Elbow Fatigue

[FordsnFishin]

I generally fish 2-3 tournaments a week. One of those being a 8 hr tournament. With working full time and the job can be physically demanding at times, these tournaments have started to put a number on my elbow becoming sore. Casting becomes painful towards the end of the day and looking to correct this. I suppose i could go ahead and retire young, but i dont think the wife would be happy with that...

 

So anyone else experiencing the same problem? What are you guys doing to help prevent this?

[waymont]

I have shoulder issues which caused me to by light rods and reels. It helps a lot.

I also stopped the swinging for the fences casting style. I put some power, but not so much that I feel it.

[WRB]

My suggestion is change your swing. You hear this in golf all the time.

Your elbow shouldn't be envolved in casting as much as the wrist.

Most bass anglers today have poor casting mechanics.

Using a baitcasting reel your thumb should end up facing the side of your body.

Your elbow shouldn't leave your rib cage more then a few inches. Try putting a rolled up newspaper under you upper arm and cast. The motion should be in your wrist, your thump point towards you, reel handles up and down not sideways.

I am 77 and can cast accurately 50 yards with a 1/2 jig and make hundreds of casts each outing with no elbow fatigue.

Tom

[Jig Man]

I got it playing golf 7 days a week.  The best thing I could find was a band around my arm just below the elbow.

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

My suggestion is change your swing.

You beat me to it. Change the mechanics of the casting motion. That will reduce strain. 

[GreenPig]

You need a designated caster or cast left handed for an hour then swap to right handed.? Seriously I had bad forearm pain a couple years from casting big baits and changing my casting mechanics alleviated the pain. 

[islandbass]

Is it truly your elbow or for lack of not knowing the right name, your forearm right below the elbow joint (I call it the Bruce Lee muscle, lol)?

If it is, then you might want to try a compression sleeve. They really work. 
 

One fishing outing I fished 6 straight hours and while my mechanics are sound, jigging a 1-3 oz. lure really put a number on me. 
 

The next day I fished the same way but it was cold so I put on arm warmers. 4 hours into it, I noticed I was even sore or tired in the same area that was fatigued. It had to be the arm warmers. 
 

I wound up fishing about the same amount of time but no fatigue. 
 

The arm band Jig Man suggested would also help (good for warm days and summer) but the full compression sleeve could help in also keeping warm if needed. 
 

 

 

[Hammer 4]

6 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I got it playing golf 7 days a week.  The best thing I could find was a band around my arm just below the elbow.

Be 72 next month, I play golf, and or hit a couple hundred balls every day without any arm/elbow pain. There is a flaw in your golf swing, just as there is with the OP's casting technique.

 

Just for reference, on a launch monitor, I hit my 23* rescue with a carry of 200 yds, swing speed is 110 mph.

[scaleface]

12 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I got it playing golf 7 days a week.  The best thing I could find was a band around my arm just below the elbow.

This , I noticed on Glens last video , he was wearing one . I wear one metal detecting .

[Captain Phil]

I fished hard all my life.  Lots of prefishing and tournaments. I must have made at least a million casts by now.  At 73, I have arthritis, carpal tunnel and back issues.  This does not keep me from fishing.   I make adjustments to how I fish.  Switching to lighter rods helps.   Your elbow trouble needs rest to get better. Switching between casting and spinning tackle reduces pressure on your arms and hands.  Holding and cranking a heavy casting rod for days on end is murder on your elbows.  Downsizing your tackle will help.   You may even catch more fish.

[FordsnFishin]

The brace is a good idea. I've gotten tennis elbow in the past. I actually have a band somewhere. 

 

But yes the pain is directly in the elbow. Might possibly be a small case of tennis elbow. 

 

As far as my casting technique, i don't think it is that. I think it's more the fact that i fish alot of bottom contact baits, rod tip often at 9-10 o'clock position with my arm in a V.

