Hernia, oh nooo!!!!

Inkedsquid

So I realize that hernias aren’t too uncommon in the world of fitness, but has anyone ever had one in their ARM? o.0 I was working out last week, and was doing some (assisted) pullups to finish up my arm workout. Felt a really good burn in my forearms, but no pain. When I finished my pullups my left arm kind of felt funny (for lack of a better word) and when I looked at it, there was a HUUUUUUGE knot sticking out of my forearm!!!! I am a Sailor currently deployed on a small ship and we don’t have a Dr on board, but we do have someone who is the equivalent of a P.A. I went to see her and she told me I herniated a muscle in my forearm and I would have to see a Dr when we pulled back into port. WTH?!?!?

She explained to me that the only way to get it fixed is with surgery, but that it is okay for me to continue working out my arms as long as it isn’t painful. I am kind of leery to keep doing arm training though, because every time I work out my arms (and get a lot of blood circulating to them) it gets really huge. The rest of the time it is a lump (about the size of a half dollar) that lies almost flat, but when I work out it gets huge…..like a scene from the movie Alien. I swear that thing is alive in there…..

Regardless, has anyone ever had/heard of one of these? Do you think it really is okay to continue working out with it? Know anything about surgical vs nonsurgical options??

Thanks for any help!!!

goodwince

Herniated forearms are actually pretty uncommon from searching the internet gods. There isn't much help other than this is actually uncommon and most people directing it to muscle tear or something else. I'd definitely wait to get back to a doctor. Preferable a sports doctor since this is an exercise related injury, but I understand you're in the navy and probably have different doctors you'd like to use for free!

Try icing it and working out using lighter weight and see if it hurts! If it doesn't hurt then I wouldn't worry about it, just be careful and get to a doctor ASAP. So far hernias in the arm are seen to be fixed by surgery, some places I checked online said that they thought they had a hernia and iced for a few months at least 6 days a week and it went away.

I had a tendon in my leg that wasn't happy upon working out when I stretched I could feel the strain and it was a nice sized lump on my leg where it was unhappy. It eventually got better. That was another issue I had to ice.

P.S. Thanks for serving!