T Nation

Shooting Pain Down My Arm

Beginners
#1

Tonight in the gym, while removing the weights after my last set of squats, I noticed a pain in my arm. My shoulder is a little “sore” but the general pain is around my elbow area. I can feel pain in my “bicep” a little and it is sort of “shooting” down the right side of my forearm (the side towards my thumb).

It hurt enough that I left the gym early tonight after experiencing some “numbing” in my wrist while racking the weights after my bench press.

I’ve been lifting heavy for about 6 weeks now. Should I just take next week off, or go in and do some real light lifting or some sort of rehab/prehab shit? I’m worried about aggravating it any further especially since I don’t have health insurance. :slight_smile:

My training logs in my profile, if that’s needed.

#2

Oh. I would also like to add that I believe I injured it arm wrestling. Heh. I’m not doing that shit anymore. :slight_smile:

#3

sounds similar to what has happened to me. IMO its either thoracic outlet syndrome or shoulder impingment.

Take some time off to avoid overtraining.

Try ice and heat.

STOP benching so much.

Look up articles like shoulder savers and stuff like that.

Work on shoulder mobility

For me, i have found that their is a trigger point on me, on the back of my neck/shoulder just under the spine of my scapula on the inside edge. When my bicep is hurting, or my hand/arm is numb, if i press on this spot, or roll it with a tennis ball, it gets much better.

All in all though, if this isn’t an acue injury, probably something is wrong in your training, and/or life outside training. My sitting posture was a major cause of my problem.

#4

Do you use a computer a lot and have and repetitive motion problems? I have pretty horrible carpal tunnel and similar problems that can come on just like you described. Weightlifting is actually how I keep the problems in check, but sometimes it does come back, and it can be related to me tweaking my arm just a tiny bit incorrectly when working out.

#5

[quote]goochadamg wrote:
“sore” “bicep” “shooting” “numbing”

[/quote]

…wtf are the quotes for?

#6

next time you do heavy squats, see if you pull down on the bar with your arms(when you are going up on a near max lift). If you can stop doing that, the pain should go away.

#7

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
goochadamg wrote:
“sore” “bicep” “shooting” “numbing”

…wtf are the quotes for?[/quote]

Because I am not positive I am using the correct terminology for describing my pain. This is a not so uncommon use of quotation marks: denoting uncertainty in word choice.

Now I have a question. WTF was the ellipsis for?

#8

Oh. Thank you for the useful replies.

I think I’ll take next week off just to be careful. I’ll also have to try and watch my posture. I do use a computer frequently and certainly do not sit with the best of posture. I also do quite repetitive tasks at work which may be related to the injury; not sure what I can do about that short of getting a new job. I wonder if I am trying to exert force on the bar with my arms when I squat heavy; I’ll definitly have to see if that’s the case.

It is still sore today, but it does feel better. The pain seems to be more towards the wrist area today.

#9

[quote]dankid wrote:

For me, i have found that their is a trigger point on me, on the back of my neck/shoulder just under the spine of my scapula on the inside edge. When my bicep is hurting, or my hand/arm is numb, if i press on this spot, or roll it with a tennis ball, it gets much better.
[/quote]

Welp. I found putting pressure on the same area helps greatly. What sort of exercises/stretching can I do to help?