Huge loss of strength in right arm yet no pain, really frustrated :(

[aesthetique]

Hey guys,
In the last 2 weeks i've experienced a huge loss of strength in my right arm, some exercises far more noticeable than others.

Short background which is most likely related:
About two months ago i pulled my neck 3 weeks in a row doing shoulder presses. Most likely due to looking up at the weights which i've corrected.
Took about a week to recover each time and i could feel the soreness/pain go down my neck and down around my shoulder blade.

Ever since then, the right side of my neck and trap have felt a bit weird/painful, especially when i look up. No pain during exercises, however at times i would feel a dull, almost kind of burning soreness around my right shoulder/trap when my shoulder was resting/neutral.

When i started noticing loss of strength in right arm
About 3 weeks ago i started to notice a slight loss of strength doing side raises, that week i didnt notice much else.

About 2 weeks ago i got sick, took a week off, came back when i was abot 90% and lost heaps of strength doing upperbody work, figured it was coz i hadn't fully recovered

About 1 week ago did another session of upperbody, huge loss of strength still, completely frustrated/bummed/angry because i have no idea why.

Excercises where i noticed the biggest loss of strength on the right arm:

- bent over rows: i could see my right trap was lagging hard and made my form look lopsided coz i guess i was compensating.
- pull ups/chin racks/cable rows/rows/prettymuch any pulling movement: again, could feel and see that my right arm was dying out straight away
- shoulder press: this exercise felt weird coz i couldnt even get up super light weight on my right arm, balancing felt awkward, kind of the way you feel when you're pumped up almost at failure
- preacher curl: did arms individually, right arm (im right handed btw) couldn't even lift half of the left, again balancing/form felt really awkward

I was initially thinking it was my bicep because it feels like i can't tense it as hard as usual but its probably not the case.

After today (back n shoulders), im thinking its more my shoulder. specifically the middle and posterior deltoid as my flat bench and incline hasn't suffered as much as the other excercises.
I'm planning to see a physio because this is seriously bumming me out

But has anyone experienced anything similar?

inb4 tldr
cliffs:
- huge loss of strength in right arm
- over the course of 3 weeks
- most noticable in pulling excercises
- no pain at all (atm, see how i pull up tomorrow) other than dull trap and shoulder sensation few weeks ago from prior neck pulling

hope i get some responses!

[PJRolls]

I am the PERFECT person to help you with this..as I am currently going through it/recovering...

Let's begin.

Got the exact same injury/pain from doing shoulder presses! Just down my left side instead of right. Did it twice before and the third time I did it I suffered the same loss of strength as you playa.

I currently dont really have any pain, just an impingement in my neck at full flexion or extension.

Ive been seeing a physio for different injuries, but he sent me to see his chiro in office, as she was better suited to help me.

What's happened is your probably have a slightly dislocated disc in your neck that is cutting off a nerve or impinging it. The nerve runs all the whey down your arm from your neck to your hand.

You'll want to get an xray just to make sure there's nothing more serious..but assuming you have the exact same injury as me, you'll want to see a specialist/physio/chiro that can work on losening up the nerve.

My chiro works from my hand up my arm, then lat up my neck, massaging it out and using some tool to loosen the nerve. I've started to regain some strength. She's showed me some stretches and said one or two more session I should be about back to normal (so about 4-6 total sessions at chiro).

I know its SUPER frustrating, but know that it's pretty easy to fix once diagnosed properly. But ya, don't wait for it to get better, seek help, and get it worked on.

Once they loosen up that nerve you'll have function back. Make sure you work ALOT on your stretches and flexibility as lack of this is probably why this happened in the first place.

Hit me up if you got more q's

[aesthetique]

I am the PERFECT person to help you with this..as I am currently going through it/recovering...

Let's begin.

Got the exact same injury/pain from doing shoulder presses! Just down my left side instead of right. Did it twice before and the third time I did it I suffered the same loss of strength as you playa.

