Pain in right elbow during resistance training?

Question

Hi there,

I have been doing weight training exercises for the past three weeks.

Mainly exercise on my upper limb and abdomen region. For the past two weeks I have not noticed any abnormal pain apart from the pain you expect from muscle fatigue from beginning weight training.

I have located the area where I get the shooting pain to my elbow. To be more specific the Medial Epicondyle where the groove for the Ulnar nerve runs.

The shooting pain happens whenever I flex my arm when lifting Dumbbells or Bar Bells. The pain is so severe I cannot flex my arm when lifting the weights and end up having to drop them. However when flexing my arm without strain there is no pain.

From my Anatomical and Clinical knowledge I have gained so far at University. I have come to the conclusion that when Biceps Brachii is being contracted it is compressing the Medial Cord of the Brachial Plexus which gives rise to the Ulnar nerve causing the pain in my elbow.

Can anyone tell me if this is a correct assumption? As I am interested in the cause of this both academically and the fact that I wan't to get rid of the problem so I can continue my weight training.

Well I will give it a rest for a few days and see if it goes away.

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

I'm not sure that there is necessarily some sort of entrapment of impingement involving the brachial plexus or ulnar nerve.  It's more likely that this is either a manifestation of medial epicondylitis or perhaps a tendonitis/ tenosynovitis.  Formal evaluation and perhaps an MRI may be indicated to determine what's going on.