forearm pain?

[A-GAME]

ive had this forearm pain ever since i can remember training...it runs along the underneath of the bone...it hurts most when i use it of course...mostly doing barbell curls,dumbell curls and anything else that requires a tight grip...any ideas what it may be guys? or how i can fix it without stopping training? it feels warm and i found that icing it helps but i dont have enough ice packs to ice it for long...any ideas or help appreciated??

[PhreakyMike]

I think people call them forearm splints. I had them last year. Especially on Preacher Curl. They would hurt A LOT! I'd take it easy for a few months. Don't do preacher, just do barbell curl and maybe some dumbell. After a while, it'll go away. Mine did. Just bear with it. If it gets really bad, say when you're doing shrugs or deadlifts, either wear straps, do a different workout, or leave. I found some days I just couldn't take the pain.

Maybe it's your forearm just growing or you might have pulled something either way, it will go away after a few weeks

[A-GAME]

yeh i hope so...thing is im on cycle atm week 10 so i cant really afford to have time off especially at this point in time...

[PhreakyMike]

You should still be able to work out. I kept my schedule, it's just when it gets really bad, it might bug you enough not to finish the set. I'd recommend using straps even for light weights. You'll look like a dork but at least you'll save yourself from the pain.

[A-GAME]

yeh i mite actually...stretching and ice is helping more than i expected after todays session so maybe ill be kool in the next few days..thanks for the advixe dude.......

[fre3ze]

i have the same dam problem but only my left forearm hurts and not my right one.

[A-GAME]

my left arm hurts more...stretching alot before and after training has been helping and straight after training if its hurting ice it...thats whats helped me lately anyways...

[dbrunner00]

ive had this forearm pain ever since i can remember training...it runs along the underneath of the bone...it hurts most when i use it of course...mostly doing barbell curls,dumbell curls and anything else that requires a tight grip...any ideas what it may be guys? or how i can fix it without stopping training? it feels warm and i found that icing it helps but i dont have enough ice packs to ice it for long...any ideas or help appreciated??

Had the same problem a few months ago. Turned out that the bicep could handle the load, but the forearms were weak. Backed off the curl weight about 20% and added a few extra reps, instead. Then added forearm work to the routine. Forward and reverse wrist curls and finger rolls. Problem cleared after the forearms strenghtened up.

[andygtturbo]

right now i have the pain in my forarms but its slowly goin away. i recremend high reps 12 to 15 try keep more pressure on the biceps then the forarms if ya no wat i mean. and during sets kind of massage ur forarms to get the blood flowing that helped for me.

[CanadianFE]

I had this about 6 months ago after goin hard on the preacher bench for a couple weeks. I stopped using the preacher bench and the pain went away but i found myself neglecting the bi's. Id suggest taking a month off from the preacher bench. When you go back be careful when lowering the weight and dont let your arms go straight at the bottom of the rep. If you keep your elbows bent at the bottom of the rep and when you're placing the weight back down, you wont get it. Atleast its helped for me. Just recently i've been noticing it again on the preacher, but i find when i follow the form i just mentioned, its not a bother.

[orsum]

Physical Therapy Corner: Tennis Elbow
by admin ? last modified 2007-03-08 10:46
What is Tennis Elbow ?
Tennis elbow is an injury to the muscles and tendons on the outside (lateral aspect) of the elbow that results from overuse or repetitive stress. The narrowing of the muscle bellies of the forearm as they merge into the tendons create highly focused stress where they insert into the bone of the elbow.

