Pulled Brachialis Muscle

[Girya_Owl]

I pulled the brachialis muscle in the front of my left arm a couple of weeks ago, and have had to lay off training for that time. No snatches or cleans, and, after trying a few swings and feeling some pain even then, no more training for a while.
How can I prevent these kinds of pulls from happening in the future? Would appreciate any feedback.

[mc]

Originally Posted by Girya_Owl

I pulled the brachialis muscle in the front of my left arm a couple of weeks ago, and have had to lay off training for that time. No snatches or cleans, and, after trying a few swings and feeling some pain even then, no more training for a while.
How can I prevent these kinds of pulls from happening in the future? Would appreciate any feedback.

1) see an rkc about your form to make sure it's perfect
2) see a z-health or ck-fms person (who may also be an rkc) to check your overall movement to see what may need to be tuned globally to reduce issues of recurrence.
3) bonus: see a z-health coach to help your movement even as you're repairing to reduce any movement foibles that may begetting in the way of your recovery

mc

[Steve B.]

I feel your pain.
I injured my forearm a week and a half ago but not from any KB exercises.
I am very fortunate it only hurts when i rotate my hand clock wise.
It hurts about 50% less as of today.
I developed a good size bruise a couple days after it happened which means some type tear deep inside.
I only did two hand KB swings up to a couple days ago and get ups with no pain.Yesterday i completed a Vo2 max workout low volume with no ill effects.Moving foward with caution with the rest of my training.I will see a doc if i have any other problems.
How did you hurt your forearm?
Good luck on recovery.

[HouseOfAtlas]

Are you talking about the brachioradialis? I ask because you said, "I pulled the brachialis muscle in the front of my left arm....". The brachialis muscle is underneath the actual bicep muscle. The brachioradialis is part of your forearm.

If you are talking about the brachioradialis, it could be caused by a muscle imbalance. I believe that the majority of people have stronger wrist flexors than wrist extensors. We are always gripping kettlebells, barbells or dumbbells and in doing this, our flexors get stronger. But our extensors don't. A muscle imbalance between the flexors and extensors can cause injuries like tennis or golfer's elbow.

Try working on your wrist extensors by putting a rubber band (or a few of them depending on the type of rubber band) at the tip of all your fingers and opening up your hand. Or you can just put a rubber band around an individual finger and the thumb and move them away from each other.

I am currently fighting off some tendonitis around the same area and the rubber band exercise is working out very well. I've always had weak forearms and it's finally caught up to me. I've iced my arms, took more fish oil, stayed away from the weights and all that but it seems like the rubber band "training" is working the most. I've had to lay off training for over two months but now I'm getting close to going back to training.

Good luck and keep us informed on how everything works out

[Girya_Owl]

Originally Posted by HouseOfAtlas

Are you talking about the brachioradialis? I ask because you said, "I pulled the brachialis muscle in the front of my left arm....". The brachialis muscle is underneath the actual bicep muscle. The brachioradialis is part of your forearm.

If you are talking about the brachioradialis, it could be caused by a muscle imbalance. I believe that the majority of people have stronger wrist flexors than wrist extensors. We are always gripping kettlebells, barbells or dumbbells and in doing this, our flexors get stronger. But our extensors don't. A muscle imbalance between the flexors and extensors can cause injuries like tennis or golfer's elbow.

Try working on your wrist extensors by putting a rubber band (or a few of them depending on the type of rubber band) at the tip of all your fingers and opening up your hand. Or you can just put a rubber band around an individual finger and the thumb and move them away from each other.


I am currently fighting off some tendonitis around the same area and the rubber band exercise is working out very well. I've always had weak forearms and it's finally caught up to me. I've iced my arms, took more fish oil, stayed away from the weights and all that but it seems like the rubber band "training" is working the most. I've had to lay off training for over two months but now I'm getting close to going back to training.

Good luck and keep us informed on how everything works out

No, it was the brachialis, underneath the bicep in my left upper arm.

[faizalenu]

not because I don't believe it is awesome, but I am not certified in it.

Without seeing you snatch, I will almost guarantee that the problem is with your drop. My though is that at the bottom of the drop that you are not getting your hips back first, which causes your arm/elbow to slow the bell down. Since the muscle that's cross the elbow are stretched, they can get pulled.

You could also have a muscle imbalance between the front and back of the arm - predisposing it to injury.

[HouseOfAtlas]

Originally Posted by Girya_Owl

No, it was the brachialis, underneath the bicep in my left upper arm.

Hmmm.... if that's the case then I would have to say warming up more than you do now would help from it happening again along with more stretching. Deep tissue massages are well worth it. Rice socks (rice in a sock warmed up in the microwave for 1-2 minutes) really get the area I am targeting warmed up. Also, a hot shower before working out has gotten my heart rate going along with a fully warmed up body.

[Shawn M]

I have injured the brachioradialis muscles on both of my arms at different times. My theory is that there is a lot of supination and not enough pronation strength...if my memory serves me pavel says somthing similar in resiliant