about a week ago I went to the gym for the first time in a while and worked out, nothing crazy some benching, and some curls.
this being my first workout in a while my arms were sore and I couldn't straighten them because the muscles were too tight for a few days. Pretty normal.

Today after stretching out my arms I noticed my right forearm was a bit swollen. It's swollen up more and is pretty very noticeably swollen now, around the elbow and along the outer part of my forearm (near the elbow running about 1/3rd up) is the most swollen, the belly of my forearm is a little (less noticeable) swollen too up almost to my wrist.

There is no pain at all. Near my elbow if I push on the swelling it pits (pitted edema?).

This EXACT same thing happened to me about a year ago in the exact same scenario (a few days after my first exercise in a while). The swelling went down after a few (2?) days.

I tried googling but this was the only result I really got; http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/node/1536 a guy who seemed to have almost the exact same thing happen, and one other guy commenting saying it happened to him too -- but no real answers in that page.

Does anyone know anything about this?


FWIW I will probably try to get to a doctor but I have no ins. so it's tough.

Probably olecrenon bursitis.

Being unable to straighten your arm for a few days is not normal. You're overdoing it to a ridiculous degree and/or not getting enough recovery by way of good food and good sleep.

Do a search on contrast baths. That should dramatically increase your healing rate. The baths, not the search.

only problem with olecrenon bursitis is I have no pain. Also from the pictures I've seen the elbow tends to swell in a bubble (think pop-eye's elbow) with O.B. -- my swelling is more around the forearm and just goes over the elbow as well, on the outer part of my arm.


I think swelling is a little down today but still definitely noticeable.

Blarg: I always figured that was normal for someone who hadn't lifted in a long time. I'll look up contrast baths. Thanks for the tip.

Excellent.

Left arm (normal):


Right Arm (swollen):



Left Arm: (notice the definition of the elbow)


Right Arm: (can't see definition of the elbow)

You are a righty.... right? Makes sense that your right arm would have/had worked harder than your left dominate hands tend to take alot of the workload from everyday life compound a new workout there you have it. I dont think its something to go crazy about medically but if water retention swelling occurs you may need a doctor to help you out there. Generally though take it easy with weights dont try to jam yourself right out of the gates go lower than you think you should. Later

It has occurred, that is what (I believe) is the swelling. It pits if you push down on it for a few seconds and holds in place for a minute or so -- which must mean fluid.

If you were doing curls quickly and for a prolonged period of time, it could be irritation in the hyaline cartilage.

Is there swelling anywhere else in your body?

No, no other swelling anywhere.

Ran into a buddy who is a Chiropractor and asked him about it, explaining everything (including having it before). He seemed a little puzzled by it at first - especially since there was no pain and he massaged it trying to find any pain which I didn't have.
He told me that most likely I just injured some muscle, likely because my bicep is too strong for my forearm or something like that. He basically just said that it's abnormal but probably nothing, give it a few days to go back to normal, if it doesn't that he'll take x-rays.
I asked if I should visit a doctor/specialist and he said "you just did. and no I wouldn't worry about it u probably just over-did it".
I asked if I should be worried of some disorder or something since it's happened before and he said no, to just not over-do it again.
Also told me to take some Ibuprofen.

I obviously didn't want to ask him this but, are chiropractors really like.. I mean.. should I be taking his word for this?
(as far as chiropractors go he seems up there, has his own practice with ppl under him etc etc)

Some chiropractors are real medical professionals. Most aren't.

lol at a chiropractor being a specialist. chiro's are quacks.

rest it for a few days, if it doesn't resolve itself see a specialist. a real one.

Hi what is the latest on this? Are you alright now? How did you deal with it? I have the exact same problem just started yesterday.

I don't know what the cause is? I have been taking creatine, I am thinking maybe I have been overdosing, I have stopped now. I have also been gyming hard, last week I really worked my triceps hard for the first time. I was in quite some pain but that was last week. No pain this week.

I am also wondering if maybe I slept on the arm and caused this.

I am going to see a doctor tomorrow.

I had this same thing ~13 or 14 years ago when I was training pretty heavy, only my right (dominant) arm got way bigger than yours looks.

I had no pain anywhere (elbow or anywhere else) either. It felt like the whole arm was filled with fluid. I went to the doctor & they said it could be the bursa sac in my elbow ruptured, but I didnt have any pain in the elbow at all so that never made sense to me. They x-rayed everything and never really reached a definitive conclusion.

I took some Advil, wrapped it with an Ace bandage for a couple days, & the swelling went away and never came back. I'm assuming this is nothing to worry about.

After seeing the pics, I would look up edema and pitting edema.

Hey everyone - I know it's been about 7 years since this post was active, however I wanted to write this in case anyone else who has these symptoms looks at this post.


Most likely what the OP and a few others of you are experiencing is exertional or exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis, or 'rhabdo' for short.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exertional_rhabdomyolysis


I was just released from the hospital last night after being in for two days due to rhabdo - this can be a very serious condition if not identified and treated properly.


