Finger pain, can’t even lift dumbells

I’ve started weight training last April, and was progressing well into I started to get finger pain around August. It progressed to being very painful during towel pull ups (tight grip), and even dumbell curls, with the stress going through the hand (which you wouldn’t usually be aware of).

I’ve been x-rayed, the doc said it’s not arthritis, but tendonitis, and just gave me gel and cream.

I’ve recently done zero training, as even push ups were painful. The fingers are getting very slowly better, but my index fingers on both hands are still very weak, and painful with any weight through them at all, even just in daily life.

I seem to have good days, then bad days where I seem to get pain in my index fingers for no reason.

Has anybody had this? How did you recover? What timeframe am I realistically looking at? Why did it happen?

Brother. Hard pill to swallow. But take a deload week every 4 to 6 week. Seriously!

There are several ways to Deload. What works for me is I up the weight to 90% 1RM and do 2 sets of two to three reps.

I’ve tried taking a whole week off, reduce weight and keep same sets and reps, reduce sets but this seems to work best for me. It’ll be like magic.

Your muscles recover faster than tendons and joints and after a few weeks you need to give them a good break by letting them heal.

I was spinning wheels for a whole couple years and I’m now progressing faster in my lifts too

I had this in my thumb. I ignored it for a few months. Went to doc. He said nothing wrong.

Then it started in the right foot. Pain at the point where toes meet the foot

Then strayed in my left foot where the tendons run on top of the foot onto the legs. Right there.

Who would have thought.

I’ve just started the Deload and pain was gone 70% by the time week was finished. It’s 100% gone in the left foot and right foot 90% gone now in the thumb.

Good luck. Deload is your friend.

I bet it was the towel pullups that did it. No need for that, just do conventional pullups with a nice solid grip

For now you'll just have to do what you can without training through pain. Tendonitis can take a long time to get better but it's best to keep the hand (and wrist) moving but don't do anything too hard.

[QUOTE=SuffolkPunch;1628738963]I bet it was the towel pullups that did it. No need for that, just do conventional pullups with a nice solid grip

For now you'll just have to do what you can without training through pain. Tendonitis can take a long time to get better but it's best to keep the hand (and wrist) moving but don't do anything too hard.[/QUOTE]

Yes this. I took 8 days off to back off the pain in my thumb and feet. It didn’t get much better till I started lifting again (and also had to change my grip cuz my thumb was getting extra force the way I was holding the bar - I was holding behind the knuckles and I moved it down like an inch - hard to explain but it’s improved since then)

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I’m often away for work, so I deload every month for 6-10 days at a time. That also helps a niggly old rotator cuff injury that plays up.

I’ve been doing forearm tendon stretches the last week or so, and it’s the best progress I’ve had. I also found a trigger point 2-3cm below my elbow that’s quite sensitive, so massaging that, and is improving.

Saw the doc, and he actually showed the the same stretches, so feeling confident.

Fingers crossed could be back in action in a couple of weeks (minus towel pull-ups!!)

Just as a follow up, in case anyone else with the same problem as me finds this thread...

Turns out the main problem is swelling on tendon sheafs and joints, mostly in the palm of my hands. About a cm below the index finger, into the palm of my hand is the main culprit. Same with the little finger area. Also the lowest knuckle in the index finger, where the tendon attaches. A few painful spots on the outer side of hand too.

Applying deep pressure to all these points and holding it for 20-30 seconds, plus circular motion deep massage, and massaging across the tendon is working fantastically well.

Also splinting the worst fingers whilst asleep to stop them stiffening up in the bent position.

Well on the mend!! It’s been a long journey though, with pretty useless advice from the docs.

It’s not trigger finger, but the same cause and treatment.

Thanks all.