Six years ago I hurt myself by placing the bar on / around my collarbone for front squats. As a result, I pinched the nerve feeding my right triceps and chest area and the issue was diagnosed as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Basically the nerve gets pinched between the collarbone and the tissue underneath.
The results were terrible. GUYS, IF YOU EVER GET A PINCHED NERVE SEEK IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. OTHERWISE YOUR MUSCLES WILL SHRINK LIKE YOU CANNOT IMAGINE.
I lost 50% power in my triceps in 20 days. I am not making this up. I was able to lift exactly half as much with my right triceps as my left (and before this there was no difference between the right and left sides).
I lost tremendous amount of mass in my right arm, shoulder and chest.
The muscle mass and strength slowly recovered, but to this day -after 6 fuckin years- there is still a visible lack of development on my right upper chest compared to the left side. The rest of the muscle groups are OK. There is still some discrepancy on the left vs right triceps for example but not huge and it does not bother me. But man; that chest is bugging the hell out of me.
I have tried everything. One sided exercises, various angles, flies... you name it.
Simply working the right and left sides separately (dumbell or cable exercises for upper chest, one arm at a time, for example) just does not get rid of the imbalance. Doing barbell work, so that the weak side is stressed a little more and is therefore forced to compensate won't work either. It is stuck.
2 Questions:
- Is the nerve still damaged?
I have zero symptoms. After extensive physical therapy, I have none of the pain, numbness, tingling etc. and haven't had these for the last 2.5 years.
If the nerve has regenerated, what exactly is the cause of the problem? Is the nerve entering the muscle intact, but rather the innervation of the motor units are dysfunctional maybe? Have some motor units lost their ability "talk " to the nerve bundle?
- More importantly is there anything I can do?
Thanks guys
The results were terrible. GUYS, IF YOU EVER GET A PINCHED NERVE SEEK IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. OTHERWISE YOUR MUSCLES WILL SHRINK LIKE YOU CANNOT IMAGINE.
I lost 50% power in my triceps in 20 days. I am not making this up. I was able to lift exactly half as much with my right triceps as my left (and before this there was no difference between the right and left sides).
I lost tremendous amount of mass in my right arm, shoulder and chest.
The muscle mass and strength slowly recovered, but to this day -after 6 fuckin years- there is still a visible lack of development on my right upper chest compared to the left side. The rest of the muscle groups are OK. There is still some discrepancy on the left vs right triceps for example but not huge and it does not bother me. But man; that chest is bugging the hell out of me.
I have tried everything. One sided exercises, various angles, flies... you name it.
Simply working the right and left sides separately (dumbell or cable exercises for upper chest, one arm at a time, for example) just does not get rid of the imbalance. Doing barbell work, so that the weak side is stressed a little more and is therefore forced to compensate won't work either. It is stuck.
2 Questions:
- Is the nerve still damaged?
I have zero symptoms. After extensive physical therapy, I have none of the pain, numbness, tingling etc. and haven't had these for the last 2.5 years.
If the nerve has regenerated, what exactly is the cause of the problem? Is the nerve entering the muscle intact, but rather the innervation of the motor units are dysfunctional maybe? Have some motor units lost their ability "talk " to the nerve bundle?
- More importantly is there anything I can do?
Thanks guys