Possible muscle strain
Hi,
I injured myself around 4 months ago during a weight training session. I was doing dumbell presses with heavy weight and as I tried to lift the weight, I suddenly felt wierd muscle movement on the left hand side of my upper back, just below the shoulder. There was no pain what so ever. I carried on training for atleast a week before I started feeling pain in that muscle. It was not constant pain, but kind of soreness which I only felt if I pressed the muscle or stretched my back. Since that time I have not trained or done any exercise because even if I stretch my back a little bit or lift a heavy weight, the injury becomes “fresh” either later on during the day or I can feel the effects the next morning.
If this was a muscle strain then how come it has still not healed after 4 months? Could it be due to the fact that I made it worst by training for a week after the injury (unkowingly).
The “soreness” feeling isn’t now as bad as it was in the first two weeks but it is still there every day.
Any suggestions about what this could be and what can I do?
Thank you!
_________________
Regards,
Junaid
6 comments
crewman6
Just an update – I did get Bonnie Pruden’s book ‘Pain Erasure’, and am currently reading it. In the meantime, I went to a chiropractor. He took some xrays, and told me I had ‘spun’ a vertebrae out of alignment, and dislodged the connecting point for 2 ribs. One was really loose, and he seemed very concerned that it might have punctured a lung. Anyway, a bit of work with him, and the pain is much better. I’m currently doing mild rehab exercises for it. The muscle still wants to cramp often, but strangely, seems worse on the days I don’t exercise than on the days I do. Overall it’s getting much better finally. Junaid, hope you’ve had luck with yours too. Thanks for the input!
crewman6
Thanks, Hollywood!
I’ll give it a try.
hollywood60064
It seems like you might have a trigger point. A tp is an irritable area of a muscle that causes weakness, pain, and dysfunction. that is causing a muscle or two to spasm. The doc will probbly be of no use to you, he will say you have a spasm and give you muscle relaxants, but they will not make the trigger point go away, therefor the spasm will continue.
Try finding a massage therapist who can do some trigger point therapy and then assign some stretching exercises specifically for the area that is giving you trouble.
Try
http://www.bonnieprudden.com
Read the book Pain Erasure, and order the tools they offer for self care if you would like to try to fix yourself.
But you should go see a pro first, to try to alleviate the pain right away.
Jorge
crewman6
Hi Junaid,
Thanks for the response. Sounds like we’re both on about the same page. I’ve had pretty similar experiences here, minus the doctor part. Heat really does help, as does massaging it. After months of living with it, if I compare how I started with how I am now, I can see improvement, but it’s so slow, I can’t tell on a week to week basis. No weightlifting, though I do ride my bike faithfully, and do gentle ab/lower back exercises. Good luck with yours!
Thanks again!
junaid
Sorry to say but I can’t really give you any good advice, if I could I would be the first one to use it on myself. I’m sure that you’ve learnt a few things about what activities are “comfortable” and what activities make your injury “fresh” again. What I try to do is avoid all these activities (for example twisting my back, lifiting on one shoulder) which makes the pain go away temporarily. I’ve noticed that any quick movements with my arms often bring the pain back, so I try to avoid them. To be honest, I haven’t received any convincing advice yet, therefore I’ve realised that the only sensible thing to do at this stage is go and see a physician. You should do the same! I went to see the doctor earlier but he said there is nothing wrong with me which really annoyed me because there is! Since I’m in England, I have to wait atleast 17 weeks before I get to see a physician (really annoying), until then there’s no weight training, no exercise. I tried heat treatment couple of weeks ago which helped slightly, may be you can give that a go – pour hot water (about 50 degrees) in a hot water bottle, wrap it in a towel, lie down and place it on the injured area. Keep it there until the water cools down.
Hope I’ve been of some help, since I can understand how frustrated you must be, well as much as I am atleast!
Best of luck,
Junaid.
crewman6
No answers for you, Junaid, just some questions. I’ve done the exact same thing you described, only when it started hurting, I thought it was the ‘good’ pain I keep hearing about, and continued for nearly a week before I couldn’t stand it. It’s been since last July, and while I have seen improvement, it still hurts easily, and will feel pulled and cramped with very little exercise. Have you found anything out yet? Any suggestions on the best way to heal? I’ve quit lifting weights since then. For the first 4 months, all I did was ride my bike, very little at first, then up to 12 miles a day. Now I’m riding 6 miles a day, and have carefully and gently begun doing some light ab exercises and back stretches (with some yoga-like lower back exercising). I ride every day, but do the ab and back work on alternating days. I’ve found ibuprofen to help when it feels most like cramping, and use a home massager with a warming option to ease the tightness.
It’s definitely healing, but so slowly I’m worried something serious may be torn.
If you have any new information to share, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks!
crewman6