| Arm pains after weight lifting, what do I do?
First, some info about me. I'm a 24 year old male who is about 5'10" and 170lbs. I've had no major surgeries or medical treatments and have never broken a bone in my body. The only prescription medicine I use is for an autoimmune disorder of the skin called psoriasis (though I don't think that that has anything to do with this problem).
I started weight lifting about a year ago, and there's a problem that I've had that is not only reoccurring but that seems to be getting worse. When it began, it was a deep dull aching pain in my left forearm. It's difficult to place exactly where the pain is coming from, but it feels like it could be a tendon, or maybe even bone (though I'm no doctor, so I really have no idea exactly what is hurting).
The pain usually manifests when I do an exercise that requires that I bend my arm at the elbow in order to exercise the bicep (a dumbell curl, for example). This usually causes a sharp, tight pain deep in my forearm. When I stop the exercise, the pain stops being sharp and tight and instead becomes a dull ache. The more weight I use the more it hurts and the longer the ache lasts. I get no pain when I do my shoulder exercises (lateral dumbell raises) and only occasionally have minor pains when exercising my triceps (with wrist extensions)
This pain started some time after I first started weight lifting (maybe a month or two after). My mom is a nurse, so I originally asked her what I should do and she told me to take 4 ibuprofen in order to combat the inflammation. I did this as necessary and the pain lessened and eventually vanished completely. Recently, though, it's come back, and now it's in both arms! I made the mistake of trying to see what would happen if I just ignored the pain and powered through the workout instead of stopping like I normally do, and my arms ached for four or five days and really hurt if I did any lifting of maybe 10-20lbs or more. Now they've stabilized, but I still feel a twinge of pain every now and again, and when I try to do any heavy lifting they hurt. I have tried putting ice on my arms, and that helps, but it certainly doesn't remedy the situation.
I guess what I'd like to know first and foremost is what is happening here? Is this a common work out related problem? I work out with my brother and both of us do the same exercises. If anything he does a more intense workout than I do, but he has never had any of the symptoms I describe. Is this indicative of some more serious problem, or am I just doing something wrong with my lifting? Most importantly, how can I get rid of this pain, preferably for good? My biceps are what I'm most interested in exercising, so I'm eager to fix this problem.
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