bicep-curl = pain in forearm

[Lean88]

This is a long standing injury for me, when i curl, if its bb, db or hammer, I get a sharp very painful pain in my left forearm. Its weird because i dont get any pain during any other exercises, only when I work my biceps, and the pain is in the forearm. Iv had this about 18months now and it wont go away, as i result i cant work my biceps. Iv had an Xray and MRI but both have shown as normal and im now waiting for a follow up appointment.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever had this injury, or if anyone might now what the problem is?

[Tisky]

I've had the same thing, but mine is kinda in both forearms, more in the right one though. I've had it for about 4 months now and it comes and goes. One day it will be so bad that I can barely curl 40lbs barbell and the next i can do 70 with minimal pain, so I don't know, keep us updated though, cause I wanna know what it is and how to fix. I've just been icing it when it gets bad. And then heating it and putting on stuff like bengay on off days

[Felonist]

This is a long standing injury for me, when i curl, if its bb, db or hammer, I get a sharp very painful pain in my left forearm. Its weird because i dont get any pain during any other exercises, only when I work my biceps, and the pain is in the forearm. Iv had this about 18months now and it wont go away, as i result i cant work my biceps. Iv had an Xray and MRI but both have shown as normal and im now waiting for a follow up appointment.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever had this injury, or if anyone might now what the problem is?

Hi sounds like tendinitis - this typically does not pop up on X rays. (I dunno about MRIs).
Ive had a similar problem and I know exactly what your going through it sucked for me when I had this problem in my Wrist - It may be hte extra tension in the forearm by doin a lifting motion - The only Bicep excersize I was able to do was Chin-Ups (which I still do cuz they are great) This typically does not include that extra strain. Perhaps try that. And take some NSAIDs and see how it goes perhaps a few weeks before trying to lift up again. At the end of the day I had to get a Cortisone shot - which I would swear by it- but if I could have had the inflammation go away on its own I would have preferred it.... Lemme know how it goes and best of luck.

[DavisAllen]

i have the same problem.
your best bet is going to be to try and pull in your elbows and straighten your forearm as much as you can and go extra slow and be careful, use less weight if needed. it sucks cause i know im not curling to my limit and when i get done with a set my left arm feels like i just broke it

[KOMED]

I started having a pain in my forearm while doing preacher curls months ago. I immediately stopped doing it and have tried going back to it once in awhile but my forearm still hurts so I completely removed it out of my work out

Maybe you should stop curling for awhile and let it heal.

[roberto424]

I have had the same problem recently too, except mine have been bruising for some reason in the upper region. I went to a doctor and he told me its called biciptitis, or tearing the tendon that connects the biceps to the bone. It usually occurs from doing preacher curls. Try icing the injury for the first 2 days, then heating 1 day. Rest 1 day, and repeat. Thats what worked for me..

[bizzlewood]

i had it too

best thing i did was train my forearms harder and the pain went away

[Lean88]

Hi sounds like tendinitis - this typically does not pop up on X rays. (I dunno about MRIs).
Ive had a similar problem and I know exactly what your going through it sucked for me when I had this problem in my Wrist - It may be hte extra tension in the forearm by doin a lifting motion - The only Bicep excersize I was able to do was Chin-Ups (which I still do cuz they are great) This typically does not include that extra strain. Perhaps try that. And take some NSAIDs and see how it goes perhaps a few weeks before trying to lift up again. At the end of the day I had to get a Cortisone shot - which I would swear by it- but if I could have had the inflammation go away on its own I would have preferred it.... Lemme know how it goes and best of luck.

Thanks yeah, I can do pullups and workout my back just fine so that keeps my arms pretty big. I don't do my bi's at all, but about once a month I well do a couple of bicep exercises just to see if it still hurts (and it does). Got an appointment with the specialist next month so hopefully I can get this sorted, thanks for the input guys

[Docta J]

I have this same problem in my left forearm. At first it didn't hurt but as my weights increase for curls (especially preacher curls) its become a really sharp pain. I switched to hammer curls and it doesnt really hurt that much, but then othertimes when i try to slide my porch door open i can feel the pain. Then I stopped doing curls completely and it went away completely but now that I've picked curls back up the pain has come back. I dont think its my form, anyone have any other ideas?


strong bump i know

[AlyU]

Same here! I just started lifting weights and have experienced great results so far, but last night I woke up with extreme pain in my forearm/elbow area. I really want to workout today, but I don't think I will be able to do anything since I cannot extend my arms. I've tried ice, heat, and pain meds. Should I just stick to cardio today?

[jakeb820]

I too have this problem i found that ice helped a lot but most importantly let the pain heal it will take about 3 weeks depending on how bad it is. After it has healed stick to hammer curls and just make sure your thumb is lined up with your bicep it takes a lot of strain of the forearm. If its not to bad of a pain you may be able to get a way with wide ez bar curls as well.

[ptrmull]

tendinitis maybe..ice the area as often as possible...massage can help too.

[Smigiel]

I got that back in high school when I first started working out. Typical gym idiot, biceps every day. I think it was tendinitis from overworking that muscle so often. I just stopped for a couple months and it never really came back. I never got back into working my biceps much since they get so much attention from back movements. Here and there I'll do some curls if I'm getting weak throughout a pulling movement but it's not a regular part of my workouts anymore.

[ScottRoland]

This is a long standing injury for me, when i curl, if its bb, db or hammer, I get a sharp very painful pain in my left forearm. Its weird because i dont get any pain during any other exercises, only when I work my biceps, and the pain is in the forearm. Iv had this about 18months now and it wont go away, as i result i cant work my biceps. Iv had an Xray and MRI but both have shown as normal and im now waiting for a follow up appointment.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever had this injury, or if anyone might now what the problem is?

I had the same thing.... went to a sports ortho who immediately diagnosed it as a pinched nerve. I did some physical therapy along with some cortisone injections but nothing helped. My d/bell weights dropped from 50lb to 40 to 30 and finally doing even 15 pound dumbells hurt. I returned to the sport ortho doctor who said he recommended surgery to "release pressure" on that nerve. So I finally did it on December 23... had my arm in a cast for one day....in a compression sleeve for 2 more days... now my stitches are out and today I did biceps.... 40 pound dumb bells with no pain.
The surgery is called PIN release (posterior interosseous nerve). This sports doctor said it's really common in baseball players from throwing to hard but he has seen it in body builders as well. I was skeptical.... even though this guy is a DOCTOR...was the ortho for the U.S Olympic team, the U.S. Junior Olympics, Florida Gators and now for the Texas Rangers....AND he showed me his scar where he had it done.
So far...I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The only other option was to not lift weights anymore..... and we know that isn't going to happen.
Find a SPORTS doctor and ask about that..... a regular Dr. is only going to put you on anti-inflammatories and tell you to not lift anything heavy.

Good luck