Wow. So I have nerve damage

[kethnaab]

Went to the nerve specialist. He stuck some electrical thingees on me and poked me with needles and listened to the nerve conduction, and apparently I have some phacked up **** going on in my triceps and pectoral nerves.

Something about brachial plexus injury. Yet I didn't "hurt myself".

So now I'm stuck not working my pecs or triceps hard for "awhile"

His words:

"He cannot do upper body pushing exercises to muscle failure. Condition will likely slowly improve over the next 12-18 months."

He said that if I try to work my triceps or pecs hard, it will slow regeneration of the nerves in the area. He also said that the nerves that are damage are approximately 2 foot long, and that nerves regenerate about 1" per month.

So I'm looking at a good 2 years before I am 100% again.

Christ almighty, this sucks.

So now I have to find some exercises to "work my triceps and pecs" without working them too hard.

what a big fat bowl of f*ck this is.

[maxiw]

Is that supposed to be typical of lifters who go to failure?

[kethnaab]

I haven't done failure training in years.

This is probably more a result of my green-suit time than my iron time. *shrugs*

[maxiw]

Oh, what's green suit time?

[kethnaab]

soldiering. I'm an active duty army dude. Spent the last 14 years wearing a rucksack and body armor. Tends to break down the body a bit more quickly than desk time.

Of course, now, after the last 3 years, I finally get some desk time. Shame I can't put it to maximal use.

[orunderscores]

man that sucks, i hope you get better soon. maybe you should get a second opinion from another doctor.

[kethnaab]

I will be. I have an appointment with a Sports Medicine/Orthopedic specialist coming up here, but the MRI and nerve conduction studies are pretty cut'n'dry. Thx for the support, I hope I get better faster.

[W8isGR8]

I saw the title of this thread earlier, but I just now realized who started it. I'm sorry to hear about that, that's a bummer. At least now you can finally pursue that yoga/pilates dream you've always had.

Maybe you could just do an abbreviated routine form now on for chest/triceps. Is it just for pushing movements?

[kethnaab]

yeah, for the most part, I can still row kinda heavy. I can't do chinups or pullups too much anymore. I have to use real light weight pulldowns in place. *scowls with disdain* rows don't seem to be too bothered, but I can't really accelerate the bar with maximal weight because I have to do kinda "even motion" type exercises as I won't pull evenly.

Elbows are bugging the **** out of me too, probably from the massive strength imbalance I have now in that arm. Ugh. This whole situation sucks the ass end of a womprat.

[W8isGR8]

yeah, for the most part, I can still row kinda heavy. I can't do chinups or pullups too much anymore. I have to use real light weight pulldowns in place. *scowls with disdain* rows don't seem to be too bothered, but I can't really accelerate the bar with maximal weight because I have to do kinda "even motion" type exercises as I won't pull evenly.

Elbows are bugging the **** out of me too, probably from the massive strength imbalance I have now in that arm. Ugh. This whole situation sucks the ass end of a womprat.

Are iso's out of the question? Have you looked into Atrainer shrugs for lats? That will help take the arms out of the equation.

[kethnaab]

I haven't seen Atrainer shrugs. I can do Hammer Iso-lateral rows, I can do lightweight pulldowns, and I can do Yates rows, oddly enough.

Iso's are going to be an absolute must for chest and delts though. UGH!!!!

[mike_d]

Damn, sorry to hear that

For chest you can always do flies and stuff but no pressing....that sucks. I hurt my shoulder a while ago and it was a few months before I could really press anything so I kinda relate to what you're saying....2 years is a long time though man, sorry again. I hate those injuries that will heal in "a while".

[slippy]

Iso's are going to be an absolute must for chest and delts though.

You may want to consult with Wayne; he can help you a lot on this. Hey why are you pointing that gun at me . . .

[W8isGR8]

I haven't seen Atrainer shrugs. I can do Hammer Iso-lateral rows, I can do lightweight pulldowns, and I can do Yates rows, oddly enough.

Iso's are going to be an absolute must for chest and delts though. UGH!!!!

Well, I'm a pussy and I can do Lat shrugs with 250+

You just hook a pair of ab straps to the pull-down machine and slide your arms in up to the armpits. Then you just shrug your shoulders downwards. Pretty simple.

[MarlboroMan]

Went to the nerve specialist. He stuck some electrical thingees on me and poked me with needles and listened to the nerve conduction, and apparently I have some phacked up **** going on in my triceps and pectoral nerves.

Something about brachial plexus injury. Yet I didn't "hurt myself".

So now I'm stuck not working my pecs or triceps hard for "awhile"

His words:

"He cannot do upper body pushing exercises to muscle failure. Condition will likely slowly improve over the next 12-18 months."

He said that if I try to work my triceps or pecs hard, it will slow regeneration of the nerves in the area. He also said that the nerves that are damage are approximately 2 foot long, and that nerves regenerate about 1" per month.

So I'm looking at a good 2 years before I am 100% again.

Christ almighty, this sucks.

So now I have to find some exercises to "work my triceps and pecs" without working them too hard.

what a big fat bowl of f*ck this is.

if you didnt hurt yourself, what prompted you to get this checked out ?

[kethnaab]

if you didnt hurt yourself, what prompted you to get this checked out ?

