start sleeving the sail onto the mast and worsens throughout sailing. Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water. Anyone had it and got miracle cures?

I've had golfers elbow from windsurfing ("golfer's elbow" is on the underside of the elbow..."tennis" is on the top.) I didn't do anything about it for a month, so when I saw a physical therapist it took two more months to clear up.

-the longer you wait to do something about it, the longer the inflammation lasts.
-ice (like the guy who described freezing water in a cup and rubbing the area with that) is part of the cure.
-you have to rest it.

Go see a PT. The longer you wait, the longer it will take to cure.

a) go to physio - had a chronic case once and a physio got some knots out of my arm and it was fine.
b) Neurofen was ok to treat the symptoms, but not a cure!

Select to expand quote

Got to the point where it's keeping me off the water.

Obviously this isn't acceptable! Go to physio!