I currently dont really have any pain, just an impingement in my neck at full flexion or extension.

Ive been seeing a physio for different injuries, but he sent me to see his chiro in office, as she was better suited to help me.

What's happened is your probably have a slightly dislocated disc in your neck that is cutting off a nerve or impinging it. The nerve runs all the whey down your arm from your neck to your hand.

You'll want to get an xray just to make sure there's nothing more serious..but assuming you have the exact same injury as me, you'll want to see a specialist/physio/chiro that can work on losening up the nerve.

My chiro works from my hand up my arm, then lat up my neck, massaging it out and using some tool to loosen the nerve. I've started to regain some strength. She's showed me some stretches and said one or two more session I should be about back to normal (so about 4-6 total sessions at chiro).

I know its SUPER frustrating, but know that it's pretty easy to fix once diagnosed properly. But ya, don't wait for it to get better, seek help, and get it worked on.

Once they loosen up that nerve you'll have function back. Make sure you work ALOT on your stretches and flexibility as lack of this is probably why this happened in the first place.

Hit me up if you got more q's

Cheers for the reply,
Just saw the physio last night (first consultation) and it definitely seemed like she suspected it was something of that nature.

Area in question was the c7-t1 junction, pushed down through my trap where i could feel radiated pain around my shoulder blade, not too sharp, and no pain down my arms. wants me to come back to massage and loosen up my trap n shoulders i guess.

So after the consultation i obviously went home and did my own research into it, very worried as to the severity of my injury but i guess a proper diagnosis is the first step.

I think ill follow your experience and visit the chiro instead of going back to the physio, really do hope one can sort it out in a few sessions!

At this stage im obviously gonna take it easy on the lifting, most likely only do leg press style machine excercises once my trap has healed up, still fairly sore from the treatment.

two questions:
- low bar barbell squat. avoid like the plague or should be okay? its my favourite exercise =( but i obviously don't want to exacerbate the problem
- what do you think caused your impingement during shoulder press specifically? i think in my case it may have been looking up at the weight whenever i was doing shoulder press, did not leave my neck in a neutral state looking forward. Ive had rotator cuff problems in the passed and freak out about the weight possibly falling behind my neck

thanks alot for taking the time to post, will rep on recharge

[PJRolls]

Hey man, smart job on taking it easy on the lifting until you got it all sorted out.
As for your questions.
1)
Personally, I have been doing low bar barbell squats, I don't know if that's necessarily the smartest thing, but I Have been able to. To be fair though, it's been rather light, as I've had some lower back issues, so I havent been squatting significant weight. To be honest, sounds like you love them and do them alot, so use this opportunity to do some different leg exercises. Leg press, 1 leg press, extensions, curls, maybe try front squats (ive done those and not had issues, again, be careful), maybe higher rep lunges etc.
2)
I've gone for x-rays and my spine is shown to not curve as much as many peoples. It's weight cuz i've shoulder pressed 1000's of times, and got really good at it, but had some pain in my wrist, so switched to smith machine which I could hold and avoid my wrist bending back. It was then that I hurt it the first time. I think my mechanics being off cuz of the wrist were probably the cause. But having been looked at, i've been told im SUPER tight up top (like my traps, rhomboids, lats etc), are all pulling up, so it just may have been the straw the broke the camels back. Very likely it happened from you looking up though. I usually press with DB's, but was using the smith, so had to lean my head back a bit while doing it, which is why I assume this happened.

let me know if you got any more questions.

If you go to a chiro, make sure they don't just adjust your neck, really make sure that they loosen up the nerve. Not that they cant adjust your neck, but you need to get that nerve loosened up to get strength back.

