Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Forearm Nightmare

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    • 12/15/2013 at 2:50 am #70649
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Hey guys,

      I’m having a flare up of a forearm issue and I’m lost. 6 months ago I ran into two problems within two weeks; the first was while bench pressing and I heard a pop in my left tricep. There was no immediate pain or loss of ROM, but I took a couple weeks off just as a precaution. When I started up again I was doing a few sets of pull ups and my left forearm tightened up to the point that I couldn’t relieve the pressure or actively contract the area. I implemented various mobility techniques and nothing seemed to help. My initial self-diagnosis was a strained brachioradialis, so I let things settle down for a while and gradually regained the ability to conduct isolated contraction and strengthening.
      Fast forward a few months, I resumed light exercise and was making progress, although I would experience occasional short term flare-ups – even to the point where straightening the arm was uncomfortable/restricted. I decided it was time to see the best PT I could find, so I took a trip to SFCF and had Coach Roop take a look at things; he smashed my entire arm and used various manual therapy techniques to work the area. He concluded that there was nothing going on with the muscles in the forearm themselves, and thought it was perhaps a nerve issue originating upstream. 
      That was in early November and everything felt great until a few days ago when the old familiar pressure developed. The brachioradialis feels fine and the tightness is best described at being in the twin extensors midway down the arm (no pain to touch, but palpable feeling of pressure). I’ve been working on t-spine mobility (seems to help) and at various arm positions I can feel the problem area tense up, leading me to agree that this is bigger a nerve issue. The area feels junky (not painful) when holding the forearm with my opposite hand and supinating/pronating.
      I’m going to see a chiro on Monday to see if they have any additional recommendations, at this point I’m open to any alternative methods to alleviate this ridiculousness. I’m concerned because I haven’t even re-introduced strength training and this problem keeps coming back to haunt me. 
      Thanks in advance for your recommendations, you guys are an invaluable resource and greatly appreciated!
      Scott
    • 12/15/2013 at 11:22 am #73466
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      There are some good ART guys that can help treat a nerve problem. Are you in CA?

      I currently have a forearm problem from poor form and force absorption from 1 arm swings.  It turns out that the problem was further upstream in my tricep.  It is a hard area to hit with MWOD techniques because the area affected is the top/front edge of the tricep.  Hard to get enough pressure on that by yourself on a lacrosse ball, even against a wall.  Had to use Graston by ART guy, and also am doing home/self Graston every other day which is working well.  The tricep junk is clearing up, and that seems to be leading to downstream relief in the extensors of the forearm.
    • 12/15/2013 at 9:46 pm #73473
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Episode 291: Elbow Pain and Grody-Tacked Down Forearms
      Episode 236: Overhead Wrist Dysfunction
      Episode 35: Surviving the Airplane Seat

      Have you looked up/down stream of where you are seeing the issue?
      Tricep Smash
      Triceps Smash

    • 12/16/2013 at 1:25 pm #73484
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      David – 

      Yes, I’m in the Bay Area – I’ve found a few ART specialists nearby that I’m trying to schedule with. I was considering Graston a while back when this first happened, looks like it might be time to give it a go.
      Kaitlin – 
      Thanks for the links, those are great videos that I’ve watched many times over the past few months. I’ve been doing a lot of upstream work in the past few days and I’m feeling slight improvement, although afterward I can feel something in the forearm fighting for good position (whether it’s the nerve being irritated or otherwise), if that makes sense. 
      Everything upstream on the problem side now feels very supple, although the opposite (R) side is having problems getting loose (first rib/trap/levator scap area). My next logical question: could irritated nerve roots on the right side be affecting the left forearm, or am I reaching? I’ve had previous damage in the area from past kinks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m fighting with scar tissue there, but I’m continuing to work all the mobilization techniques I can find.
    • 12/17/2013 at 1:47 pm #73497
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Good to hear you are starting to see improvements.
      If you have had damage to the area in the past it could impact the area.
      Even if you are working through scar tissue continuing working on it.
      I can say from personal experience you can work through scar tissue and improve situations that others may say would not improve.

    • 12/17/2013 at 6:30 pm #73500
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Thanks, Kaitlin.

      I wen’t to a Chiro today who used some ART and other soft tissue techniques to work the area. Things were going swimmingly until the very end when he was working around the tricep tendon near the elbow. He manipulate the area pretty aggressively, and while the forearm feels ok, the tricep tendon/UCL area is now inflamed and painful to touch – I’m wondering if he nailed some scar tissue in that area a little too hard, or was digging into a ligament – who knows. 
      One problem to the next.
    • 12/17/2013 at 7:57 pm #73501
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Good to hear your forearm is improving.
      He may have needed to hit it more aggressively the first time to get it kick started to change and if there was start tissue there when its first worked on it can be painful. Things get moving and there could be alot in there. Make sure you are drinking alot. More than usual as there can be toxins in your blood from getting things moving again or more than they have been. And from scar tissue starting to break up. Need to get the system flushed. And do the same for the next couple of days. Make sure you are getting protein as this is needed for muscle repair. You can experience more soreness if your body doesn’t have what it needs to repair/recover from the day.
      Pro Episode # 32 – VooDoo Floss Series #1, Theory and Elbow
      Pro Episode # 34 – Voodoo Floss Primer: Elbow Part 2.
      Banish Your Elbow Bench, Dip, Pull Up Pain, You Don’t Really Play Golf or Tennis Do You?
      Burpee Smoked Elbows? Epicondylitis-ness? Voodoo it.
      You are hitting the next layer of things. As one starts getting resolved others can show up.
      Getting everything resolved may take some time, but it will stay resolved.
      Keep working through it with ART and things on you own.

    • 12/17/2013 at 8:12 pm #73502
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      Make sure you eat a lot of protein tonight. I found that if I didn’t eat enough id be sore. If I ate a big steak after, I would not be sore the next day. Give your body the protein it needs to repair damage caused by treatment.

    • 12/17/2013 at 9:47 pm #73503
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Thanks for the additional advice! Right now I’m in wait-and-see mode because honestly, it feels like he screwed something up. When I let the arm hang at full extension there is a pain which feels other than soft tissue soreness – hopefully I’m making more of it than it is, but it doesn’t feel good. Upon further exam it feels more to the medial side of the tendon where the ligament bundle is… I don’t know, this is so frustrating. Maybe the ulnar nerve? At one point during his treatment of that area, the upper half of the arm dropped as if I had no control over it.

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