Tennis elbow from trap bar

[MPat]

Don’t have a video, got a trap bar, have had 2 sessions with it so far, after each one I have a really bad tennis elbow pain in my left elbow. Never have had elbow pain from any type of deadlift before. Is there a one obvious thing that could cause this? It just doesn’t seem that complex and doesn’t hurt while doing the movement.

[mbasic]

I wonder, are you trying to bend you elbow while you deadlift?

[MPat]

I don’t know man, I thought that after the first session, so I tried to make a real effort to keep it straight on this last one by actively straightening my arm, I might have to let the inflammation die down a little first, and try again and see

[bobmen10000]

I irritated (a then already inflamed elbow/bicep) by dropping my (rickshaw) trap style bar before. I had to be a little extra careful when putting it down.

[MPat]

I irritated (a then already inflamed elbow/bicep) by dropping my (rickshaw) trap style bar before. I had to be a little extra careful when putting it down.

Definitely guilty of doing the drop, kinda follow it down and jams everything up at the bottom, will correct and try again.

[damufunman]

Is that inside or outside elbow pain with palm facing forward? If inside, then it could be from the more supinated hand position than a straight bar. Not sure how you'd address that other than working up in weight more gradually to improve tolerance.

[asdf]

I irritated (a then already inflamed elbow/bicep) by dropping my (rickshaw) trap style bar before. I had to be a little extra careful when putting it down.

Definitely guilty of doing the drop, kinda follow it down and jams everything up at the bottom, will correct and try again.

I developed medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow) when I began lowering my snatches and jerks to the ground instead of dropping them from overhead. As I lowered the bar from overhead to thighs to ground, my elbows went from fully extended (overhead) to bent (as the bar passed in front of my torso) to re-extended as I caught the weight as the bar contacted my thighs before finally going to the ground. The pattern (extended, bent, extended) occurs in a snatch, but in the reverse case of lowering, the final extension (when the bar is being lowered) is accompanied by tension rather than compression.

A similar extension/tension occurs at the bottom of a chin-up, especially if performed quickly to try to get a bit of stretch-reflex cheat. And that too can aggravate my elbows.

So I'm wondering if perhaps something similar is occurring when you're lowering your trap bar. Not that you're "jamming everything up at the bottom," but that you're initially lowering your torso faster than the bar (maybe by quickly pushing your hips back), which is causing/allowing your elbows to bend slightly, and then they're re-extending (under load) to catch the bar after the initial quick drop of your torso.

Just a thought...

[MPat]

@damufunman definitely more the outside of the elbow, although everything felt pretty tight if my arm is fully bent like when doing a Overhead press.

@asdf good thoughts, I’ll start with a slower lowering, i was able to do SGDL just fine yesterday with zero pain, maybe because the bar is up against my body it’s a more controlled lowering.

Another thought, does this happen from doing chins the way you described? I just recently jumped back into training after a month off from remodeling the workout room in the house, started doing a bunch of chins and presses, before stopping training it was more bench and pull-ups. I never had elbow pain like this from chins, but had a little which let me to switch to pull-ups in the first place.

[asdf]

Another thought, does this happen from doing chins the way you described?

I don't believe unweighted chin-ups have ever caused (or started) a bout of tennis elbow for me. Just aggravated an existing case.

However, my first ever case began immediately after I hit a PR on a 1RM weighted chin (bodyweight + 105#).

Pull-ups have never bothered my elbow, even when chin-ups or other movements do.