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Thread: Just the Arm Please

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Default Just the Arm Please

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    Need some help with this, other stuff listed only in case it relates to my left arm.

    I have been feeling some left shoulder pain, and my left arm has felt 'weak' lately. Even my bone felt sort of crushed/compressed. But the pain is very very dull, so I haven't really worried about it, though I've definitely been favoring that side.

    Anyway, I go to squat today, and first set I have to dump the bar on 5, first time ever. Second set I barely get 4 and rack it, spent. I'm still GMing the weight a bit, so I deloaded to 185 to work on form. I grunt out 2 reps for set 3 (30 pounds lighter) and have to rack. Bummer.

    Deflated, I go to bench, and as I set my feet my left hip, right at the groin, starts, um, freaking out. Like I can't hold my leg there, some crazy type of hip pressure forces me to move it closer to the bench. My hips have always been kinda funny, and the only thing that doesn't go away in warmup sets for squats is groin/hip tenderness. I have to gingerly try again and it feels like it's dislocating. Eventually I get it to stay calm, but my left leg is as close to the bench as I can get it.

    Hip weirdness I can take. Unfortunately my left arm basically collapses on my work set (1st rep). It feels like the inside of my elbow just gives up, no real pain, just collapse. I actually managed to grind out 4 reps, but it feels like my right side is doing most of the work (though the bar stayed pretty even). It was like something on my left was not contributing to the movement.

    So, now my left arm, at the shoulder and inner elbow, has a dull throb, and my left side feels 'weak,' I did not want to rerack 45 pound plates with my left arm.

    And now my left pinkie is mostly numb. Am I having a stroke, being a wuss, or do I have an injury I need to care for? My initial reaction is to really deload and avoid all pressing exercises.

  2. #2

    Default

    random question, but are you left handed?

  3. #3
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    Mar 2010
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    Default

    I am right handed, and have been feeling wrist/arm pressure after squats as well due to bent wrists.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    122

    Default

    It sounds like you might have a pinched nerve...especially that numb pinkie. Do you know a good chiropractor?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    11

    Default

    You're not having a stroke. There's a specific nerve going to the pinky and half of the next finger (don't remember what it's called in english) as well as that side of the hand. I pinched that nerve myself a while ago, and it took over 2 weeks before it felt normal again. I'm fairly certain this happened when I was squatting, I've probably been supporting the bar too much with my hand instead of my back.

    You can see the nerve on this picture, it's the dorsal branch of the n. ulnaris;

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._extremity.gif

    Regarding the hip, I don't know exactly what's going on, but I've had some hip/groin pain myself. I just started warming up slowly, doing leg swings to warm that specific joint up.

  6. #6
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    Feb 2010
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    Default

    Don't forget to ice it.

  7. #7
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    Default Wedding Ring

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    Just an update, I'm pretty sure it was caused by accidentally wearing my wedding ring one day under the bar, so I think I did pinch that nerve, as well as bruise a couple finger bones. I took it off about halfway through my sets, but the bone soreness I feel now on both fingers lines up perfectly with where my wedding ring sits.

    I've only forgotten to take it off that one time, and I won't forget again.

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