Forearm Pain

Remove this Banner Ad

Syphoncom

Syphoncom

Club Legend
Apr 6, 2010
1,872
664
Australia
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
Arsenal
It's fairly common, most people get it to some extent from what I've experienced when doing some bicep exercises (or potentially heavy deads).

Unfortunately, it's not a good pain and it's not going away for me. I've recently developed some fairly decent pain in the forearm, between exactly in the middle, through towards the elbow.

forearmfront1.jpg


Highlighted in blue, because I can :)



Anyway, it's only been there a while (maybe 3 days badly - since I did biceps, and about a week before, but not nearly as noticeable from the previous time) but is worrying. I'd happily work through the pain (it only gets up to a 5-6), but I think I'll be doing more damage. It feels like the bone is literally going to snap during a preacher curl and I'm not too comfortable doing exercises like bent over rows etc not knowing what the deal is.

Worked through Chest today (inc db, flat bb, chest press, flyes, no dips - collarbone muscle injury haha) and didn't have anything too bad, but none were really pulling exercises, so it's hard to judge.

So I'm assuming it's something to do with tendons/tendonitis? Just wondering if anyone has had something similar, whether a simple week off bis/some back exercises would be sufficient.

My only exercises dedicated to biceps are some db curls and preacher curls. Preacher curls actually hurt the most, quite badly during the exercises and worse after. DB curl isn't bad at all during, hasn't been poor afterwards, although today I tested 2 reps and felt it again a few minutes later go up 1-2 on the pain scale.

Cheers for any insights!
 
if you do lots of grip work, you could potentionally develop a flexor tendinopathy (golfer's elbow). go see a physio about it. might just be a case of needing to rest, release and restrengthen the flexors
 
Ulnar stress syndrome (probably). Like shin splints but of the forearm. Rest and strengthen forearm.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

PT (a mate who I asked, didn't pretend to know everything) said it was probably golfer's elbow, although I dunno.

I would go see a physio, but that's a fair bit of $$$ :(. I guess I could give biceps and most pulling exercises a week off and see what happens.

The odd thing is, this is after a 5 day layoff do to working o/s for a week. I swear if it's not one thing, it's another that props up!

Thanks guys, I'll try some massaging/heat and keep some compression on it and see how it is in a week. Hopefully it's all good :rolleyes:
 
some universities run student clinics that can be pretty cheap, you might wanna find the closest one with a physio program to see if you can get it assessed there
 
Hrm, thanks, I know a few are nearby.

Normally I wouldn't worry too much, and if it stays bad I'll definitely go see someone, but for one reason or another I'm already down around $600 this year lol. I'm just fed up with spending money on my damn body.

Appreciate it.
 
Try laying off preacher and bicep curls or any exercise where the forearm is supinated (palm up).

If it is what it sounds like; A lot of people get this; it is a forearm muscle imbalance when the forearm is placed in supination. So the muscles attached to the ulnar are overworked (or weak) and this creates tension/inflammation at the attachment to the ulnar when worked in this disadvantaged position.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking of taking a week off the biceps and then doing some low-weight forearm exercises.

I also think working in the low-rep category for an extended period over the normal has done me more damage than good and also created the imbalance.

I would've though the preacher curls would've been better, being more semisupinated than a normal dumbbell curl, but it's still a similar motion I guess.

I've dropped back to a lower weight / higher rep range, so hopefully a month or so in that range before going back up should help again. And the week off biceps, but I can still bench/ everything else fine.
 
1st you need to look at shoulder dysfunction and soft tissue restrictions in the forearms and triceps if there is an elbow issue.
Ulnar neve problems can be resolved mostly through improving internal rotation range of motion at the shoulder or cleaning up soft tissue restrictions on the flexi carpi ulnaris, flexor carpi radialis, pronator teres etc.

Stop leaning and sleeping on your elbows especially in awkward positions as you can develop radial nerve palsy problems with the symptoms being a finger and wrist drop and don't sleep with your arms under your head.

When typing and mousing, keep your hands and wrists in neutral and don’t elevate your keyboard which can actually increase the repetitive stress disorders so set it at elbow level and if your resting your palms on the table, than get a gel pad for a bit of a lift.

If you have pain then do high rep band work such as pushdowns and curls doing sets of 20/day which can fix it in about a week. Use thick bars initially after injuries as it puts pressure into whole hand rather than just one spot.
 
So. This pain seems to have subsided. I'm still getting pains in my wrist, but apparently there's nothing structurally wrong - I'm just trying to lift too much weight, too often.

I've backed off on the weight and upped the reps, so I'm going to stay in the higher rep range for a while and try to fit in an extra day off. Maybe do some cardio/ab work that doesn't require putting bodyweight on my wrists.

I'll work through it.

A more annoying problem is tricep tendonitis. I've developed it in both arms somehow. Apparently it's not that bad, nothing where I should have anything done except lay off the weight and take some NSAIDs. I'm not taking it prior to the gym as I don't want to mask the pain obviously.

It's not that bad, it's more noticeable when I'm curling (which dropping out wouldn't be the end of the world), a little bit when doing triceps obviously.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, is there anything to help fix the problem?

I'm happy to massage the area, ice it after a workout, put some compression bandages etc, anything that will do some good. I'd get an injection if I thought it warranted it, but if anyone has gone through something similar, lemme know what you did!

Cheers :)


Edit: Yeah, I was obviously eating or something when God was handing out bodies. Pity you can't do a trade in huh? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top