Bench Press Arm Injury: Clicking & Grinding - Seeking Insights
QuestionAbout a year ago I injured my left arm while bench-pressing with my son. It was very painful. For the first month I could not raise my (straight out) above my chest, great pain. Over the course of 6 months the pain decreased and able to raise my arm above my head rotate around with little pain. I now notice a clicking and some and grinding if I rotate my arm in certain positions. I have full range of my arm. I did see a doctor x=rays were taken with no noticeable damage to rotator cuff. In the past couple of weeks I have noticed a slight decrease in feeling just at the tips of my fingers (injured arm) and during walking numbness moves up the arm and sometimes across to left pectoral muscle. If I stop walking and rest all the numbness goes away.
Question:
1. Do I need to consult a doctor again?
2. What is the connection between the numbness and arm rotation?
3. Is there a medical fix for this problem?
AnswerA plain xray will not diagnose a rotator cuff tear. It sounds like that is what happened, and if it hasn't gotten better in 6 months, it is time to do an MRI of the shoulder. The numbness may be "Impingement syndrome" where there is swelling in the shoulder and the narrow groove where the nerve runs thru gets pinched a little and causes symptoms.... but the big probably is the possible RCT....this can be treated without surg if it isn't bad... meds and rehab/phy therapy. But, you have to ascertain how bad via imaging, like the MRI first.
Hope this helps....