Chiari and Lifting

Hi Jordan and Austin,

I recently started SS in August and actually trained with an SS coach in October. I was starting to get neck pain and some odd feelings in my pinky even while using good form. Long story short I had a cervical MRI which revealed a Chiari of 3mm. Its not textbook chiari by definition but it was noted that I have descended tonsils luckily with no syrinx or compression of the brain stem or spinal cord. My neck pain since has resolved. I want to get back into lifting but am a bit hesitant.

I know there is little information about this condition but is there any recommendations for something like this. I feel realtivley healthy I dont experience any severe sympthoms from Chiari but Im curious if weightlifting would make it worse? I can share some MRI images if needed.

This is a difficult situation, to be honest. There aren’t official recommendations on this, and I’m not going to be comfortable giving them to you either, sorry.

However, it is also possible that you had some random neck pain (i.e., not caused by your tonsillar changes, just like anyone else might experience), but the MRI showed incidental findings that now have you concerned – understandably so, since words like “malformation” and “herniation” sound scary. What I’m saying is, I’m not sure whether the findings on MRI had anything to do with the neck pain that you experienced. I’m also not sure whether your findings fully meet criteria for a Chiari malformation (as I’m not an expert in the field), or whether you’d get a different interpretation from a different radiologist (as this is more common than you’d think).

Sorry man.

Appreciate your input.