________________________________________
Mechanism of Injury
Lateral epicondylitis
Injury to the lateral aspect of the elbow is the most common upper extremity tennis injury. Tennis elbow is generally caused by overuse of the extensor tendons of the forearm, particularly the extensor carpi radialis brevis. Commonly experienced by the amateur player, this injury is often a result of (1) a one-handed backhand with poor technique (the ball is hit with the front of the shoulder up and power generated from the forearm muscles), (2) a late forehand swing preparation with resulting wrist snap to bring the racquet head perpendicular to the ball, or (3) while serving, the ball is hit with full power and speed with wrist pronation (palm turned downward) and wrist snap which increases the stress on the already taught extensor tendons.
Medial epicondylitis
Medial epicondylitis is less common and characteristically occurs with wrist flexor activity and pronation. Medial epicondylitis can result from (1) late forehand biomechanics where the player quickly snaps the wrist to bring the racquet head forward, (2) the back-scratch or cocking phase when serving, which places tremendous stress on the medial tissues of the elbow, (3) in the right elbow of a right-handed golf swing by throwing the club head down at the ball with the right arm rather than pulling the club through with the left arm and trunk (also referred to as "golfers elbow"), or (4) improper pulling technique with certain swim strokes, especially the backstroke (also referred to as "swimmers elbow").
It should be kept in mind that elbow epicondylitis is not limited to those persons playing tennis, golf, baseball or swimming and can result from any activity that puts the lateral or medial compartments of the elbow under similar repetitive stress and strain (e.g., hammering, turning a key, screw driver use, computer work, excessive hand shaking).
________________________________________
Signs and Symptoms
General
? difficulty holding onto, pinching, or gripping objects
? pain, stiffness, or insufficient elbow and hand movement
? forearm muscle tightness
? insufficient forearm functional strength
? point tenderness at or near the insertion sites of the muscles of the lateral or medial elbow
Specific
Lateral Epicondylitis Medial Epicondylitis
painful resisted wrist extension painful resisted wrist flexion
painful resisted radial deviation
(bending wrist toward pinky) painful resisted forearm pronation
(palm facing downward)
palpation tenderness of the lateral epicondyle palpation tenderness of the medial epicondyle
________________________________________
Rehabilitation - What You Can Expect
Epicondylitis, both medial and lateral, is a common and often lingering pathologic condition. It is critical, therefore, that you progress your rehabilitation only when you experience minimal or no pain. For more on when and how to progress, see below.
As a general guideline, the more chronic or longer you have experienced the condition, the longer the recovery time is to be expected (up to 8 weeks).
________________________________________
Rehabilitation - What should I do, when should I do it, and how?
Epicondylitis often becomes a chronic problem if not cared for properly. For this reason, it must be stressed that the rehabilitation process should not be progressed until you experience little or no pain at the level you are performing. Regaining full strength and flexibility is critical before returning to your previous level of sports activity.
In general, the rehabilitation process can be divided into three phases:
PHASE 1
Goals: decrease inflammation and pain, promote tissue healing, and retard muscle atrophy. During the acute stage of your injury, whether the medial or lateral elbow is affected, follow the RICE principle:
? Rest - this means avoiding further overuse not absence of activity. You should maintain as high an activity level as possible while avoiding activities that aggravate the injury. Absolute rest should be avoided as it encourages muscle atrophy, deconditions tissue, and decreases blood supply to the area, all of which is detrimental to the healing process. Pain is the best guide to determine the appropriate type and level of activity.
? Ice - is recommended as long as inflammation is present. This may mean throughout the entire rehabilitation process and return to sports. Ice decreases the inflammatory process slows local metabolism and helps relieve pain and muscle spasm.
? Compress and Elevate if appropriate to assist venous return and minimize swelling.

[orsum]

PHASE 2
Goals: Improve flexibility, increase strength and endurance, increase functional activities and return to function.
Stretching
Gentle stretching exercises including wrist flexion, extension and rotation. The elbow should be extended and not flexed to increase the amount of stretch as required. These stretches should be held for 20-30 seconds and repeated 5-10 times, at least twice a day. Vigorous stretching should be avoided - do not stretch to the point of pain that reproduces your symptoms.

Strengthening
With the elbow bent and the wrist supported perform the following exercises:
1. Wrist Extension. Place 1 lb. weight in hand with palm facing downward (pronated); support forearm at the edge of a table or on your knee so that only your hand can move. Raise wrist/hand up slowly (concentric contraction), and lower slowly (eccentric contraction).

2. Wrist Flexion. Place 1 lb. weight in hand with palm facing upward (supinated); support forearm at the edge of a table or on your knee so that only your hand can move. Bend wrist up slowly (concentric), and then lower slowly (eccentric)(similar to exercise above).
3. Combined Flexion/Extension. Attach one end of a string to a cut broom stick or similar device, attach the other end to a weight. In standing, extend your arms and elbows straight out in front of you. Roll the weight up from the ground by turning the wrists. Flexors are worked with the palms facing upward. Extensors are worked with the palms facing downward.
4. Forearm Pronation/Supination. Grasp hammer (wrench, or some similar device) in hand with forearm supported. Rotate hand to palm down position, return to start position (hammer perpendicular to floor), rotate to palm up position, repeat. To increase or decrease resistance, by move hand farther away or closer towards the head of the hammer.

5. Finger Extension. Place a rubber band around all five finger tips. Spread fingers 25 times, repeat 3 times. If resistance is not enough, add a second rubber band or use a rubber band of greater thickness which will provide more resistance.

6. Ball Squeeze. Place rubber ball or tennis ball in palm of hand, squeeze 25 times, repeat 3 times. If pain is reproduced squeeze a folded sponge or piece of foam.

