Forearm Pain

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
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I had a thread on this awhile ago and it still hasn’t gotten better. There’s a sharp pain in my forearm when I got to bench press, nothing else. I can do dumbbell incline presses with no pain in the 10 rep range, but benching kills. This started about 6 months ago and I’ve completely stopped benching for 5 months. No improvement.

Only thing in my head I could correlate it to was a lower back injury 8 months ago that stopped me from deadlifting and doing most compound work involving grip work. Anyways taking time off fro, benching hasn’t helped, and the pain comes right back when I start to bench again. I’ll post a pic of exact location, but any suggestions? I’ve been doing fish oil, voodoo flossing my elbow, and using a therabamd to no abail .

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The pain is pretty specific to this area. Feels as if it runs along the edge of the bone. I’m just sick of injuries and its driving me nuts that idk what this even is

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[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
I had a thread on this awhile ago and it still hasn’t gotten better. There’s a sharp pain in my forearm when I got to bench press, nothing else. I can do dumbbell incline presses with no pain in the 10 rep range, but benching kills. This started about 6 months ago and I’ve completely stopped benching for 5 months. No improvement.

Only thing in my head I could correlate it to was a lower back injury 8 months ago that stopped me from deadlifting and doing most compound work involving grip work. Anyways taking time off fro, benching hasn’t helped, and the pain comes right back when I start to bench again. I’ll post a pic of exact location, but any suggestions? I’ve been doing fish oil, voodoo flossing my elbow, and using a therabamd to no abail . [/quote]

  1. When you bench, how do you grip the bar? Some lifters visualize pulling the bar apart. Others visualize bending the bar.

  2. What type of grip work did you do?

  3. You state that db inclines do not bother you. Do you perform the db inclines with the elbows slightly tucked so the dbs, at the top of the movement, form an upside-down V shape?

  4. Just stopping a movement won’t always help if you rehab incorrectly or incompletely. Furthermore, taking time off won’t always help if you return to doing things the same way as before.

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[quote]56x11 wrote:

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
I had a thread on this awhile ago and it still hasn’t gotten better. There’s a sharp pain in my forearm when I got to bench press, nothing else. I can do dumbbell incline presses with no pain in the 10 rep range, but benching kills. This started about 6 months ago and I’ve completely stopped benching for 5 months. No improvement.

Only thing in my head I could correlate it to was a lower back injury 8 months ago that stopped me from deadlifting and doing most compound work involving grip work. Anyways taking time off fro, benching hasn’t helped, and the pain comes right back when I start to bench again. I’ll post a pic of exact location, but any suggestions? I’ve been doing fish oil, voodoo flossing my elbow, and using a therabamd to no abail . [/quote]

  1. When you bench, how do you grip the bar? Some lifters visualize pulling the bar apart. Others visualize bending the bar.

  2. What type of grip work did you do?

  3. You state that db inclines do not bother you. Do you perform the db inclines with the elbows slightly tucked so the dbs, at the top of the movement, form an upside-down V shape?

  4. Just stopping a movement won’t always help if you rehab incorrectly or incompletely. Furthermore, taking time off won’t always help if you return to doing things the same way as before.
    [/quote]

  5. I don’t do either of those, and my grip was not great vause I did let the bar roll back into the upper palm towards my fingers.

  6. my grip work I was referring to wasn’t isolation, but deadlifting, barbell rows, etc.

  7. on the dumbbell inclines I try to keep my elbows outvto the side and get a stretch in my chest.

Also if I kinda dig my thumb into the area I can feel the sensation, although not as severe. Obviously not the smartest idea but I’m saying this to show that I believe the injury to still be there

5

I’ve had problems on and off in this area on both arms for years. Pain when benching dumbbells and turning the palm down (pronation) (reverse/hammer curl), anywhere from the thumb to the elbow. Physio I saw said it’s probably adhesions in the Fascia, cross friction and deep tissue massage along the Brachioradialis, seems to help.

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Has this prevented you from training certain things, or has the deep tissue massage made it so that there aren’t limitations? Thanks for the input BTW

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The right arm cleared up after one good massage session. The left arm still gives me problems when benching (any bench angle) but not floor presses, press-ups or overhead work.

