over active nerves?

[Alan21]

Hey everyone. I have been noticing that I seem to have an issue when lifting that causes me to have odd mild pain and discomfort in my arms\wrists. It is very strange and sometimes doesn't show up until a day after lifting or hours later. Is this normal or does anyone else have something like this?

[DrMarcPT]

Hey Alan21,

I'm a physical therapist with experience in these types of issues. I can give you some general information which may help you out. The cervical nerves (brachial plexus) exit the sides of the vertebrae in your neck. They travel between the scalenes muscles, under the collar bone (clavicle), and under the pectoralis minor. Tightness in the scalenes and pec minor can put pressure on the nerves after certain exercises.

Personally, I would get numbness/tingling in my wrists and hands after doing squats because of the position of my arms on the bar. I had limited upper back mobility and tightness in your pecs that put excessive pressure on the nerves when my arms were raises in that position.

Hope that helps!

[Alan21]

Yes that seems to be what everyone has told me but no real solution. I started with a sports doctor who does strength training and is a chiropractor. He was helping till then I stopped seeing him because he hit something under my armpit/lat area that felt like the injury came back. I than went saw my primary care who sent me to physical therapy who gave me some good pointers and some exercises to stretch/ open the shoulder area up but I still can’t lift overhead without some issues. The first guy I saw mentioned and had me working on head placement as I had my head out in front of my body so I’ve worked on that a lot and think I have come a way from that. The physical therapy people said the head placement was a good start but that my secondary muscles in my back area are weak so the primary muscle is over working. I have no clue how to fix or correct that. I’ve tried dumbbell ohp with light weight about 10-15 lbs and that can even cause issues