I woke up one morning and, during PT, found out that I could not control the right side of my body during the downward motion of the first warmup pushup I tried to do

I later went to the weight room and tested the difference in strength in 1-arm pressdowns and a pec dec "thing"

I ended up doing 100 x 10 reps pretty easily with my left hand on some sillyass cable apparatus, but I only got 30 lbs for 6 reps before my irght arm stopped working

notice I didn't say that I reached muscle failure. My right arm simply stopped working.

the thing is that even if I find a "good" way to make isolations work for my pecs, I STILL have to go "easy" on them.

ugh. looks like I'll be doing cable laterals 3x per week now though :eyeroll:

[kethnaab]

You may want to consult with Wayne; he can help you a lot on this. Hey why are you pointing that gun at me . . .

oh....curse your genitals...that is LOW!!!

[CoQ10]

Dammit, I am so sorry to hear that! You are one of the best contributors to this board and it's such a shame that you'll be out of commission for a while .

Take care of yourself!

-C10

[Helis]

Man, that's a tough one. Best of luck in your recovery.

[kethnaab]

Dammit, I am so sorry to hear that! You are one of the best contributors to this board and it's such a shame that you'll be out of commission for a while .

Take care of yourself!

-C10

dude, I'm injured, I ain't dead! "Out of commission" my ass! If a soldier doesn't know how to adapt, he will die.

If I don't know how to adapt, I'll get fat and ugly. I'm already halfway there (UUUUGLY!!!) so I need to stay lean and green and mean and...whatever.

I just have to figure out how the hell to incorporate a bunch of isolation bull**** into my workout and, basically, redefine what has been my training philosophy for the last 20 years

I started off, 20 years ago, with the idea that I wanted to be the best squatter in the history of history. I always had strong legs and a moderate upper body, so I always was stronger (usually significantly so) on leg exercises than "the other boys". As a result, powerlifter dudes "adopted me" early on, and I always stuck with the basics.

Along the way, I got pretty big, despite all the ridiculous cardio I had to do to stay lean and do well on Army PT tests. So hence my attitude regarding isolations.

Now I have to pretty much pretend like everything I know was a lie and I have to forget it all and embrace something totally new. It's like I just found out about the Matrix or some ****.

oy vey. my head hurts just thinking about it.

[d2r2005]

good luck with recovery. it sucks to see/hear of anyone who gets an injury. godspeed.

[ecto-1]

Your attitute is inspiring -- and I'm sure you'll be able to adapt your routine to maintain size. I wish you all the best in your recovery and I hope that it happens more quickly than you've been told. I'm sure you'll learn a lot about patience, and that alone is probably a valuable lesson for us all. Good luck.

[kethnaab]

**** patience.

but thanks for the support guys. ugh.

[Carmen0857]

That sucks man, don't push it, never damage is nothing to F with, you can always regain what you loose after your better. Muscle memory is a beautiful thing, good luck.

[J.L.C.]

Good thing "isolations cause more hypertrophy in the targeted muscle"




Sorry to hear that man, all the pressure the rucksack puts on your shoulders and neck HAS to be hard on the plexus.

Make the docs eat their words by recovering in a quarter of the time!!

[JOHN GARGANI]

Keth: this does really suck! you are too good a man to have to endure this: however, buddy, I will tell you, that I had a total layoff in the middle of my life due to injuries, and as hard as it was psychologically, I learned from it and have been able to go at it full bore in the last 15 years......


I feel your pain, I have been there....the dreaded layoff word...

and YOU, of all people, relegated to: ISOLATION!!!! what a dirty word for you! AHHAHAHAHAHAHAH.....

just be careful...really.....don't sweat the time off...you still have a long life ahead of you soldier!

[kethnaab]

and YOU, of all people, relegated to: ISOLATION!!!! what a dirty word for you! AHHAHAHAHAHAHAH.....

*laughs* no **** man. Talk about painfully bitter irony. *sigh*

ah well. I'll get over it and end up larger and ripped. NO DAMNED CLUE HOW I'm going to manage this one though.

The good is that I can still do moderate weight deadlifts and rows, and I can still kinda putz around with hammer strength stuff. so yeah. *shrugs*

[DuracellBunny]

That's a kick in the n*ts

Only bit of advice I have to offer is that during the time off, get the regeneration checked even more often than the docs suggest. The estimates that they use for recovery are based on the "average Joe" and the iron worshipers amongst us tend to recover at different speeds to the mere mortals.

Find out from the docs what vitamins/minerals that the body uses in nerve regeneration as well and increase your levels of those. The one thing that the iron game has taught us is that if the body has more of what it needs in order to heal/recover, it will do so faster. The doc may well say it's a waste of time, but a lot of them say us eating so much protein is a waste of time too. You have nothing to lose by doing it

[MantisShrimp]

That sucks man. Chances are you already know how much it sucks, so I'll say this. Lemons to lemonade. It is now time for you to become the state squatting champion.

[DiamondDelts]

Sorry to hear about this Keth. Cause I can tell from your pic that you take your pressing very serious. Hopefully everything will work out in the end. I can sympathize though. I am still recovering from bell's palsy where my half of my face went paralyzed overnight. And the doctor told me the same story about the time needed for the nerves to heal. Scary ****. I would'nt even put that on my worst enemy.