aches and soreness in arm

[andibk]

Dr. Paul Thomas,
On the average I am doing 3-4 deco dives a week. Depth ranges from 30 meters to 100 meters. With a heavy workload this year (I am a technical instructor)I have noticed aches and soreness in the back side of my upper arm. This pain is not from DCI, it is a sorenss in the muscles and tissues. Could this be from to much deco diving? What can I do to help cure this? I am a hyperbaric operator and can distiguish from a DCI hit and soreness and I surely believe it is not DCI.

Bruce

 

[CameronMartz]

Bruce,

You say that your workload is greater this year, and you are a technical diving instructor. This puts you in the high risk category for an overuse injury.

Pay attention to what physical movements/activities make your arm ache. Are any of those things that you are doing more frequently or with greater intensity now that you are teaching so much?

I don't mean to rule out DCI- I'm not qualified for that. It just sounds like you are a perfect candidate for developing a physical injury completely unrelated to decompression (with exception of managing the associated gear).

Cameron

 

[Frank O]

Just a data point ... I've gotten soreness in the backs of upper arms from lifting tanks.

I think the same muscle group is also typically involved in cocking rubber bands on a speargun (not that it sounds that that's what you're doing).

 

[crispos]

Why don't you take a chamber run? If it goes away, you knew it was bubbles. Don't start self-diagnosing.

I have medial epicondylitis ("golfer's elbow) from a DCS hit over fourteen months ago. I am not clear where you mean by the
"back" of the arm. I have been taken care of by an ex-dive doctor and going to see the head of hyperbaric medicine tomorrow for evaluation. You don't want to get golfer's elbow nor tennis elbow either from DCS or from non-DCS strain. It takes a long time to go away I understand. Go easy, don't self diagnose.

 

[page.crow]

Hey Bruce,

Consider chiropractic. The muscles in the arm are controlled by the nerves that run out of the neck and upper back region.

Fixing peoples' neck, shoulder, and arm pain is what chiros do repeatedly each day. And it works.

Remember, you FEEL things through your nervous system, not the muscle. As a tech diver, you are bending, lifting, stressing, using your body. Radicular pain (that's what its called) is common and easily fixable with specific cervical and thoracic spinal adjustments. The results are excellent and swift if you find a good chiro.

Impaired function of the cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae will create impingement and swelling of the nerves that emit from the spine and run down the arm. This will cause the pain to feel like it is in the arm, but the cause comes from the spinal vertebrae. Note: There can also be shoulder joint complex dysfunction, elbow dysfunction, combinations, arthritis as complicators, many things. It can all add up to what you have. Sometimes, more than one thing causes a problem. Capiche?

Someone mentioned tennis elbow and deco affecting it. Indeed this can be so. There is also another common cause: radius or ulna malposition upon the humerous bone. Very common. Chronic elbow weakness and pain can be eliminated easily and quickly using spinal and extremity manipulation.

page crow DC