Radial Neuropathy

**esplendido** · 05-28-2009, 11:43 PM

I endured a week off from training a couple of weeks ago due to a MRSA infection and subsequent blast of antibiotics. It formed in a small cut on the back of my left leg just below my butt cheek. It had to be lanced and was quite painful for days.

When I got back to the gym I did legs just fine. The next workout was chest, and I warmed up with 135. Then I did 225, which I normally whip out 10 easy reps. But on the 3rd rep, I found that my left arm felt weak. By the 5th rep, I was pushing hard to barely get the left side up. I tried 275 and barely racked the weight after one rep. I thought, WTF??? I moved on to flies, and had little trouble. On arm day, bi's went smoothly, but when I got to triceps, once I got over 120lbs on the pushdowns, I noticed that my right side was doing all the work. So I put on a single hand handle and tried to do one armed pushdowns with 80lbs with my left arm. I could only get 3! I switched hands and could've done reps all night with my right hand.

Well, tonight was chest again, and the left triceps is even weaker. No pain. No tingling. Just weakness. I got on the web and found a "rare" instance of triceps brachii radial neuropathy, where there was an exercise induced injury to the radial nerve in the arm that affected only the triceps. The other explanation was infection.

Sooooooooo, I'm going to my Ortho to verify, but I think the MRSA infection affected the radial nerve. The good news is, is that if it is RN, it resolves itself within 30-60 days. The down side is, I won't be able to do working sets on pressing movements until it heals. Back to workarounds!!!!

**sassy69** · 05-29-2009, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by esplendido

I endured a week off from training a couple of weeks ago due to a MRSA infection and subsequent blast of antibiotics. It formed in a small cut on the back of my left leg just below my butt cheek. It had to be lanced and was quite painful for days.

When I got back to the gym I did legs just fine. The next workout was chest, and I warmed up with 135. Then I did 225, which I normally whip out 10 easy reps. But on the 3rd rep, I found that my left arm felt weak. By the 5th rep, I was pushing hard to barely get the left side up. I tried 275 and barely racked the weight after one rep. I thought, WTF??? I moved on to flies, and had little trouble. On arm day, bi's went smoothly, but when I got to triceps, once I got over 120lbs on the pushdowns, I noticed that my right side was doing all the work. So I put on a single hand handle and tried to do one armed pushdowns with 80lbs with my left arm. I could only get 3! I switched hands and could've done reps all night with my right hand.

Well, tonight was chest again, and the left triceps is even weaker. No pain. No tingling. Just weakness. I got on the web and found a "rare" instance of triceps brachii radial neuropathy, where there was an exercise induced injury to the radial nerve in the arm that affected only the triceps. The other explanation was infection.

Sooooooooo, I'm going to my Ortho to verify, but I think the MRSA infection affected the radial nerve. The good news is, is that if it is RN, it resolves itself within 30-60 days. The down side is, I won't be able to do working sets on pressing movements until it heals. Back to workarounds!!!!

Kinda sucks but I hope you identify the source of the issue quickly & get back to liftin!

**Bryan Hildebrand** · 05-29-2009, 08:18 AM

sounds plausible....
any neck discomfort?
C6/7 is responsible for your tricep (amongst other pushing musculature)
if you develop pain in your shoulder, trap, neck, let me us know.

**esplendido** · 05-29-2009, 11:00 AM

No pain anywhere. And it's a partial "paralysis" in that I have distinct soreness in one head of the triceps from last night's workout, the kind that feels like that portion of the muscle did work it wasn't accustomed to. It's the short head.