Forearm pain when training planche.

Hi,

I worked on tuck planche holds last year but gave up as I was getting very bad pains in my left forearm. I've started working on them again recently but the pain still persists.

It only occurs when I train the holds on parallettes. There is no pain while doing the actual hold, but when I release my grip from the parallettes, a very sharp and intense pain shoots up the pinky side of my forearm for a second or two.

I don't get this pain if I do the holds on the floor, and I also don't get it doing any other pressing exercise like weighted ring dips, any pushup variations, handstands or HeSPU.

Does anybody know what is the cause, and any prehab movements I could do to alleviate it?

Thanks.

Stretch the flexors, strengthen extensors, do some wrist prehab, massage forearms & upper arm to get rid of adhesions/scar tissue. That should help.

Ive had it a couple of times before. It similar to pommel arm. Basically a repetitive hitting a the palm of the hand when people are first learning to use the pommel horse. Every time the hand hits the pommel or rests on the parrallettes in your case it presses on a nerve in your arm which goes into your hand (ulnar nerve). The repetitive pressure on this nerve either irritates it or causes some very minor bruising to it.

The best thing to do is like what braindx recommends and im afraid it also needs rest and to build up again gradually. You may find that you might be able to train for the planche on the ground as it puts less pressure on that part of your hand. But if not then im afraid you will need to rest it from aggravating activities for a least a few weeks.

Sorry I couldnt find any pictures on the internet but neurodynamic exercises for the ulnar nerve to keep it sliding well can also help the recovery process.

Mike

OK. Thanks guys. That's very helpful.

i had exactly the same problem. Now i only do tuck plache on floor. Some time ago the pain persisted all day so i gave up the planches some months, the pain gone, and now i don't have pain but as i said i do it on the floor and ocasionally, if i start to focus on planches the pain returns. On the other side i always do the planche (tuck of course) as a GTG, so i really don't do any warmup or streching so this may be problem.

Exactly the same problem, except that it stays. If I touch it, it hurts like a bruise.

I think it's ulnar nerve injury (minor one, if I continue I'm afraid I will get really injured).

Stretch the flexors, strengthen extensors,

braindx, can you suggest some exercises for these?

Do these exercises arealy also work for the pommel horse arm? Cause I seem to get that easy and it is annoying. I got a pommel horse at home, don´t go on it much but then if I want to I still can´t much. Last time I tried 30 minutes a day with two days rest in between and after a few weeks that was to much.

irongymnast said:

Exactly the same problem, except that it stays. If I touch it, it hurts like a bruise.

I think it's ulnar nerve injury (minor one, if I continue I'm afraid I will get really injured).

Stretch the flexors, strengthen extensors,

braindx, can you suggest some exercises for these?

Rice bucket, wrist curls, whatever.

Stretching them should be pretty obvious....

AL12 said:

Do these exercises arealy also work for the pommel horse arm? Cause I seem to get that easy and it is annoying. I got a pommel horse at home, don´t go on it much but then if I want to I still can´t much. Last time I tried 30 minutes a day with two days rest in between and after a few weeks that was to much.

Forearm splits you need to rest, ice, massage and do rice bucket

braindx, are forearm splits the same with ulnar nerve injury?

Rice bucket is not that easy to construct, I have no idea where I will find a bucket that big. Afraid of turning it over as well.

What is rice bucket?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbbvqLg4hFU

irongymnast said:

braindx, are forearm splits the same with ulnar nerve injury?

Rice bucket is not that easy to construct, I have no idea where I will find a bucket that big. Afraid of turning it over as well.

No. Hence why getting a proper diagnosis is a good idea.

Forearm splints are like shin splints

I have this issue now, dealing with it on both forearms (worse on left).

Anything on parallettes or parallel bars aggravates it. Planche progressions, handstands, anything.

Glad this thread was here.

That sucks Garrett.

A rice bucket is very easy to construct. Get a painter's bucket. Buy some rice at the store. Put rice into bucket.

Blairbob said:

That sucks Garrett.

A rice bucket is very easy to construct. Get a painter's bucket. Buy some rice at the store. Put rice into bucket.

Painter's bucket = 5 gallon plastic bucket? Got the bucket construction part.

I'm thinking the rubber band finger extension exercises will work best for me, as they're the most portable and I can remember to do them in between sets (the pain is a consistent reminder).

I've started doing some cold laser to the area at well, that seems to be helping quite a bit already (it works great on epicondylitis, I figured why not).

Stretching will be resumed with a vengeance.

In addition to the stretching, it will also be necessary to reduce both intensity and the volume of your training. Forearm splints, as well as their 'cousin' shin splints, are typically symptomatic of overuse/overtraining beyond what is appropriate for your current levels of strength.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I have the same problem. I have unusually weak hands, and naturally that carries over from my wrists and forearms. My forearms feel like they are going to burst seconds after holding a tuck planche on bars (on the floor, it's the wrists, but that's a whole other issue) or supporting myself on bars in general (the skinnier the bar, the more intense the pain is. I usually have no problems on parallel bars). I also get a pain in the middle of my forearm anytime my hands "impact" something, like pommel horse, handstand pirouettes, roundoffs, even cartwheels sometimes. This pain kept me from progressing much with my tumbling last season in my high school gymnastics team. I couldn't even touch the pommel horse without feeling intense pain. I've also never been able to walk in a handstand because of this.

