Forearm pain/bruising

[Frank.S]

1. When did the pain begin?
Last saturday (4 days ago) initially, then yesterday I think I made it worse.


2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time?
After bench pressing. I worked up to 551lbs and felt the pain afterwards, but for all I know it could have been the warmup set that tweaked it. I think I felt something funny before the 551 but its hard to say.

3. Where, anatomically, is the pain?
Underside of forearm (sorry for not knowing anatomy). The pain is on the same side as my palm.

4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting?
Quite sharp.

5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions?
certain motions


6. What motions make your pain worse?
Flexion and Extension of wrist (hurts a little more with flexion, maybe)

7. What, if anything, makes your pain better?
pain killers

8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body?
no

9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury?
nothing, it just hurts a little when i touch it or move it.

10. What is your main concern regarding the pain and its consequences?
Being able to continue bench pressing heavy.

11. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how?
no

12. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period?

I initially hurt it on saturday and continued my workout including some somewhat heavy incline presses (250lbs). I squatted on monday which didn't effect it. Then yesterday I benched again going up to around 260lbs. The pain was constant throughout the sets but not bad enough to stop. I would have rated it a 2 out of 10.

This morning I wake up and the pain seems to have worsened slightly as well as a 3-4 inch thick bruise (brown/purple) on my wrist that starts at the midpoint of the underside of my forearm and continues up the outside until it stop at the top of my forearm (IE half of the bottom is bruised, and the side is as well).

The odd thing is, there is pain, but its not really bad? I took a cell phone picture to try to explain the bruising better:



any help would be great!

[Frank.S]

I'm being told ruptured tendon, is that plausible?

[Frank.S]

everyone ive seen about this has been of no help. 2 month wait to get anyone to look at it.

pain is substantially worse, bruising has gone down (its yellow/green now). It feels like things are grinding in my forearm at times, if I stretch my arm out I am getting pain radiating all the way to my shoulder.

One docs diagnosis was 'just a blown blood vessel' after looking at it, but he didn't even touch my arm and prescribed me an expensive anti inflammatory.

I think either a muscle is partially torn somehow or my forearm is fractured. Ive fractured this forearm before years ago, the pain is different now though.

I don't know what to do anymore.

[Aoife]

That kinda looks like the bruise Otto had when he tore his quad, that took quite a while to heal. Prolly an anti-inflam would help, as would ice, and some elevation.
But that's about all I know.

It seems like "blown blood vessel" is obvious… isn't that pretty much what all bruising is, when you simplify it?

[Pug]

Originally Posted by Frank.S

I'm being told ruptured tendon, is that plausible?

I would see an orthopedist ASAP. I recently ruptured my biceps tendon (lifting a lot less weight than you, btw) so I've been down this road. If you're still feeling pain, it may only be a partial tear which leaves some of the nerve still connected. That was the case with mine.

With potential tendon injuries you want to act pretty quickly to get it diagnosed because the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes to get you back to 100% because scar tissue starts to form. I was told with my injury that if I waited longer than 4 weeks to get the surgery done, they might have had to take a graft from my achilles tendon to make the repair. Since I acted within 10 days, that wasn't necessary. Your doc may order an MRI to aid in making a diagnosis.

Good luck !

[limonnas]

Bruising on forearm. Hey Guys! Ok so I have exhausted a few sites with no luck. Maybe someone here fond of a repetitive movement hobby will