OK, so I posted recently about beginning O-lifts, and thanks for all the advice. Now I have a new question, a little weird maybe.
I have been working on deep squats, OH squats, and shoulder flexibility, preparing to get into the gym for real - I am moving soon and not in a gym now.
But after a few days over the last week or so, I noticed my thumbs were very tingly after the w/o of OH squats with broom/light bar, broomstick snatches, etc. Last time I did these they were tingly for days.
I warmed up with shoulder circles, broomstick stretches, etc. I was trying to progress carefuly. Anyone every do this? Have I messed up a nerve in my arm? The thumbs are nearly normal now…
yes.
i get persistent numbness when using hook grip for OL.
its a function of anatomy; compressed nerve.
[quote]thehammer8 wrote:
yes.
i get persistent numbness when using hook grip for OL.
its a function of anatomy; compressed nerve.[/quote]
DUH! Right, I am also using more hook-grip in the lifts I can do in my equipment deprived life… so, is this permanent? Do I just need to prepare for nerve compression for as long as I want to hookgrip Olift? Oi.
[quote]ledfist wrote:
thehammer8 wrote:
yes.
i get persistent numbness when using hook grip for OL.
its a function of anatomy; compressed nerve.
DUH! Right, I am also using more hook-grip in the lifts I can do in my equipment deprived life… so, is this permanent? Do I just need to prepare for nerve compression for as long as I want to hookgrip Olift? Oi.[/quote]
I don’t know about the numbness, but after OLing with the hook grip for a while I have built up some nice callouses on the thumb. That’ll help you too. If you have good callouses on the thumb and you still have numbness later…i don’t know what to say.
While it certainly could be something else, my first two guesses would be
A) You’re letting your wrists flop back, which does all sorts of funky things to your wrists and the nerves running through them
B) You may have had carpal tunnel or a similar condition beginning to develop and O-lifting/the hook grip is inflamming the condition
Could also just be inflexibility in the muscles about your wrist causing things to jam up a little. A little test for a common problem:
Wrap your fingers around your thumb, just like you were going to do a hook grip, and slide your thumb as far in as possible. Now, keeping your forearm stationary, move your wrist as though you had a hammer in your hand and were trying to drive a nail. If this is really painful, get it looked at by a professional (soft tissue or otherwise).
If it isn’t really, try just using straps until you can talk to your coach about it and see if that alleviates the problem. It could just be too much hook grip too fast.
-Dan