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Squat induced sudden tension headache
Tuesday, I was having a hard time getting the bar centered while squatting. At 245 -- which is heavy-ish for me but not super heavy, I had to stop and re-rack midset to get the bar correct. I realized this particular "gym shitty" bar doesn't have any center knurling and that was making it hard for me to feel right with it -- it just got in my head. During a 205x8 backoff set, I had the same problem and was conscious of the bar not feeling right, sort of moving around a little. On the eight rep, coming out of the hole, BLAM. I got a splitting, throbbing pulsing tension headache like getting struck by lightning. I finished the rep and my 135x13 backoff but it was a real bitch -- I was almost dizzy.
I figured I must have over torqued something in my right kneck because my right traps and neck were tight and sore. I took 800 mg of ibprofen, drank a few quarts of water, and felt OK by the end of the day -- still sore, still with the headache, but survivable. Felt a touch of it yesterday but not really noticeable.
Today went over to do OHP's. My regular warmup routine, which I've done since starting, is to get on the recumbent cycle, set the "Heart Rate" thing to 120, and ride for 5 minutes. As soon as my HR got to 110, BLAM! Same thing as Tuesday only worse. I couldn't even finish the warmup, and figured that trying to lift would be super dumb, so I showered to relax a bit and took 800mb of ibu, ate lunch. That was about 1.5 hours ago and it's improved a little bit still noticeable.
Have any of you guys experienced this? I'm a little concerned since it came BLAM out of the blue today. I'm going to take tomorrow and the weekend off and see how warmups go on Monday. Hopefully a weekend of eating, drinking some beer, and taking it easy will fix whatever ails me.
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Many years ago (30?) I had this happen to me when lifting heavy for me. It was incapacitating, and the workout had to stop. I'd have to lay down until it passed. The pain seemed to go from my neck up the back of my head and onto the top. My doctor have a shot of what he called a "muscle relaxant", and it never happened again. I've always wondered if it was a placebo. Anyway, it worked.
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I've had (what I think are) exertion headaches on two separate occasions. It was a sudden horrible pulsing pain through my head and I had to lie down for about half an hr before I could get up to leave. It was really bad for the entire rest of the day and was still quite bothersome for a couple days after. I didn't have any tight traps or neck or anything though. The more recent one occurred when I squatted 165x42 in a minute for a contest thing at my school gym. I had to take a week off the gym and two weeks of squatting and take it light for a bit after that. Took lots of ibuprofen too. Yours doesn't sound as bad as mine was though, and it may not even be the same thing. I don't know if it'll help but make sure you're breathing between reps and drink enough water.
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How do you know it's a tension headache and not a migraine? Many times tension headaches are caused by tight muscles in the neck and jaw. Sometimes tensing up certain muscles during strenuous exercise can trigger an attack in already tight muscles.Originally Posted by CimmerianInTraining
Get yourself to a massage therapist, physiotherapist or acupuncture. Anyone who can do soft tissue releases like ART, dry needling, trigger point injections, etc.... See if they can find any tight muscles or fascia in your neck and TMJ and get it taken care of.
Source: I'm an acupuncturist
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That's probably good advice -- I've got an appointment tomorrow.
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Keep us updated of the findings!
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So, had two sessions with the chiropractor (Dr gonet in Attleboro MA if anyone wants a lifting-friendly chiro who does ART, myofacsial release, etc). Got some ART and squatted light yesterday and deadlifted about 75% of my 1RM today, feels good - nothing out of the ordinary. If this comes up for anyone else, look for ART.
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