I'm at a loss of what to do. I've tried backing off of anything that would aggravate this pain, while doing exercises for strengthening my wrists, but anytime I get back into tumbling the pain returns. Does anyone know exercises (sets, reps, time, etc.) that will specifically address this problem so that I could incorporate them into my program or throughout my day? It would be much appreciated.

P.S: My false grip is fairly strong, and has never given me any problems whatsoever (other than the obvious initial discomfort, no pain though), and I rarely ever experience forearm pain when training rings, so I'm pretty convinced that simply doing just "any stretches and exercises for the wrists" won't help me, as this is a very specific problem area in my forearm. I've tried various exercises for wrists and forearms (wrist curls with dumbbells, finger presses, grip training) and I stretch them constantly.

Rice bucket, martial arts style.

Watch your volume as for your event work, you may be having forearm splints and not letting them properly heal. That means staying off them.

Blairbob said:

Rice bucket, martial arts style.

What exactly is this, simply opening and closing my hand in a bucket of rice? And how often/how many times per session should I do this?

Thank you for the reply!

jeremyfrias said:

Blairbob said:

Rice bucket, martial arts style.

What exactly is this, simply opening and closing my hand in a bucket of rice? And how often/how many times per session should I do this?

Thank you for the reply!

Hold the elbow still, closed fist.

Wrist makes circles... aim for 50 clock and counterclock

Got myself a bucket of rice! Two sets of those wrists circles and my forearms feel a little better already.

Now I won't be too bored in the time that I can't do most of the normal gymnastics work...

Question: How often should I be using the rice bucket? I tend to do the exercises every once in a while at random times, even if it's just digging into the rice, everyday while I'm in my room. Will using it everyday lead to overtraining and possibly hinder my recovery/ wrist prehab?

I have found the gyrotwister also known as the powerball to be helpful, fun and an addictive way to build wrist strength. I used it for rehab for pains in wrists from planche training. Whenever I was bored I would use it - in my room, watching tv etc. More fun than a stress ball or grippers imo.

http://www.gyrotwister.com.au/

Instead of making a rice bucket I tried working my forearm in ways it wasn't worked with general work or wrist stuff. I hold out one arm, make a fist and hold it with my other hand and flex my wrist hard left and right for 15sec or so a few times. Within a couple of days the forearm splints I've had on and off for a few months cleared up

The rice bucket stuff is pretty essential, and TOTALLY essential for people with the symptoms you are describing. There's more to it than the circles. Closed fist circles are good, but you should also open your fist, straighten your fingers, and write the alphabet with each hand. You should be at least wrist deep in the rice. This is tough, and will challenge your entire upper extremity region with new angles, building strength and stability in all directions. That is coming straight from the Georgia State University Exercise Science professors, for those of you who wonder. GA State has the only ACSM certified program IN THE COUNTRY.

The other side of this is strength, and for that there are two aspects of training that should be used for best results. Wrist push-ups and grip training. Now, there are a lot of grip strength training methods that do not specifically stress the whole kinetic chain involved with the grip as it relates to gymnastics, so to use things like grippers is nice to know how strong your hands are, but they really aren't going to help your gymnastics. Thick handle work is essential. The handle should have an external diameter greater than 2 inches. You should really start with 2.5 or so. It doesn't matter how you make your handle. You could buy a cheap yoga mat, cut a strip off and wrap it around a dumbbell or bar (or bucket handle), and keep adding strips until you have the thick handle you need. You could also use PVC or ABS, which is my preferred method. It's slick and cheap, and easy to transport. You could wrap a folded t-shirt tightly around a bar too. Anything to increase the handle diameter to 2.25-3 inches, depending on hand size. I have not used larger handles than this, so I will not comment on possible utility of bigger handles. A handle that big forces your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders to all work together. The large diameter forces your hands to do all the work, from the fingers to the muscles of the palm itself. These all attach at various points on the forearm, and other forearm flexors and extensors attach to the upper arm. Because skin folding and friction can not hold the weight for you with a thick handle, these muscles require your muscles to work harder. You will be forced to stabilize your wrists as your hands exert force, which will strengthen all the connective tissue as well as the muscles. Your joints will become more stable. As far as what to DO once you're holding weight with your thick handles, it's up to you. Hop, walk, deadlift, do ANYTHING that involves acceleration without a lot of wrist movement. Rows, whatever. As the weight accelerates and decelerates you are exposing your muscles to varying levels of force, and you will develop the ability to handle more force without injury.

The only other thing that will really make a difference is doing your pull-ups with fingers only. This will be hard at first, when/if your fingers, hands, and/or wrists feel funny switch back to your old grip. Do this with every set that does not involve false grips. This includes front lever rows and pulls for half the sets, at least. Again, this will develop the wrist flexors and connective tissues of the wrists.

If you feel burning down the pinkie side of your wrist, you are feeling the fascia being inflamed. I tore mine, I know exactly how bad it can get. It felt like an entire book of matches lighting at the same instant inside my wrist near my pinkie. Why does it tear there? Look at the angles and tension. That's where there's the most tension. You need to back off, like coach says, and massage like I think Brain said. FInger poking isn't good enough, you need to grab tightly around the wrist and twist, as if you were trying to peel off the skin. It's going to hurt. I had to do this for months every day to break up the scar tissue I developed as a result of the tear. It works, but it hurts. There you go. Your injury isn't as severe as mine, but it will be if you don't adopt a more complete training regimen.