For all of the exercises (except combined flexion\extension) perform 10 repetitions 3-5 times a day. With the combined flexion/extension perform until you feel fatigue. With all exercises use pain as your guide - all exercises should be pain free.
When to progress. Begin with a 1 lb. weight and perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions. When this becomes easy, work up to 15 repetitions. Increase the weight only when you can complete 15 repetitions 3 times without difficulty. The axiom "No Pain No Gain" does NOT apply here.
After exercising, massage across the area of tenderness with an ice cube for about 5 minutes. You might also try filling a paper cup half-full with water and freeze; peel back a portion of the paper cup to expose the ice.
PHASE 3
Goals: Improve muscular strength and endurance, maintain and improve flexibility, and gradually return to prior level of sport or high level activity.
Continue the stretching and strengthening exercises emphasizing the eccentric contractions of wrist flexion and extension. In this regard, since the eccentric contractions are movements with gravity, do not let the weight drop too quickly; lower the weight in a controlled fashion. With the combined wrist flexion/extension exercise, work on increasing speed when rolling up the string with the attached weight as this will improve endurance.
When your symptoms are resolved and have regained full range of motion and strength, you may gradually increase your level of playing activity. An example of one gradual progressive return to tennis is as follows:
Lateral Epicondylitis Medial Epicondylitis
15 minutes forehand only 15 minutes backhand and lobs
30 minutes forehand only 30 minutes backhand and lobs
30 minutes forehand and two handed backhand 30 minutes backhand, lobs, forehand (no top spin)
45 minutes forehand and backhand 45 minutes backhand, lobs, forehand
45 minutes all strokes 45 minutes all stokes
Serve Serve
Full play Full play
Competitive play Competitive play
________________________________________
The Scoop on Bracing
Lateral counter-force bracing is believed to reduce the magnitude of muscle contraction which in turn reduces the degree of muscle tension in the region of muscular attachment. The counter-force brace is essentially an inelastic cuff that is worn around the proximal (near) forearm (against the forearm extensors for lateral epicondylitis and around the forearm flexors for medial epicondylitis).
In theory, the brace constrains full muscle expansion when the muscle contracts, diminishes muscle activity, and therefore the force generated by the muscle. An analogy is the fret on a guitar; when you exert pressure on a different fret along the neck of the guitar, it changes and reduces the tension on the guitar string above where the pressure is exerted.
The counter-force brace can be worn beginning in Phase 2 of your rehabilitation program. However, adhere to the following caution: do not become dependent on the counter-force brace and gradually wean yourself off its use during Phase 3. Counter-force bracing is a supplement to, not a replacement for your rehabilitation program.

[darkcoder]

my left arm hurts more...stretching alot before and after training has been helping and straight after training if its hurting ice it...thats whats helped me lately anyways...

what exactly do you do to stretch your forearm ???

[Danrules14]

i am currently going through the exact same thing in only my left forearm/elbow area, and its definitely the preacher curl because its the newest thing ive been working on in my routine because i am recovering from an ankle injury and therefore cannot stand and hold weights. At the moment, i am taking 2-3 days off with some heating and icing, but hope to return without the pain..we'll see how things go.

[Abryant]

I have this same problem, its definatly the preacher bench that caused mine. I find that more reps on a lighter weight is much more comfortable and the pain becomes less after each set. Even better still, for some reason doing barbell preacher curls doesnt seem to hurt half as much. Im just going to try and work through the problem and hope it clears up.

[cobra94]

I just got this back a few days ago, i had it all through highschool. the only time it hurts me is when i put the weights down. while i do the exercise its fine, and its when my palms face up,.

[groovyslick]

Orsum, sorry to disagree with you but,

He said the pain runs along the bone on the underside... epicondolitis is pain at the attachment site..the epicondyle. the previous post about "forearm shins" is closer to the truth. I have expereinced the same pain especially after tough arm and back workouts.

The problem is all the the forearm flexors, especially felxor carpi ulnaris and friends. forearm stretches help..just bend the wrist back with the fingers makeing sure not to put too much force on the wrist, you dont want to compress all those carpal bones. and, I know I say it all the time..get someone to give you some deep massage! on the forearm. you will find that most of the discomfort is is the last 1/4 nearest the elbow maybe last 1/3 if you have long muscle bellies. massage it really good, you can even use some heat on it before you massage it to speed up the process. but massage it twice a week for a few weeks and it should be remarkably better.

that way you dont need to slow down your training. the only thing I would say about slowing down is when you notice the forearms getting tired during workouts, just during this recovery period, use some straps or hooks to finish your workout.

good luck!

feel free to email me if you have any questions.

jason

[orsum]

no problem groovyslick

[ExtremistPullup]

take some time off and let it heal ( go away) and find another bicep routine that won't inflame the tendons in your forearm. eventually try the old exercise again.