 

[Bankc]

Maybe try shorter, pistol grip rods. I find that when I fish with them, I tend to use a lot more wrist in my cast, and hold the handle lower on the retrieve (angling the rod up more with my wrists than elbow).  

 

Oddly enough, I can cast them almost as far as my longer, split grip rods.  I find that while the spit grip rods allow me to use two hands, I tend to use less wrist and get less snap on the rod.  And since bass rods aren't all that heavy to begin with, I don't usually need two hands.  Plus, the longer rod seems to create more air resistance and the increased weight both slow down my casting speed.  The added leverage from the length more than makes up for that, but the summed total effect is that the actual distance between the two isn't as big as the comfort difference.  You might want to go with a slower action rod as well, to make up for the decreased length, depending on the lure.  

 

Now, I don't have elbow issues, so I can't say how much it would effect your elbow.  But my guess is that it would probably provide some relief, as I do tend to use my arms less with those shorter, pistol grip rods, and my wrists more.  

[Steveo-1969]

2 hours ago, FordsnFishin said:

But yes the pain is directly in the elbow.

 

As far as my casting technique, i don't think it is that. I think it's more the fact that i fish alot of bottom contact baits, rod tip often at 9-10 o'clock position with my arm in a V.

 

I fish a lot of bottom contact baits as well and experience exactly the same thing. The elbow of the arm holding the rod gets very sore. Fortunately I usually have a week to rest between fishing trips and the soreness goes away. If I fish every day on a vacation I will switch between a baitcaster (hold with left arm) and a spinning rod (hold with right arm) to give each elbow a little rest.

[WRB]

If your thumb is at 12 o'clock at the end of the cast you twist your forearm muscle every cast stressing it and the tendon holding the muscle. Thumb should be towards the side of your body. My guess it's at 12 o'clock!

Here is another tip, don't hold the rod tip up at 10 or 2 o'clock. Lower it paralell to the water surface and move the jig or work with your reel, lift the rod tip to work the lure over obstickles or to shack it.

Your strike detection will improve greatly and reduce muscle stress.

Look up my Horizontal jigging article.

Tom

[DitchPanda]

I'm in the camp of using some sort of compression. My dad had a bad elbow for years until he finally had surgery on it. Years and years of casting, throwing a baseball and doing construction will do it..to some guys at least. He did wear some sort of compression band/sleeve for years before surgery and said it helped alot.

Long term solution I guess you could look more into your casting mechanics and change if need be. But to me this is a big undertaking. Assuming you are even doing it wrong to begin with..you very well may not be..but if you are relearning something like this that has that type of muscle memory tied to it for however many years you've casted that way may take a long time.

[TcRoc]

I get struck with this beginning of every pre spawn.. hurts to point have a problem picking almost anything up and it will last for months.. I don’t know if it’s my technique or my arm just isn’t used to the motion from winter break from fishing but it eventually goes away , But after a couple months. 

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

Might sound silly but I do a warm up before I fish, I don't treat fishing much different than I do lifting. There are a bigillion videos on stretches and rotations that could be beneficial.

 

Need to put rod down and get some blood flow going in elbow now and then.

[WRB]

The OP has tendonitis (Tennis Elbow) and it isn't going to get better unless it's treated to reduce inflammation and he changes his casting motion.

Peace,

Tom

[scbassin]

Well Said Tom!

[Herbert Lorenzo]

Shoulder issues affecting normal casting arm . Did what I had to do , now casting with left arm when possible . If that gives out will learn to cast with feet . Not giving up my fishing or hunting without a fight .

[schplurg]

17 hours ago, WRB said:

The OP has tendonitis (Tennis Elbow) and it isn't going to get better unless it's treated to reduce inflammation and he changes his casting motion.

