Help me heal my forarms!

[AnimalMass1]

Hey guys, (and Spatts)

Well, for the past several weeks I have had some incredible pain in my forearms (especially in my left arm).

This is somehwhat of a recurring injury, although it has never been this bad.

OK, here's a description of the injury...

I have insane pain in my arms, from my elbows to my wrists in both arms. It has to be bench related, as I haven't squatted or deadlifted, or anything in 5 weeks, since I slipped a disc in my back.

It hurts the most when I let go of the bar after benching, but lately it hurts to even pick up a gallon of milk, or something.

All I have been doing is icing after bench wrokouts, but today, it was killing me after just doing goodmornings. (And ab pulldowns were unbearable)

Anyway, I've never used capascain (sp?) or liniment - not sure if it would help. Not sure what else I can do or to just live with the pain?

Help!

AnimalMass

 

[natural-mike]

I believe I have had a similar problem, it started for me from doing stupid heavy Barbell curls. It hurt when I curled but when I let go of the bar that is when the pain would go full blast. I went to a cheap a$$ Orthepedist and he told me it could be bone spurs. I never followed up and stopped barbell curling. If it is bone related you could INJECT capsicain and it wont help.

Good luck,

MIke

 

[TheProject]

I had forearm pain in my right arm for several months. Felt a small lump, so I went to the doc, who diagnosed it as a minor tear. She said to just take it easy until it healed, but it sure made benching unpleasant for several months.

 

[GRIMMER]

Sounds like you are develping some bicep or tricep tendonitis. Keep icing it and definly put some icy hot or somehting on it before you trian. It could be from a muscle imbalance. I don't know if yoiu train your biceps at all but hammer curls and some DB reverse curls have helped me a ton. THink about getting some neoprine elbow sleeves to keep the heat in. I you are doing DB skull crusheres or Tate presses or Jm presses these could also be part of the problem. Just some things i had to adress for my tendonitis.

 

[AnimalMass1]

well, I don't think it is a tear, because I have no lumps and it literally spans from my elbow to my wrist.

Also, I don't do curls anymore (haven't for a long time.) - but I also used to get this pain from doing heavy ass preacher curls. I thought then it was connective tissue tearing away from the bone - but I'm not sure. But it does feel just like that - so it may be the same injury.

I may also have on top of that some tendonitis in my left elbow.

Not sure.

AnimalMass

 

[spatts]

Ulnar impingement?

It hurts when you....???

 

[AnimalMass1]

It hurts the worst when I let go of the bar after heavy bench.

But now its hurting any time I have to pick anything up, and even if I bench with the bar alone, no bar weight at all.

AnimalMass

ps - JM presses and dumbell extensions don't hurt it as bad as when I have alot of pressure on my forearms/ wrists/ elbows from benching.

 

[spatts]

Sounds like impingement to me. Wish you had said something this weekend when I could poke around on you. Turn your arm over, palm up. Place your thumb on the inside of your elbow, and run it firmly down the muscle toward your pinky. Does it hurt? Make your fingers tingle? Feel like shin splints? Have your fingers been going numb?

 

[Screwball]

AnimalMass1, Great job at the APF Meet. Breaking 400 is a great achievement. It's a great number to build upon. I know you will be pushing 500+ within a year.

I had the exact same thing in my arms (forearms, biceps and triceps) for the last year. It would come and go but when it was at it's worst I couldn't push a 135 lb. bench. It really only bothered me when pressing. The worst pain was when the lift was complete and I had to release the bar. I think it's just a case of severe tendonitis. Mine seemed to move around my arms and would increase and decrease in intensity. The only thing that I found that made it better was laying off. I've been training very infrequently for the last two months and I haven't done any speed work which seemed to aggravate my tendonitis. My arms are completely healed and I don't have any pain now. I hope that it doesn't flare up again when I resume training heavy and more consitantly. Good luck!

 

[BODYSNATCHER]

ANIMAL MASS - I've got a similar thing going on right now in my left forearm too - right after I benched a 500 raw (for IRISHPOWER) I felt a tightness in my left tricep - and it moved to my left elbow - and then finally to my forearm. When I supinate the left hand/wrist - it makes "popping" noises inside the forearm - apparently (from my research) this is all coming from the ELBOW - even though it feels like the forearm - they are all attached - the pain is located in the area that would be affected when doing hammer curls - where the bicep and forearm meet. I've been doing reps with 315 - and have stayed at 405 and below since the injury - anything over 405 and the forearm starts to SCREAM again. I think you need to use the neoprene elbow supports if you're going to go heavy - but you may want to stay light for awhile - to give the area a chance to heal. I still do curls, but have stayed away from the hammer curls - I don't want to aggravate the injury. Ice is a good idea - post workout. Good Luck with it.

 

[natural-mike]

I hate to sound pessimistic, but I believe once you have tendonitus....its here to stay. I always try to layoff, weeks, months, I've tried all the pills, the point is when you start piling weight on, it inevitably comes back. Every time I layoff, I heal, feel great etc. etc. but once the poundages build back up, Here she comes again..tendonitus.

Sometimes the only thing you can do with it is try to zero in on the movement that hurts or aggravates it the most and cut that movement out. But unfortunately your problem hurts when you bench.....you cannot necessarily cut that out.

I really hate to sound like there is no hope, but no matter what I do or how many doctors I go to, I will never shake my bicep tendonitus.

Mike

 

[IrishPower]

when i was a lot younger, i used to get recurring bouts of this. i think it is severe tendonitis, especially if you have it in both sides.

i just trained through it as best i could and eventually the frequency of these subsided.

things you can do:

neoprene bands on the elbows at all times.

begin some serious NSAID therapy. see my site FAQ for how i use Ibuprofen

wait it out.



If this all fails, you can go for some stronger anti-inflamatories from an ortho.

good luck

 

[AnimalMass1]

thanks Irish. I was hoping you would repond to this, since you are a walking injury story.

I read the stuff about the ibuprofin, and will begin treatment immediately. I squatted with the neoprene sleeves today, and it def helped somewhat, althought the true test is when I have to bench. I hope the combo of NSAIDs, Ice, Sleeves, and a little extra rest will help this out.

Thanks Guys. (and Spatts)

AnimalMass