[gymaddict786]

PHASE 2
Goals: Improve flexibility, increase strength and endurance, increase functional activities and return to function.
Stretching
Gentle stretching exercises including wrist flexion, extension and rotation. The elbow should be extended and not flexed to increase the amount of stretch as required. These stretches should be held for 20-30 seconds and repeated 5-10 times, at least twice a day. Vigorous stretching should be avoided - do not stretch to the point of pain that reproduces your symptoms.

Strengthening
With the elbow bent and the wrist supported perform the following exercises:
1. Wrist Extension. Place 1 lb. weight in hand with palm facing downward (pronated); support forearm at the edge of a table or on your knee so that only your hand can move. Raise wrist/hand up slowly (concentric contraction), and lower slowly (eccentric contraction).

2. Wrist Flexion. Place 1 lb. weight in hand with palm facing upward (supinated); support forearm at the edge of a table or on your knee so that only your hand can move. Bend wrist up slowly (concentric), and then lower slowly (eccentric)(similar to exercise above).
3. Combined Flexion/Extension. Attach one end of a string to a cut broom stick or similar device, attach the other end to a weight. In standing, extend your arms and elbows straight out in front of you. Roll the weight up from the ground by turning the wrists. Flexors are worked with the palms facing upward. Extensors are worked with the palms facing downward.
4. Forearm Pronation/Supination. Grasp hammer (wrench, or some similar device) in hand with forearm supported. Rotate hand to palm down position, return to start position (hammer perpendicular to floor), rotate to palm up position, repeat. To increase or decrease resistance, by move hand farther away or closer towards the head of the hammer.

5. Finger Extension. Place a rubber band around all five finger tips. Spread fingers 25 times, repeat 3 times. If resistance is not enough, add a second rubber band or use a rubber band of greater thickness which will provide more resistance.

6. Ball Squeeze. Place rubber ball or tennis ball in palm of hand, squeeze 25 times, repeat 3 times. If pain is reproduced squeeze a folded sponge or piece of foam.

For all of the exercises (except combined flexion\extension) perform 10 repetitions 3-5 times a day. With the combined flexion/extension perform until you feel fatigue. With all exercises use pain as your guide - all exercises should be pain free.
When to progress. Begin with a 1 lb. weight and perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions. When this becomes easy, work up to 15 repetitions. Increase the weight only when you can complete 15 repetitions 3 times without difficulty. The axiom "No Pain No Gain" does NOT apply here.
After exercising, massage across the area of tenderness with an ice cube for about 5 minutes. You might also try filling a paper cup half-full with water and freeze; peel back a portion of the paper cup to expose the ice.
PHASE 3
Goals: Improve muscular strength and endurance, maintain and improve flexibility, and gradually return to prior level of sport or high level activity.
Continue the stretching and strengthening exercises emphasizing the eccentric contractions of wrist flexion and extension. In this regard, since the eccentric contractions are movements with gravity, do not let the weight drop too quickly; lower the weight in a controlled fashion. With the combined wrist flexion/extension exercise, work on increasing speed when rolling up the string with the attached weight as this will improve endurance.
When your symptoms are resolved and have regained full range of motion and strength, you may gradually increase your level of playing activity. An example of one gradual progressive return to tennis is as follows:
Lateral Epicondylitis Medial Epicondylitis
15 minutes forehand only 15 minutes backhand and lobs
30 minutes forehand only 30 minutes backhand and lobs
30 minutes forehand and two handed backhand 30 minutes backhand, lobs, forehand (no top spin)
45 minutes forehand and backhand 45 minutes backhand, lobs, forehand
45 minutes all strokes 45 minutes all stokes
Serve Serve
Full play Full play
Competitive play Competitive play
________________________________________
The Scoop on Bracing
Lateral counter-force bracing is believed to reduce the magnitude of muscle contraction which in turn reduces the degree of muscle tension in the region of muscular attachment. The counter-force brace is essentially an inelastic cuff that is worn around the proximal (near) forearm (against the forearm extensors for lateral epicondylitis and around the forearm flexors for medial epicondylitis).
In theory, the brace constrains full muscle expansion when the muscle contracts, diminishes muscle activity, and therefore the force generated by the muscle. An analogy is the fret on a guitar; when you exert pressure on a different fret along the neck of the guitar, it changes and reduces the tension on the guitar string above where the pressure is exerted.
The counter-force brace can be worn beginning in Phase 2 of your rehabilitation program. However, adhere to the following caution: do not become dependent on the counter-force brace and gradually wean yourself off its use during Phase 3. Counter-force bracing is a supplement to, not a replacement for your rehabilitation program.

thanks will definitely try the routines out

[ger2oo5]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=133185523