Hi. I’m a 33-year-old male with 10+ years of lifting experience (been powerlifting on and off since 2017).
The problem is that I’m plagued with sudden sharp pain, predominantly in my upper back and neck. Currently, I’m doing BBII week 2, after a long stint of the low fatigue 3-day variant. Last evening, I experienced a sharp pain in my back close to the vertebrae on the right side after doing pullups. I did the stupid thing and did more pullups, low incline bench, Meadows rows, pec deck and pulldowns. That night, I woke up without the ability to move my neck.
Now I’m taking ibuprofen to get through the day, but I’m a bit lost as to how I should go about training. Previously, I have experienced pain in my wrists, shoulders, lower back, glutes, quads, knees, and ankles. I have always found a way to train around the problem and gradually reintroduce lifting. Now, however, I’m baffled because I don’t know how to train when I’m experiencing pain in my triceps, delts, traps, and lats. How does one train around that?
Thanks for the post. Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling great. I’m not sure you did anything “stupid” by continuing to exercise, as I would’ve likely done the same thing. I cannot say what the specific pathology is relating to your neck. It could be something as simple as muscle guarding or it could be something more significant. Depending on the presence or absence of other symptoms, e.g. loss of strength in arms, numbness, tingling, and severity of pain, it may benefit from an evaluation by a medical professional. If that’s not what’s going on, you would likely be able to exercise in some manner. The specifics of the exercise plan would have to be sussed out on an individual basis, monitored for additional symptoms, and progressed at the appropriate rate. This is one aspect of our pain and rehab consults, which you may benefit from.
If it were me, I do not think rest is the correct answer. I also am not sure what you mean about experiencing pain in your triceps, delts, traps, and lats, as I thought you said your neck was bothering you? It’s also okay to have some pain, though again, the nature and severity of it matters.
I would recommend finding ways to train, perhaps using machines and tempo work, e.g. replacing seated DB press with 3-0-3 tempo machine overhead press. Some direct neck training may be beneficial too, but I really need to know more about your symptoms and have better follow up to advise you. For more specific guidance and assessment, shoot us an email at support@barbellmedicine.com.
After calming down, I tried some things: band pull-aparts, light pulldowns, and bent-over rows, plus some foam rolling. I found that pulldowns alleviated the pain and tightness in my back and neck, while rows resulted in more pain.
I guess I was just scared because, at the peak, I felt numbness and radiating pain all the way to the elbow, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to train for a while.
My plan going forward is to restart the BBII with some adaptations: I’ve substituted upright rows with assisted pull-ups, and regular pull-ups with tempo pulldowns. Pressing has seldom been a problem for me, and the OHP machine at my gym is kind of meh, so I think I’ll keep the DB press as it is—or maybe do the barbell variant.
Anyway, I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you guys. It really helps clear the mind when things get tough.