I think my issue was around my c5,c6 if i remember correctly

[rahulsk]

bro did it completly cured fa u guys or its still there? plz help me wot to do nw

[amundsondan]

I have the exact same issue as both of you and I REALLY appreciate your posts as I went to the doctor and he couldn't find anything wrong with me and didn't even send me to a PT. I know I have a nerve impingement in my neck as my right arm also suddenly lost all strength and my pointer finger is numb on my right side. I went into the gym one day and all of a sudden could hardly do a pushup and my pullups were extremely lopsided. I also feel no pain from this. Can you please let me know if PT is necessary. I know you said they use a specific tool for loosening up the nerve but do you think I could just sauna, stretch, rest and massage and have it go away..? Also how long of a process was this for you from the time you were diagnosed to the time you were able to hit the gym again. I'm pulling my hair out not being able to lift ha. I appreciate any help!

[AJIT29]

Thanks a lot....a lot relieved after reading your comment on the injury. I am up with the physio for last 3 days and feeling lot better. Still long way to go for being 100% fit. I was at the peak of bodybuilding at this injury ****ed me very badly. Disappointing and frustrated... Visited a orthopedic who suggested me to go surgery if i had to continue with my bodybuilding. I guess i injured myself while doing heavy bar squats.

[aesthetique]

i get people replying or messaging me about this thread from time to time so i may as well reply here with a long term update.
Still welcome to accept message if anyone has anything to ask though.

In short, my lifts are the strongest they've ever been. There is no perceivable loss of strength or even day to day pain. I wouldn't go as far as saying i'm 100% though. For the most part i don't feel any discomfort, but from time to time i can tell that something isn't quite right. For a fair time i kept up with the physio's excecises which did help show improvement, not so much at the moment (bad, i know).

In my case, the initial area in question was my cervical spine, however now i'm more inclined to believe that is to do with a muscle imbalance in my lower traps which causes one side to hang lower and round my shoulders forward. Pretty common occurrence for desk workers who slouch over a lot, compounded by overworking chest without myofascial release and stretching and underdevelopment of the lower traps. This along with muscle inflammation is what i'm lead to believe caused my impingement.

Gzus has a great thread about just about every kind of muscle imbalance there is, extremely useful read - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=123812871

This won't be the case for everyone reading this so please don't take my advice over the advice of a professional. In saying that, always get a second opinion.

[prshnk]

I am the PERFECT person to help you with this..as I am currently going through it/recovering...

Let's begin.

Got the exact same injury/pain from doing shoulder presses! Just down my left side instead of right. Did it twice before and the third time I did it I suffered the same loss of strength as you playa.

I currently dont really have any pain, just an impingement in my neck at full flexion or extension.

Ive been seeing a physio for different injuries, but he sent me to see his chiro in office, as she was better suited to help me.

What's happened is your probably have a slightly dislocated disc in your neck that is cutting off a nerve or impinging it. The nerve runs all the whey down your arm from your neck to your hand.

You'll want to get an xray just to make sure there's nothing more serious..but assuming you have the exact same injury as me, you'll want to see a specialist/physio/chiro that can work on losening up the nerve.

My chiro works from my hand up my arm, then lat up my neck, massaging it out and using some tool to loosen the nerve. I've started to regain some strength. She's showed me some stretches and said one or two more session I should be about back to normal (so about 4-6 total sessions at chiro).

I know its SUPER frustrating, but know that it's pretty easy to fix once diagnosed properly. But ya, don't wait for it to get better, seek help, and get it worked on.

Once they loosen up that nerve you'll have function back. Make sure you work ALOT on your stretches and flexibility as lack of this is probably why this happened in the first place.

Hit me up if you got more q's

Hell sir,
very very helpful advice i am also having same problem with my left arm while doing low bar squat at the time of racking the bar my neck got press after two three days i have got pain in left trapeziums its very painful to look up and getting tingling pain towards forarms now after one week i dont have that much pain but i loss strength of left arm i cant even do bicep curl 12kg while by right hand i can lift 17kg and left arm struggle to maintain the position while bent over barbell rows please suggest me what do i do.

[Waltzy96]

I am the PERFECT person to help you with this..as I am currently going through it/recovering...

Let's begin.

