What type of injury is this?

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m having problems figuring out if itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a type of triceps or bicep injury.

Saturday after the dog incident I was quickly lifting a bunch of stuff (much of it one handed) to get to some pieces of welded wire to patch the hole in the lattice. Adrenaline was still going and I wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t lifting things carefully and apparently injured my arm.

The most painful part is in my armpit - any sort of pressure on it burns. The tenderness comes out of my armpit, down and around the inside/front of my arm to the inside of my arm/elbow.
Armpit area might suggest tricep but the part of the arm affected sounds more like my bicep.
Thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s no loss of movement - though it hurts to extend my arm too far (think reaching for something, driving). No redness or swelling, though there is some minor bruising that showed up (Monday morning) - pressure on the area above the bruising on the arm hurts. No shoulder or chest pain.

Naproxen and ice (try icing your armpit...) arenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t helping much as itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s gotten progressively more sore and moved further down since Saturday.
Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m trying to avoid most lifting with that arm and to rest it as much as possible... but Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m right handed.

GP doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t do much for this sort of stuff, heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll just say anti-inflammatory and “do you want a muscle relaxer or pain med?â€. (I have both, and won't be taking either). If the bruising increases and the pain moves lower Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll probably go to the doctor - I could get referred for a orthopedic surgeon to look at it in a couple weeks though I do not like the one who works in this area.

So what the heck did I do? Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m only finding vague info relating to repetitive motion strains in weightlifters... I know we have one person on here who knows more orthopedics.. any ideas as to whatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s common in that area? Particularly if someone is lifting and tossing stuff.

Sounds like you may have brachioradialis strain. Ibuprofen and ice....

There's no forearm pain at all, though.

Chances are it's your shoulder and the pain is radiating downward.

Alleve or Ibuprofen and some ice. Also gentle stretching.

It's not my shoulder, the bruising is on the inside of my arm. I've had plenty of shoulder injuries - they feel very different. Still can't figure out if it's my part of my bicep since it's worse in my armpit. Has anyone that's done any sort of training (lifting) had it cause soreness into the armpit when the bicep is worked too much?

Did you get a chance to ice right away?? You can alternate heat with ice to see which feels better. And take anti inflamatories faithfully to reduce swelling.

After I fell in my driveway two days after Christmas it took almost 4 weeks for my back to feel pain free!

Originally Posted by GailC

Did you get a chance to ice right away??

Click to expand...

No. I had to patch the lattice, deal with neighbors, posted on here, fed the house cats, then went digging around in the deep freezer for the smaller ice pack.



Falls are very rough on the body! A couple years ago Tomas was racing around and knocked my leg out from under me, which caused me land directly on my butt - that caused bruising in my spine that took a couple months to get better. Due to the DDD, DJD, and scoliosis in there it would cause this terrible twisting pain in my whole spine. (kittens blindly racing at you are a hazard, btw. )

I hope your fall didn't have any lasting effects - your at the age where it's guaranteed your back has at least some wear and tear on it and just won't heal as well. Hopefully it doesn't bother you months from now when you're doing any landscaping.

Well I've been exercising almost every day now and hopefully dropping a few more pounds will help! It just gets stiff at the beginning of the season mainly an overuse issue more than anything else. Muscle relaxers would be handy sometimes though.

Have you tried pressing all about your arm to see if you find a sensitive spot? I wonder if you aggravated your rotator cuff? After a few days the pain should not get worse.

Ouch! I have no idea what to suggest but I want to extend some feel-better-soon vibes!

Thanks, I'll heal. I'm mostly curious as to what muscles are involved so I know how to carefully stretch it later and so I know which ones will be weak for a while (to avoid re-injuring).

Originally Posted by GailC

Have you tried pressing all about your arm to see if you find a sensitive spot? I wonder if you aggravated your rotator cuff? After a few days the pain should not get worse.

Click to expand...

Sure have. It starts right in the middle of my armpit, goes down the arm some, and up over the inside of the bicep? and stops dead center at the inner bend of my arm. No where near my shoulder or even the outside of my arm. As long as I don't fully extend my arm and pull that muscle that goes into the armpit or have anything pressing against the sore areas it's not too bad today.

Not surprisingly, though... washing and shaving that armpit really really hurts.