Chronic Forearm pain in the snatch

[80sMediumSized]

For about 9 months now I've had varying degrees of forearm pain upon receiving snatches. Its sort of a sharp muscular ache, but sometimes the bones themselves hurt as well. Usually for several minutes after a set of snatches it continues to ache and is tender to the touch. It doesn't subside until like 20 minutes after I've finished snatching. It seems to be at its absolute worst on reps where I nearly miss behind and have to adjust to save a lift. It isn't a wrist thing either, it's much lower and deeper in the forearm itself, but I never have elbow problems either. The pain is kind of all over, but seems to be more on the "tan" side of my forearm and not so much on the bottom. There are never any problems with it while I'm not snatching.

I was recently out of commission for 4 full weeks after dealing with an unrelated injury. I returned a little while ago and my forearms felt fine while snatching the first few sessions, but within a week I was having problems with them again. I'm only training 3x a week currently.

It seems to respond well to NSAIDs taken prior to training; there's still some pain but its more manageable and not crippling like it can be if I forget to NSAID for whatever reason. At one point a few months ago even with NSAIDs it got really severe and the pain was just too intense to snatch at all.

This doesn't seem to be going away on its own and I still have no idea whats causing it or how I should go about treating this. I'd appreciate any help or advice.

[scskowron]

Does it hurt like right in the middle of the forearm and occasionally radiate upward to the wrist? Does it hurt more when you drop the weight rather than when you are holding onto it?

If so, I had that for a few months and can suggest on what to do.

[80sMediumSized]

Originally Posted by scskowron

Does it hurt like right in the middle of the forearm and occasionally radiate upward to the wrist? Does it hurt more when you drop the weight rather than when you are holding onto it?

If so, I had that for a few months and can suggest on what to do.

1. No, 2. YES

[scskowron]

Originally Posted by 80sMediumSized

1. No, 2. YES

Ok, it is probably similar to what I had. I don't know what I had exactly...my theory is that it was a pinched nerve. It hurt like heck for months in that I dreaded snatching because I knew it wouldn't hurt when I snatched, only when I dropped it.

My solution was that I did two things that seemed to help within a couple weeks:
- shoulder dislocates with a broomstick every single day for 5-10 minutes
- reverse wrist curls (to work the TOP part of the forearm, not the bottom part)
- rubber band finger expansions. Basically wrap a rubber band around your fingers and try to open your fist.


The idea here is that something in your forearm is probably knotted up or there is an imbalance, which is either pinching a nerve or causing inflammation to radiate up to the wrist. Since in weightlifting you grip the bar a lot, it's probably not the bottom of the arm that's weak, but rather the top.

[80sMediumSized]

Originally Posted by scskowron

Ok, it is probably similar to what I had. I don't know what I had exactly...my theory is that it was a pinched nerve. It hurt like heck for months in that I dreaded snatching because I knew it wouldn't hurt when I snatched, only when I dropped it.

My solution was that I did two things that seemed to help within a couple weeks:
- shoulder dislocates with a broomstick every single day for 5-10 minutes
- reverse wrist curls (to work the TOP part of the forearm, not the bottom part)
- rubber band finger expansions. Basically wrap a rubber band around your fingers and try to open your fist.


The idea here is that something in your forearm is probably knotted up or there is an imbalance, which is either pinching a nerve or causing inflammation to radiate up to the wrist. Since in weightlifting you grip the bar a lot, it's probably not the bottom of the arm that's weak, but rather the top.

Okay I'll give these things a try. I should add that it hurts the most for a fraction of a second when I first catch it over head, then doesn't hurt just holding it there, then hurts again when I let go of it. Also the pain has completely subsided on the right side, but the left is still quite bad.

[agavurin]

I was about to start a post about this exact thing. Last night I had to cut snatches short bc of this pain. Will try the things suggested here. Any new suggestions welcome too

[the tigers]

Hey hate to bring up old stuff, but how did this work out for you guys?

Another thing I have seen is to get tighter at the shoulders/upper back, but I dont feel like this is the issue.

Otherwise I am going to play with my technique and just keep pushing the good days and backing off on the bad ones...

[minivari]

If so, I had that for a few months and can suggest on what to do.