I think I need to stop biking for a while - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

12-28-2004, 05:57 AM

I've been dreading this since I decided to keep commuting by bike
through the winter. I have had tennis elbow for two years. Tried just
about everything. Rest. Physical Therapy. Excercise. Even three
cortisone shots. I've been bumped up until my doctor is the sports
specialist at Mt Sinai in NYC. I even started using a two hand
backhand on the rare times that I play tennis. That does help a lot.
My form is lousy.

I figured that biking wasn't having too much of an impact, but because
of the three day weekend and now a day of lousy weather I have to
conclude that the reason my elbow isn't bothering me much today is
because I haven't biked in almost a week. I try not to involve the
right arm much in biking but I really can't ride one-handed. Even
icing it after the rides doesn't seem to help much. Given this
weather, I can ice it during the rides as well!

This has dragged on for long enough that I was considering surgery for
January or February. But it just might be that not riding for a month
or two would perhaps be as useful as surgery. And, even though it is
very minor surgery, it is still surgery.

I'm heading for the gym after work for the first time in six months. I
might need to get back into that habit.

Does anyone else have experience with tennis elbow and biking?