Please see this blog for great info and details on rhabdo including pics on what can look like in the arms, which is how it showed up with me also:

http://fitfeat.com/blog/2011/06/03/r...cise-read-this


Here's my story...

I went back to Orange Theory Fitness (great place, btw) on a Saturday and did a workout after being pretty much inactive and not working out for about 8 months. I had a couple drinks the night before, and quite possibly was not hydrated enough before diving into what I thought was a fairly standard, but aggressive OT workout. I felt like I didn't push myself *too* hard and always listen to my body and stop if I feel dizzy or weird.
After getting done with the workout I had the usual muscle soreness, and didn't really notice anything else until Sunday night when I saw that my arms were a little swollen, but thought it was because I hadn't worked out for so long. I had a restless sleep that night with my arms being stiff, sore, swollen, and being unable to extend both arms fully.
Work called the next morning however so I went to a jobsite, did my thing, and I was able to get through the day without much problem. When I came home that night the swelling had not gotten any better, so I did a bunch of research online and everything I found when googling 'arms extremely swollen after workout' pointed to rhabdomyolysis. I told myself that if it doesn't get any better by the morning then I was going to go to urgent care and get checked out.
Sure enough the swelling and stiffness was even more pronounced on Tuesday morning, with the swelling and stiffness moving into my elbows and upper forearms, so I went in and told the doctor I thought it might be rhabdo and wanted my 'CK' (creatine kinase) levels checked to rule out the possibility. The urgent care doctor didn't appear to have treated anyone for rhabdo before, but knew what it was at least from a dictionary definition standpoint. He ordered a blood test to check my CK levels and liver function levels. He prescribed me a diuretic and potassium supplement, told me to drink lots of fluids, and said it would take a day to get results back and we would go from there. So I left, got my script filled then went about my day.
Just so everyone knows, normal CK levels for an adult male are about 170 U/L units - when I got my blood results back mine were over 28,500 U/L and liver levels were also somewhat elevated. They said I needed to get to the emergency room at the hospital ASAP, so I did. They immediately put me on an IV of saline with electrolytes to begin pumping fluids through my body to get my levels back down to normal. I asked the nurses and doctors about rhabdo, and they said it wasn't as uncommon as some might think, and they see at least one person a month that has rhabdo.
So, longer story shorter, I was in the hospital for two days, continuously on IV fluids, and once my levels dropped to about 16,000 they let me go home, but not after some prodding. I'm sure they would have liked me to stay another night to see the levels drop some more, but the downwards trend was enough that I was able to convince them to release me. I'll be going to my primary care physician on Monday to have my levels checked again, and get released so I can get back to work.

Some of you might think, well geez, I'll just drink lots of water and flush my body to get back to normal, *but* you could really get yourself in trouble as rhabdo can severely damage your kidneys and liver among other things if not properly treated.

The main things to water out for are swollen arms or legs (or both), and your urine being brown/tea colored and/or tinged red. If you have either or both symptoms, go to urgent care or your PCP, tell them you're concerned you might have rhabdomyolysis and have blood tests run for your CK and liver levels.
NOTE: Even if you do not have brown or red-tinged urine, if you have swollen arms or legs after strenuous exercise you still could have rhabdo... I did.

The moral of the story is this - do your research if you have any of these symptoms as what you think is just some minor swelling could turn into something major if not identified and treated properly.

I hope this helps - take care everyone!

>SandmaN<

Sandman,

Thank you for your post yesterday. It prompted me to call my doctor who wants to draw lab if my arm swelling not resolved by Monday.

Last Sunday, I did an intense boxing workout. What did me in was push-ups. The trainer (former heavyweight) would not accept my modified knees on floor push-ups. After about 20 attempts (well, failures) at regular push-ups where I collapsed to ground, my arms were toast. Had extreme soreness for 4 days. Could barely raise arms, pain woke me at night, etc. Then started feeling better. Arms feel fine but swelling started last night.

Can extend arms and don't have any pain. Drinking plenty of water.

Sure hope this resolves without further problems.

I had no idea. Never heard of rhabdo.

I'm so sorry for reopening such an old thread, but I'm having these exact same symptoms and I'm panicking. It doesn't seem like it's elbow bursitis as the swelling is also in my forearm a bit.

Did you ever find out what it was? What did you do to treat it? How long did it take to recover?

Thanks in advance and sorry again!

Read my reply from ~10 years ago a few posts up.

Just read it again, I was in a bit of a panicky state so I dismissed it the first time. It matches what I've been experiencing though so I do hope that's the case for me too.

Thanks for replying man.

This has happened to me on return sessions climbing (after a break). I don't think (hope) anything ruptured since it always improved after several days

In my experience climbing though its really easy to overwork forearms and get soreness lasting way too long

Jeff