Oh the nerve!

(I'm really on a roll with the corny subject lines...)

So, I went to the chiropractor. After much poking and prodding and reaching and pulling and massaging, it was determined that my rotator cuff is perfectly peachy and that my discs are superbly situated. As it turns out, I have what is called Radial Nerve Entrapment. Which is a super doctor-y way to say that a nerve that runs through my whole arm is being compressed at certain points along my arm. Which is great because there is a stretch I can do that helps relieve the pain, and it means I can continue my work out program. But it's also bad because it hurts. A lot. Less now that I'm stretching the nerve, but after a busy day at work I'm definitely feeling a little sore in my elbow and fingers.

I decided to hold off on any workout until the pain was being managed, just to make sure everything is improving. On Saturday I'll start back with squats and deadlifts (nothing that actively engages the shoulder muscles) as long as the pain, numbness, and grip weakness remain at bay. (It's weird to not realize that you've lost some feeling in your arm until someone runs and test and you're astounded to find out that you occasionally weren't sure if you felt something because you actually felt it or because you knew you should feel it. Kind of like when I got glasses and suddenly I was seeing whole people I didn't know had been there!) Then, I will slowly starting adding the upper body work back into my workout the following week or so. The goal is that I should be all better by then, but if not I will better be able to pinpoint the movements that are causing the trouble.

So yay! Until then, I can always work on making sure I have a complete understanding of proper form...which is much more complicated than you would at first believe...