Elbow area pain with one handed spins?

arijack started this discussion · 7/18/2015

Hi everyone, I get some moderate-severe pain to my elbow area when I do one-handed blind grab spins just a few times. I have slightly hyperextended elbows, but I try really hard to keep my biceps slightly contracted to compensate. Does anyone else experience this pain? Anyone else have hyperextended elbows that require you to skip some pole moves, or modify others? Would love to hear :) Thanks!

6 replies

Runemist34 · 7/18/2015
Hey there! Reverse grab spins can put a lot of strain on the joints, and even if you don't hyperextend your elbows, I think that this is a challenge that many people face. This is why conditioning the muscles and making very sure that you're strong enough to do the spins is key, as well as easing into them and being sure that you don't over-do how many times you practice them. I would say that, if you're getting that kind of pain in your elbows, you may have muscles that aren't strong enough to take the kind of pressure, and you should lay off them and work on conditioning in those areas for a while. It can be frustrating... but not nearly as frustrating as an injury that takes months to heal, and keeps you off the pole!
Tigerschic041721 · 7/18/2015
Could be over gripping like a death grip!?
arijack · 7/18/2015
I totally understand what you're saying, Runemist, thank you for responding! I guess I'm just unsure of how to proceed- you'd think that with the bicep strength I have now after poling for 8 months and being able to do pull-ups and solid inverts, etc. that that would allow me to stabilize the elbow enough, but I guess not. Does this mean I should be doing other exercises to strengthen my biceps? You sound like you know a lot of training and would have good tips.
arijack · 7/18/2015
Tigerschic maybe!!! I think that I have to grip hard to stay on the pole with one hand but that would definitely screw me up when I'm on static, which I was yesterday when this pain was pretty severe. Great suggestions
Runemist34 · 7/18/2015
Haha, thank you ;) I think Veena knows more than I do about most of these things. She'll pop in when she can, I'm sure! I would say that it's not necessarily the bicep that is unable to draw in, as there are quite a few muscles that attach in and through the elbow as well! Many of the forearm muscles, too, can affect your elbows. Having too tight a grip, and working on static, would put a lot of strain on those! And I know for me, the brief times I've worked on the Reverse grab, those muscles sure did have to work hard! I would say, ease off a bit from those till the pain dies down and you feel better, and as long as other spins and other moves don't aggravate the problem, keep working on those! Pole dancing requires a lot of grip strength, I'm sure you know, so this one may just be taxing one particular forearm muscle in you than the others, and it's not quite ready. So, ease off, and then carefully ease back in! Try it once only, when you're better and no longer in pain, when you do your pole workouts. Be sure to give yourself rest days, and as you gain strength, you can eventually bring it up to twice each time you dance, and upward from there. Though, once Veena has given her advice, I'd definitely take hers!
arijack · 7/19/2015
Thank you so much Runemist! I definitely will be taking it slowly and only work on it every so often. The weird thing is though, that the pain doesn't last. I was feeling almost 100% better the next morning. It's so odd. I'll get to working and hopefully have some pain-free reverse grabs in my future :)