Common weight lifting injuries

by Scott Bird | November 20, 2006
Filed in injuries | 2 comments

This is the third part (part 1, part 2) in this month’s collaboration with Run to Win’s Blaine Moore on injuries. This article looks at some of the more common injuries to occur as a result of lifting weights - whether during competition or general training.

Rotator cuff

The rotator cuff is a collection of four muscles which operate together in order to rotate the shoulder. Rotator cuff injuries are perhaps most commonly seen in those who devote a high percentage of their weight training to the bench press; failing to spend equivalent time rotating the arm the opposite way (under the same sort of load).

Without going into detail on the numerous exercises designed to counter-act this problem, here are a few resources which may act as a good starting point :

• L-flyes
• Shoulder stretches
• Cracking the Rotator Cuff conundrum (T-Nation)
• In defense of Overhead Lifting
• ShoulderDoc
• 7 minute rotator cuff solution (Jerry Robinson, Joseph Horrigan)
• The ‘no curl’ biceps program (particularly the YTWL exercises)

Elbow aggravation

It’s reasonably common to hear someone complaining of ‘tennis elbow’ after lifting weights, although this condition is only one of many that could be causing grief. Direct tricep work seems to be the usual point of blame (which is quite likely in many cases); although this may simply be revealing an issue caused by something else entirely.

As with any injury, a healthy dose of rest is always recommended; the following should help things along :

• Tennis elbow
• Elbow pain relief

Lower back

There are many, many causes of lower back pain, and appropriate treatments for each. The only real strategy when severe pain arises is to stop whatever you’re doing and seek professional advice. This is definitely something to take seriously.

Once you have an idea of the likely cause, there are several resources that may be of help in your rehabilitation journey, including :

• Kris Lindqvist’s extensive research notes on Under the Bar, following his own back injury
• Low back disorders (Stuart McGill, Ph.D)
• Non-surgical orthopaedic and spine center : articles
• Exercise and back pain

Ready to bend some steel? Grab a copy of the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook. Superb.

Knees

So far I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid knee injuries; although I can clearly see how distressing they’d be (broken bones are bad enough). As with back pain, there are numerous causes and it’s always best to seek professional advice. Once again, here are a few resources that may be of help once things get underway again :

• 18 tips for bulletproof knees
• Knee Guru

Torn muscles

Ouch. As with the knee injuries I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid these; and considering the contorted faces of those who’ve suffered them beside me I feel extremely lucky indeed. I doubt anyone who’s just experienced something like a pec or bicep tear is going to soldier on anyway, but just in case, stop.

• That painful pull
• Rub out chronic muscle tears with cross-friction massage

Discussion

Leave a comment below, or discuss it in detail in the SttB Facebook Group.

Comments

Receive email notification of new comments on this post :