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Thread: Debilitating bicep/arm pain and numbness after squatting

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeonidasfromSparta View Post
    With your permission Rip, I wanted to share my 2 cents on this topic. It has been discussed many times on the forum, and this seems like the typical bicep tendinitis. I've had it during SS (exactly same symptoms), like many others because of the incorrect placement and holding of the bar in the squat. I strongly suggest the OP to watch the useful video of Rip explaining bar placement in the resources page:

    http://startingstrength.com/index.ph...p width.<br />
    Thanks for taking the time to reply Leonidas. I've watched the video before but perhaps I need to really pick over it and examine my form again. In you r experience did the tendinitis leave you physically weak (at worst, barely able to raise your arms) and with the numbness? I'm off to the docs next week and am hoping it's just a form and/or bar placement issue. I'm not really sure whether you can see anything useful from the videos I've posted.

    Thanks again for your 2 cents.

    Rip, I'll get a decent video of my bar placement and grip tonight. Presumably the previous form checks are not good enough to show the details. Thank you.

  2. #12
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    They may be just fine, but I'm not going to look them up.

  3. #13
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    MiB,

    I looked up your vids...my feedback:

    - you are doing some really unpleasant shit to your brachialis and brachioradialis. Do you see how you drape your wrist over the bar? Don't do that. Move your hands out a little & keep your wrists neutral.

    - I'm willing to bet my balls that the musculature of your back & shoulders is soft during your squat. I'm not good enough to cue tightness over a forum post...but if I was working with you, I'd keep driving my thumb into your rear delt until you learned what 'tight' meant. So maybe have a lifting partner do that.

  4. #14
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    Sorry Rip, I should have embedded the videos ion the first post rather than link. Will do better in future.

    I had done and videoed my next session before I had a chance to read any of the posts since my last one so they don't take any recent advice into account. That said, thanks John Hanley, I'd spotted my droopy wrists from my last form check and corrected them anyway. Because I read your post after my workout I wasn't conscious of my rear delt tightness this time but will check next time (and get my GF to jab me, she'll probably enjoy that).

    I went back and rewatched the squat bar placement video. It's all as I remember but I paid particular attention to details and today felt overall more comfortable, although I couldn't tell what might have been different from before (apart from wrists). Today was a new PR.

    Anyway: 4 videos to hopefully help pinpoint the problem.

    Last warmup set (110kg, 242lb). The racking process is shown clearly so you can hopefully get a good idea of how the bar is sitting. This is the same grip width I used last session. (I can grip a lot closer but that seems to be more likely to cause the pain).


    Work Set 1 132kg (192lb) x 5


    Work Set 2


    Work Set 3


    I know that some of the reps were a bit wobbly or came forward but overall I was a lot happier with these. Crucially today my shoulder felt much better. There was still some pain after, maybe a 1-2 on the pain scale but still indicative of the problems I've been having to a varying degree but manageable today (no weakness after). If it was no worse than that every workshop I could manage.

    I've taken a picture showing the site of the pain but will have to upload it to another post due to the embedding limit.

    Hopefully this is all just down to my form error, which can be corrected, and not something more sinister. Thank you everyone.

  5. #15
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    As promised, here is a super flattering picture showing the pain spots from today's workout as best as I can identify them.
    . I don't know id this helps at all but these are the points it seems to radiate from when it gets worse. It was mostly inside the meat in the front and back of my arm but also a little on what felt like the rotator cuff.

  6. #16
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    Nothing here looks wrong enough to account for your symptoms. Maybe they'll go away.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Nothing here looks wrong enough to account for your symptoms. Maybe they'll go away.
    Thank you. I'll keep on the form checks and improvement and hopefully the pain will resolve or at least remain tolerable, as long as I can keep the numbness away.

    Thanks everyone for taking the time to look and help. Maybe I can rule out some possibilities with the doc, maybe not. At least I have a better understanding now.

    Lastly, I see that the picture didn't share as I meant it to. I'll have to fix that later when I'm at a PC.

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Man in the Box View Post
    Thanks for taking the time to reply Leonidas. I've watched the video before but perhaps I need to really pick over it and examine my form again. In you r experience did the tendinitis leave you physically weak (at worst, barely able to raise your arms) and with the numbness? I'm off to the docs next week and am hoping it's just a form and/or bar placement issue. I'm not really sure whether you can see anything useful from the videos I've posted.

    Thanks again for your 2 cents.

    Rip, I'll get a decent video of my bar placement and grip tonight. Presumably the previous form checks are not good enough to show the details. Thank you.
    The symptoms are exactly the same, numbness, physical weakness and a radiating pain in the bicep/elbow area, making it almost impossible to bench/press afterwards.
    As Rip already said form on the last videos seems acceptable and shouldn't cause the problem, even though more tightness during the whole set would certainly be better. Also in the last videos maybe you have fixed the gripping issue, and are doing it correctly. Keep us updated, and good luck with your training!

  9. #19
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    A bit late but here is a (hopefully) working version of the picture showing the pain spots.


    I'm not sure if this is any use, I'm just including for completeness. The resulting (minor) weakness from this affected the whole arm.

    I have been trying to find the picture I took last year showing location and intensity when it was down both arms but seem to have deleted it.

  10. #20
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    starting strength coach development program
    No picture. Again.

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