Problem with elbow

Ok after taking a few days break from my usual fairly rigorous technique practice, I have started again to find that my elbow feels different. It seems to get uncomfortable now and tenses up easily. When I alt pick really fast, and is slowing me down. Is this just because I rested for a bit and need to get warmed up again or something? I basically did some fast tremelo and scales, all alt picked, for about 15 minutes (my usual warmup excercise) and that's about all. Maybe it just needs to get warmed up again after a break?

Funny, I never used to think that i picked from my elbow joint, but I guess I do.

what you have here is a start of a common illness among guitarists (and tennis players alike), tendinitis (or tennis elbow), if you feel uncomfortable, stop immediately, because if you hurt yourself, there's no turning back...
What you need to do is use another way of warming up (no scales, no legato, play chords, without stretches...) stop playing if it hurts... If you are patient, everything will come back to normal... You should see a sports doctor though, so you might hear some advices.

I know about tendenitus... I have it in my wrist before and have been to a pretty well-known physiotherapist Michelle Frasier dedicated to musicians.

What makes me think this isn't tendenitus though is that it never happened before when I played WAYY harder and more often, and all of a sudden I picked it up after a few days absence, tried to shred a bit, and found my arm tensing up. I can still play fast and it doesn't hurt or anything, it's just that when I attempt to do things that came easy before, it tenses up now. Wierd....

I suppose I should consider the fact that I have tendenitus again, this time in my upper arm/elbow, but I'd rather not face that right now...

You definitely don't want to do anything to aggravate that condition. You should probably lay off the fast picking stuff for a while and let your elbow really rest. You may want to give some thought to completely immobilizing it for a few weeks to give it a total rest. If it doesn't go away, you should go and see a board certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand / upper extremity conditions. Make sure you do your homework on the doctor though because most run -of-the-mill orthopods like to cut first and ask questions later, if you know what I mean. It may be something that you can clear up with just rest and that's your best bet. If not, you may wind up having to get a cortisone injection or something like that. I continued to play when I was having a problem with an irritated nerve in my thumb. I wound up making the condition worse by not resting it and it has never healed 100 % as a result.

Tendomitis is a bad muscle problem
there is a review in Guitar world september 2001
Kirk Hammet explains

section
Damage Inc
as said by the Kirk Hammet
"A while ago i developed tendonitis in the rotator cuff of my right shoulder This was caused by the way i was playing my acoustic guitar; i was overextending my right shoulder out over the guitars body when strumming. Because of this my rotator cuff was getting rubbed and that caused tendonitis in my right shoulder, which was pretty scary because i couldnt play for about two months! in fact, it was so bad i couldnt even pick up the guitar or hold it because its weight caused so much pain.
Then, to make matters worse, once I'd developed tendonitis in my right shoulder it moved over to my left shoulder. Apparently that tends to happen with a lot of sport-type injuries-your "good" side compensates for the other one and works extra hard as a result. And, because of this extra work, tendonitis can occur in your good side too".

Originally posted by James
Ok after taking a few days break from my usual fairly rigorous technique practice, I have started again to find that my elbow feels different. It seems to get uncomfortable now and tenses up easily. When I alt pick really fast, and is slowing me down. Is this just because I rested for a bit and need to get warmed up again or something? I basically did some fast tremelo and scales, all alt picked, for about 15 minutes (my usual warmup excercise) and that's about all. Maybe it just needs to get warmed up again after a break?

Funny, I never used to think that i picked from my elbow joint, but I guess I do.

I Strongly reccomend that you have an accupuncture session. It sounds strange but It has helped me in the past, with chronic pain. I was always skeptical of alternative therapies until I tried it once and I was amazed at the results!

Was it steve Vai who told you that??

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
Was it steve Vai who told you that??

No, it was the car accident that put me in traction and fractured two of my vertibrae , when I was hit by a drunk driver. I had chronic stiffness and pain, which was alleviated by periodic accupuncture sessions, and continues to this day, but I'm sure Steve would reccomend accupuncture, I'll ask him next time he and Pia ask me over for dinner :-).