I have been getting pain in my forarm. It runs right along my left ulna. I can feel it most when doing curls. Now I don’t want to stop doing curls but what can I do to let it heal or something. Best yet what is it? Should I think about getting wrist straps? Thanks for any advice.
DB
I’ve had it. It takes forever to go away - I don’t know what else to say. Take Bushy’s advice and hope for the best. I totally empathize with ya though, it sucks. (forever=roughly 6 months in my case)
WTF!!! dammit …fuck I am falling apart. Shit …ok been taken advil and working out. Is it ok to put load on it or am I maken it worst? Should I get wrist straps or something. Use a machine for curls and use and open palm. Damn it I don’t want to quit working out cause some tendon issue.
Bushy is spot on in my opinion.
Stay well clear of curls for at elast a few weeks, preferably a few months.
I found doing chins didn’t aggrivate the pain too much and it’s great for biceps so if you’re the same - stick to chins only for the biceps.
Other than that, stick to movements that pull on the arms - deads, rows, shrugs whatever, but don’t do curls - you’ll only make it worse and extend the amount of time it’ll take to rectify.
Ice - ART and rest.
[quote]Duke wrote:
Bushy is spot on in my opinion.
Stay well clear of curls for at elast a few weeks, preferably a few months.
I found doing chins didn’t aggrivate the pain too much and it’s great for biceps so if you’re the same - stick to chins only for the biceps.
Other than that, stick to movements that pull on the arms - deads, rows, shrugs whatever, but don’t do curls - you’ll only make it worse and extend the amount of time it’ll take to rectify.
Ice - ART and rest.[/quote]
I’m sure he’s right - I kept curling…took at least six months before it went away…lots of advil/IB/Naproxen, drink lots of water
*let me guess: when you finish a set and put the bar down it feels like your arms are on fire and you have to shake them?
Dirtbag I feel your pain, literally. Lucky for me I plan on backing off on arm for several months. Sure hope it helps, it’s really a pain in the forearm LOL! Best of luck dirtbag.
I had this problem too, I kept pushing it with barbell curls until one day something tore while I was doing DB preacher curls.
It took about 9 weeks before I could do curls again and I realized it was barbell curls that really irritated the tendon.
I found I could do pull-ups without irritating the tendon while I recovered, so I didn’t have to ignore my biceps.
It’s best to step back and carefully evaluate which movements irritate your arm and stop doing that immediately, seek a Dr.'s advice if you’re not sure.
I now avoid barbell curls and just use DB’s, and so far that problem hasn’t returned.
It may be something else entirely different in your case though.
simply rest the damaged area or else you will be out for a long time
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
dirtbag wrote:
WTF!!! dammit …fuck I am falling apart. Shit …ok been taken advil and working out. Is it ok to put load on it or am I maken it worst? Should I get wrist straps or something. Use a machine for curls and use and open palm. Damn it I don’t want to quit working out cause some tendon issue.
No offence, but taking 'killers to mask the pain and then working out that area, is just about the stooopidest thing you can do.
The pain is there for a reason. Ignore it at your peril.
You’re not falling apart, you just have an overuse injury. Rest the area. In fact, why not do what I did when I had rotator cuff tendonitis; train exclusively lower body for about 6 weeks.
Bushy[/quote]
No offense Bushy but anti-inflamatory’s are a far cry from pain killers. I believe anti-inflamatory’s should be used in this condition even if he does stop the curls to help the healing process. I certainly would agree that taking vicodin or the like and hitting the iron would be foolish to say the least, but I didn’t reach that conclusion from the OP’s posts.
Just to clarify, I do not think you should keep doing BB curls. Take the advice and find an alternative way to work your biceps or stop working them altogether. You may actually come back stronger by incorporating some exercises that you had not previously been performing - so, there is a bright side.
Peace,
Mousse
Dude I feel your pain. I have the same problem and it sucks. For me it happens extremely bad with barbell preacher curls. I honestly think this is what caused the problem to begin with. I noticed by gripping the bar tight when doing standing barbell curls that it makes the pain severe. Try loosening up on your grip when curling.
Instead of putting your thumb on top of your pointer finger and middle finger closest to the nail, try resting your thumb on the bar itself. Thumbs pointing straight out.
This helped for me big time and you still get a nice pump on your bis.
In the mean time though try to stick with dumbell curls to take so much stress off of your forearms. Hammer down some fish oil pills too. (They arent just for your joints)
Hope this helps.
Most anti-inflamatories contain pain killers as an added component.
I agree, they could be used in his condition, but not to allow him to continue training.
In fact, most anti-inflamatories blunt the effect of training. There’s a study about that somewhere.
I think it has something to do in your grip. Perhaps you squeeze the bar to hard? Do you have the same problem with rowing movements?
Roll your forearm over a tennisball. Press down on it with the other hand as hard as you can tolerate.
Also, using a brace might help.
An interesting write up on the negative affect of using NSAIDs by Dr Fahley on another site
http://www.masterstrack.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=657
[quote]hel320 wrote:
An interesting write up on the negative affect of using NSAIDs by Dr Fahley on another site
http://www.masterstrack.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=657
[/quote]
Interesting, I wasn’t aware of this. Makes you wonder though - what would be the body’s adverse reaction if you took enough supplements to offset the free radicals brought on by NSAID use…and on and on.
It seems as though Newton’s 3rd law holds true more often than not outside the realm of physics.
You can achieve an anti-inflammatory effect by eating the right foods. Fish oil is obvious, but eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and minimizing packaged and processed foods will minimize inflammation and improve many chronic problems associated with inflammation.
Stu
[quote]stuward wrote:
You can achieve an anti-inflammatory effect by eating the right foods. Fish oil is obvious, but eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and minimizing packaged and processed foods will minimize inflammation and improve many chronic problems associated with inflammation.
Stu[/quote]
+1
If it only seems to hurt while doing curls, it may be the beginning of lateral epicondylitis. I’m probably not spelling that right, but if you want to search, most people call it tennis elbow (or maybe it’s golf elbow… i’m not on a roll today).
Anyways, I’d drop the curls for a few weeks, and start prioritizing work for the forearm and finger extensors; reverse wrist curls, and exercises for the finger extensors using manual resistance. You won’t regress just because you take a few weeks of not doing curls, it might even be good for you.
While taking the time off, I’d start working on the inflammation that is most likely present. Ice, and a high dose of fish oil can help with this.
Interesting approach to healing up tendonitis:
http://www.jacksonkayak.com/articles07/article.cfm?article=200803042
I was recently doing hammer curls with high (for me) weights and really felt it. I had gotten tendinitis before mostly from pull-ups, but that went away, almost overnight, after a couple of weeks. Not this time.
Now, I avoid any movements that cause pain. No more hammer curls, but I can do bent-over lats with a supinated grip, and chins are also fine (but definitely not pull-ups). Stopping or altering various exercises has really made a difference, and hasn’t impacted my workouts all that much.
I’ve also recently started icing and massaging as well (3-5 minutes icing, 2-3 minutes massage, then another 3-5 minutes of ice). That and Tiger Balm, which may not actually help, but certainly feels great.