Got the exact same injury/pain from doing shoulder presses! Just down my left side instead of right. Did it twice before and the third time I did it I suffered the same loss of strength as you playa.

I currently dont really have any pain, just an impingement in my neck at full flexion or extension.

Ive been seeing a physio for different injuries, but he sent me to see his chiro in office, as she was better suited to help me.

What's happened is your probably have a slightly dislocated disc in your neck that is cutting off a nerve or impinging it. The nerve runs all the whey down your arm from your neck to your hand.

You'll want to get an xray just to make sure there's nothing more serious..but assuming you have the exact same injury as me, you'll want to see a specialist/physio/chiro that can work on losening up the nerve.

My chiro works from my hand up my arm, then lat up my neck, massaging it out and using some tool to loosen the nerve. I've started to regain some strength. She's showed me some stretches and said one or two more session I should be about back to normal (so about 4-6 total sessions at chiro).

I know its SUPER frustrating, but know that it's pretty easy to fix once diagnosed properly. But ya, don't wait for it to get better, seek help, and get it worked on.

Once they loosen up that nerve you'll have function back. Make sure you work ALOT on your stretches and flexibility as lack of this is probably why this happened in the first place.

Hit me up if you got more q's

I can't even express how much this helped me, you are an absolute life-saver. I have the same trouble in the exact same spot, around c7-t1. I'm seeing a chiropractor today, hopefully it'll be good to go soon. I lost easily 50% of the strength in my right arm from this and it freaked me the heck out when I first realized. Your response got me to do the research to see the possibilities and this must be it. Thanks, homie.

[RickySood]

Hi
Did you manage to find solution of your problem as i have the same issue for last 6 weeks now. Been to chiropractor and GP bit nothing is helping. I am panicing and worried. Just wanted to check with you if managed to sort this out somehow? I am only 35 year old.
Thanks
Ricky

[musclecakes378]

I am the PERFECT person to help you with this..as I am currently going through it/recovering...

Let's begin.

Got the exact same injury/pain from doing shoulder presses! Just down my left side instead of right. Did it twice before and the third time I did it I suffered the same loss of strength as you playa.

I currently dont really have any pain, just an impingement in my neck at full flexion or extension.

Ive been seeing a physio for different injuries, but he sent me to see his chiro in office, as she was better suited to help me.

What's happened is your probably have a slightly dislocated disc in your neck that is cutting off a nerve or impinging it. The nerve runs all the whey down your arm from your neck to your hand.

You'll want to get an xray just to make sure there's nothing more serious..but assuming you have the exact same injury as me, you'll want to see a specialist/physio/chiro that can work on losening up the nerve.

My chiro works from my hand up my arm, then lat up my neck, massaging it out and using some tool to loosen the nerve. I've started to regain some strength. She's showed me some stretches and said one or two more session I should be about back to normal (so about 4-6 total sessions at chiro).

I know its SUPER frustrating, but know that it's pretty easy to fix once diagnosed properly. But ya, don't wait for it to get better, seek help, and get it worked on.

Once they loosen up that nerve you'll have function back. Make sure you work ALOT on your stretches and flexibility as lack of this is probably why this happened in the first place.

Hit me up if you got more q's

Can I please pm you regarding this? Anxious to know what this similar issue that I have is.

[hudsonrules]

I have the exact same issue as both of you and I REALLY appreciate your posts as I went to the doctor and he couldn't find anything wrong with me and didn't even send me to a PT. I know I have a nerve impingement in my neck as my right arm also suddenly lost all strength and my pointer finger is numb on my right side. I went into the gym one day and all of a sudden could hardly do a pushup and my pullups were extremely lopsided. I also feel no pain from this. Can you please let me know if PT is necessary. I know you said they use a specific tool for loosening up the nerve but do you think I could just sauna, stretch, rest and massage and have it go away..? Also how long of a process was this for you from the time you were diagnosed to the time you were able to hit the gym again. I'm pulling my hair out not being able to lift ha. I appreciate any help!

This is me exactly. How did things work out for you?