Peace,

Tom

This, and talk to a physician. Take care of it or it will only get worse. Ask me how I know  

[RoLo]

 

Spare Your Joints

Between saltwater, freshwater, casting and spinning, I’m sure I’ve made well over a million casts during the past 65 years. Right around the new millennium, I retrained myself to cast different than your average bear. It's something I call a “catapult cast”, to spare my joints during hours of repetitive casting. I’m right-handed, and to make a catapult cast, my left hand simply yanks the rod butt briskly backward, while my right hand

serves as a directive fulcrum. I’ve been doing this for so many years,

that my accuracy with a catapult cast is similar to my pitching and flipping (close enough).

Next month I’ll be 78, but I firmly believe this single adaptation is a big reason

why my shoulders, elbows & wrists still have lots of mileage left.

 

 

Elbow Injury (Fishing was not to blame)

The title of this thread caught my eye. Just 3 days ago (Wednesday), my neighbor and I

moved a 200-lb freezer from my garage into our kitchen. Problem is,

there’s a 5” masonry step at the threshold of my front door. I was on the inside with the dolly,

and my neighbor was outside the doorway, and really in no position to offer much help.

I had to hoist the freezer by myself, and it took everything I had to deadlift the hand truck

up to the foyer.  

 

THEN, as I was straightening up to a standing position, I realized that the freezer got away from my neighbor

and was falling on top of me. I scrambled just fast enough to avoid getting hit, and it crashed

onto the foyer floor (This dented the freezer but didn’t crack any tiles). My neighbor repeatedly asked:

“Are you okay? Each time I answered: “Yes, I’m just fine”. However, I could feel that my elbow was strained

from the deadlift. After we were done, I discovered that I wasn’t able to comb my hair,

because my elbow would lock in pain about a foot away from the right shoulder. Later on,

I realized that I couldn’t raise my coffee cup to my mouth, Hmph, I thought,

that’s my casting arm. I did an internet search for acute elbow injury, and soon learned  

that I sprained my 'lateral epicondyle'. The article stated that resolution can take up to 6 months,

and at my age, it may never resolve. I'd hoped that was worst-case scenario (web drama).

After about 1/2 hour of bidirectional stretching exercise, my elbow mobility improved

quickly and significantly. Today, 3 days after injury, I can touch my shoulder, drink my coffee

and comb my hair.

 

Anyone need a freezer moved?   

 

Roger

[Craig P]

You need physical therapy. I am a drafter and an angler. Sitting at a desk working on the computer with a mouse all day and fishing causes micro tears in the elbow, or what is know as tennis elbow. I also get it in my shoulder blade from drafting.

 

One day while fighting a large salmon, my elbow reared it’s ugly head to the point I couldn’t fish the rest of the trip and it was off to the doctors as soon as I got back.  The Doc sent me to physical therapy where they explained what was happening. They had me do specific exercises, bike pedaling with the arms, twisting a dowel rod with a weight attached etc. and then the trainer would take a metal rod and with good pressure, push it over the elbow to break up the scar tissue.

 

Going forward, I still use the same exercises today as well as some others to help the elbow and shoulder so that I strengthen the areas to avoid those “spots” from building up scar tissue.

 

FWIW, I wore the band to help reduce the strain before it reared it’s ugly head. You can put a band aid on it so to speak but learning how to strengthen the area, even if it is severe enough to require physical therapy, will solve the issue. 

[islandbass]

On 7/10/2020 at 9:50 AM, TcRoc said:

I get struck with this beginning of every pre spawn.. hurts to point have a problem picking almost anything up and it will last for months.. I don’t know if it’s my technique or my arm just isn’t used to the motion from winter break from fishing but it eventually goes away , But after a couple months. 

Get the compression band or sleeve. You’ll be blown away. And you’re right on it taking months to heal. I know because I’ve been through the healing process. You’ll be glad you did and your elbow will be happy (Bob Ross reference) 

[TcRoc]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

Get the compression band or sleeve. You’ll be blown away. And you’re right on it taking months to heal. I know because I’ve been through the healing process. You’ll be glad you did and your elbow will be happy (Bob Ross reference) 

I can try it.. but like I said it’s beginning of season it happens, it’s fine now .