Muscle Tightness Inside the Elbows After a Workout

They say "no pain, no gain," but there's a difference between finishing a physically challenging workout feeling a little discomfort and being in actual physical pain. If the inside of your elbow is feeling tight and giving you trouble after training, you could be suffering from medial epicondylitis, commonly known as golfer's elbow.

  1. Getting Golfer's Elbow

    • If your pain is transmitting along your inner arm and radiating over the bone on the inside of your elbow, chances are it's a tightness in the tendon. Golfer's elbow is usually caused by excessive use or overtraining of the forearm muscles and other symptoms include shaking hands, stiffness, tightness and pain when extending your elbow, according to the NYU Langone Medical Center.

    Post-Workout Practice

    • As elbow pain is usually linked to muscle tightness, it's worth stretching your arms after a workout to relieve the tension, notes personal trainer Jimmy Smith. Forearm stretching works well, but the pain can be triceps-related too, so stretch them as well. For the forearm stretch, hold one arm out in front with your palm facing forward and fingers down and use the other hand to pull your outstretched wrist back. Hold this for 10 to 15 seconds, then switch sides.To stretch your triceps, take one arm and reach over your head, trying to touch the middle of your back and use your other arm to push your elbow back.

    Give Elbow Pain the Cold Shoulder and Warm Fingers

    • Icing the tight area can help manage the pain and reduce symptoms. MayoClinic.com recommends applying ice packs wrapped in a towel for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Additionally, performing some light self-massage on your forearms and elbow joint can help. Use this time to think if there were any particular exercises that caused the onset of the tightness.

    Going Forward

    • Sports massage and physical therapy are the best ways to resolve your issues if the pain and tightness continue, but in the meantime, avoid any exercises that make your elbows feel worse. Isolation exercises can be particularly troublesome, as they place a high degree of strain on your elbow joints, so limit or avoid these. Skip the curls and pushdowns and opt for pull-ups, pushups and rows instead.