Question about training with injury

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We have all, at one time or another had an injury that made workouts difficult. Some of us take time off to heal and others push through it. I am, for the most part a push through it guy based on whatever the issue is and how much pain there may or may not be. Mostly I find another exercise for the same muscle group that is not as stressful to the injured area or do same motion just very light weight and high rep. I am not sure what the correct answer is but that's how I roll. My current issue is not such an easy answer.

Back in September I blew through all sorts of plateaus and everything was firing on all cylinders. By mid October I noticed my Bench was starting to fall off a bit and I blamed it on a lack of sleep (maybe), bad nutrition (doubtful but it was a reason to throw around my head). It had to be something, maybe even just a couple of bad days (I am on a 3 on 1 off routine) that kept falling on Chest shoulder bicep day. What i started noticing was that as I pressed the weight up near the end of what my previous workout peak was, my left arm would easily get the full extension but my right arm was trailing. It wasn't a BAM right in your face type of thing, it occurred slowly as my workouts went on. Then I began noticing the same thing happening with my shoulder presses (DB or BB didnt matter. The right arm was not driving like the left). I finally realized there was a serious problem when I went out Bow hunting for the first time during the 18 season during the last week of October. I had a stud of a buck come in and at 15 yards I drew my bow to get ready to claim some venison. I could not pull my bow back. It was as if my right arm was not there. I do not do face pulls when working out and I would have probably realized there was a problem if that was currently an exercise I was doing at the time.

Its important to say that there was absolutely NO PAIN ever from the beginning of this.

Okay so now I knew there was a problem. I saw my doctor and he wanted Xrays and EMG. Nothing other than Carpal Tunnel which I knew I had. Finally he got me in for an MRI. The MRI showed something about narrowing in some channel at C4/C5 or C5/C6. They said this is probably pushing on a nerve going into my right arm. He immediately wanted me to see a neuro-surgeon which I declined asking for Phys Therapy instead and maybe some traction could help. He agreed and I start that the end of this month.

I am still training on a 3 on 1 off. I can kill legs and Tri's. Chest, shoulders, and even biceps are affected. There is a noticeable loss of muscle where my right posterior deltoid should be. Basically the doc said atrophy began once that nerve stopped stimulating the muscle. Although I haven't started Phys therapy yet I feel some strength coming back to my right side. I have at this point accepted the lowered strength and just work at that level to keep an even load on the muscle groups I am hitting. Hoping that I will keep both sides using the same loads to maintain some symmetry of strength as I recover. Still hitting it and amazed there is NO PAIN.

Would I do better using strictly dumbells for all my presses/curls using different weight loads on each side to maintain my strength on the left and then try to bring the right back up to par with the left? Or should I just do more work on the right with DB in addition to a BB workout?

Or would you recommend I stop all together? Thanks.
 
Just an update. Not here to say that continuing training was the right thing or the wrong thing to do for this injury it has apparently not hurt. The cause of the loss of strength is aforminaral (or something like that) narrowing of a nerve channel through the spine heading out to provide stimulus to the on the right upper portion of my shoulder and arm. Without repeating everything I put in before....I have been going to therapy (20-30minutes cervical traction 3x/w) for 2 weeks now. Therapist has asked me if I have continued working out and I let her know I have. Nothing either positive or negative about it, other than she has asked me if I have noticed any strength coming back. Strength gains have been occurring with each workout. Right side is still not where used to be but slowly coming back.

Interestingly enough when I started I mentioned the atrophy to my rear delt. When she looked at it she let me know that I was missing more than just the posterior delt. For the heck of it I decided to try the motion that let me know I had a problem. Pulling back on my bow. Well at first I felt that weakness but then I turned on some more power and i was able to pull it back into ********** I could not do that in October so I know there has been improvement other than watching my numbers go up during workouts.

Long story short for me continuing the workouts was the right thing to do. I stayed mainly with barbell as I found dumbells would have had to wide a disparity between each side depending on the lift. I would just offset the grip on the bar (Milt press/Bench/Inc Bench/BB Curl) so that the left was handling more of the load and as things started to fire again I have been moving to more even positioning. That being said its not like I was lifting the same loads as pre injury. All dropped by at least 20% and in some instances 30%. But by continuing I limited the amount of loss, and knew almost to the day that strength gains began returning.

Muscle groups that were not impacted such as legs and (believe it or not the Triceps.....nerves are wired crazy I guess) I have been able to move to new highs, something I would not have done if I had decided to sit on the sidelines and wait. Anyway.........I was getting ready to start a test only cycle when this came on and I obviously held off. Now looking at a start date sometime toward the end of this month or beginning of March.

Peace Out
 
BTW that narrowing was not caused by a slipped or ruptured disc or anything like that. Believe it or not it is due to arthritis. Just thought I would throw that out there.
 
Glad to hear that you are still able to workout, and that it's Not a Nerve Issue.

I had a Pinched Nerve in the Exact same position as you back in the 70's, after a Bad Car Accident.
I could Lift Heavy Weight OK, but I couldn't Push more than 5 Lbs away from me.

Took about 4 Months of PT to resolve it, and I don't have any lasting Issues.
I would say it was Scary, but I was in my early 20's at the time, and didn't Scare easily.
So I just viewed it as a Pain in my Ass, and something that I had to deal with........................... JP
P.S.
I've had Osteoarthritis since my 50's.
And you've got to keep things Moving, or it just gets worse ~ Hang in there, and ALL THE BEST !
 
I also had an injury. And I had to completely forget about sports. But one day I came across <a href=***8221;mundiario.com/blog/section/deportes***8221;>inspirational articles</a> about sports and more. And I wanted to go in for sports again and slowly I returned to duty
 
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