Question
i have a friend who is now aged 48 years old. about 15 years ago he tried to see how many push ups he could do consectutively. he was training up to increasing the endurance. well he got a very large pain located about in the centre of the tricep but it a little bit closer to the deltoid than the elbow. this problem he has has not went away to this day.

now i was wondering if the likely cause would be a ligament damage. or perhaps a muscle tear. or something else. if he has mucle tear it is not a complete one as he can still movements with this tricep but with very little weight. and what would be the appropiate type of treatment? i was thinking of a rehab program that he would strive to use as much intensity as possible that did not add any pain to the problem area. perhaps buidling the surrounding muscles strenght/endurance so when again he was to excersize a movement that did involve this problem the body would use more of the surrounding musculature to perform the task.

thanking you in advance.

Answer
Jii,

Thanks for the problem.  This could be an unfortunate situation and a big problem.  If he did tear the muscle and it was 15 years ago, the injury has healed with much scar tissue and the chances of correcting the tissue are slim to none.  There is muscle type therapy, deep massage, electric stimulation, PNF stretching, acupuncture, that could help.  But the chances of a complete recovery are small.  I think that he could receive greater strength and less pain with these types of treatment, but there will likely be continued symptoms.  

There would be no ligament damage in this area.

Those types of treatments and rehab strengthening would be the best approach.

I hope this helps and good luck.

God Bless,

Dr. Boss