The hands are pronated when benching and I think this puts the Brachioradialis on stretch and if the muscle is tight already I guess it’s going to put a strain on it. I think that’s why I get pain along the same line you drew.

I need to heat up, massage and stretch the Brachioradialis, Supinator and Pronator Teres a lot more than I do.

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[quote]bulkNcut wrote:

[quote]56x11 wrote:

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
I had a thread on this awhile ago and it still hasn’t gotten better. There’s a sharp pain in my forearm when I got to bench press, nothing else. I can do dumbbell incline presses with no pain in the 10 rep range, but benching kills. This started about 6 months ago and I’ve completely stopped benching for 5 months. No improvement.

Only thing in my head I could correlate it to was a lower back injury 8 months ago that stopped me from deadlifting and doing most compound work involving grip work. Anyways taking time off fro, benching hasn’t helped, and the pain comes right back when I start to bench again. I’ll post a pic of exact location, but any suggestions? I’ve been doing fish oil, voodoo flossing my elbow, and using a therabamd to no abail . [/quote]

  1. When you bench, how do you grip the bar? Some lifters visualize pulling the bar apart. Others visualize bending the bar.

  2. What type of grip work did you do?

  3. You state that db inclines do not bother you. Do you perform the db inclines with the elbows slightly tucked so the dbs, at the top of the movement, form an upside-down V shape?

  4. Just stopping a movement won’t always help if you rehab incorrectly or incompletely. Furthermore, taking time off won’t always help if you return to doing things the same way as before.
    [/quote]

  5. I don’t do either of those, and my grip was not great vause I did let the bar roll back into the upper palm towards my fingers.

  6. my grip work I was referring to wasn’t isolation, but deadlifting, barbell rows, etc.

  7. on the dumbbell inclines I try to keep my elbows outvto the side and get a stretch in my chest.

Also if I kinda dig my thumb into the area I can feel the sensation, although not as severe. Obviously not the smartest idea but I’m saying this to show that I believe the injury to still be there
[/quote]

Based on all the info and pic you provided, it may be along the flexor pollicis longus or flexor carpi radialis. Could be a strain, trigger points along the fascia, or a combination of the two.

I don’t know exactly how you bb bench as opposed to db bench. You say you db bench with elbows flared out to get a better stretch (a mistake IMO but that’s another thread entirely) but other than that, it’s impossible to determine exactly how you engage your flexors.

By the way, I remember your thread re: lower back pain from about a month ago. Did you actually try the things I suggested?

The reason I ask is that I have been meeting more than a few people in person as well online that:

a) Genuinely have some sort of pain but consciously or subconsciously refuse to take corrective action. This gives them an ‘out’ from meeting their personal goals.

OR

b) For one reason or another ignore the advice some of the more intelligent people on this forum gives (for no financial reward).

AND a little bit of

c) An entitled attitude. The professionals out there who offer sound advice on forums like this really don’t have to answer shit. They usually do because it’s in their nature to be helpful if they genuinely believe they can contribute in a positive way. But human nature being the funny thing that it is, people often don’t appreciate something they get for free.

Maybe you don’t belong in any of the three categories. Yet I’ve learned to balance my skepticism with my instinct.

Good luck with your injuries. I’ll leave it at that.

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If this weren’t an online forum and you actually knew me personally I would be insulted, but to all of those my only response is I’ve been working with a PT for the past two months for my back.

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@ huskari, thanks for your help. Did your physio say the adhesions in the fascia heal up on their own?

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I think the adhesions need a little help to be broken down via massage.

12

Ah I see. Just curious.

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@56x11, seems you’ve already decided I’m wasting you’re time so if you don’t respond to this then no hard feelings either way. However, suppose this is a strain or adhesions in the fascia. Wouldn’t avoiding the movements that cause pain for the past 6 months have healed this? Also I’ve been trying SMR in the area, but it seems to make the symptoms worse for following day or two. Should I look at upstream imbalances such as shoulder or elbow, or work at applying heat to the area.