I also exercise from time to time, but I don’t know what’s going on? When I stretch my fist, my hand joints hurt. What's going on?

How to reduce elbow joint pain during exercise?

In most cases, elbow pain during strength training is caused by adding too much weight, doing too many reps, or adding too many sets without enough rest. In other words, there is no balance between training and recovery.

Of course, you don’t have to stop training completely. Instead, you'd better refine your plan.

Step One: Adjust Your Training Plan

Sometimes you only notice elbow pain during specific movements. For example, maybe your elbow joint hurts when you bench press with a barbell, but not when you bench press with a dumbbell incline.

If this is the case, then you need to avoid the barbell bench press and use other exercises instead. Not only will this allow you to keep training, it will also allow you to recover faster.

Generally speaking, we improve this situation in stages:

First, replace the painful action with a similar action. For example, if your elbow pains when you do dumbbell rows, try barbell rows or cable rows. If your elbows hurt when you perform overhead presses, try machine presses. If that doesn't work, stop doing upper body pushing movements. Compound pushing movements with heavy weights are usually more likely to cause elbow pain than pulling movements. At this point, you can do some single-joint movements, such as rope flyes or front raises. If that doesn't work either, stop doing all compound upper body movements.

Step 2: Improve upper limb flexibility

Improving upper limb flexibility may not directly reduce your elbow pain, but it can help a little.

For example, if your shoulder mobility is not good enough and you have difficulty getting your elbow joint under the barbell when bench pressing, then this is a problem.

Step Three: Try Physical Therapy

Physical therapy involves the use of movements, special equipment, and education to help people regain healthy movements. Different therapists will have different methods, so it's hard to say what works or doesn't work.

If rest is not enough to resolve your elbow pain, you can find a reliable physical therapist. As long as the physical therapy session is focused on strengthening the injured tendon and not causing further pain, it is likely to be helpful.