Inexplicable sore muscle

August 13, 2020 9:00 AM

For about a week now I've had a sore muscle in my left forearm. I have no idea what caused this -- I didn't do anything to exert or strain my arm, and I'm not doing anything to use it particularly much but it's not getting better.

I believe the sore muscle is my left flexor carpi ulnaris. The soreness is right in the middle of the muscle mass, and doesn't extend into my wrist, hand, or fingers as can sometimes happen from typing. I feel the pain most when I fully extend or flex my elbow.

I've been taking ibuprofen sporadically. That helps a little, but it's been a week now and it doesn't feel like it's getting any better. If anything it feels like it's getting worse. I've never had a sore muscle last anything close to this long.

Is this normal? What should I do to make it better? And how long should I wait to see my doctor?

I'm in my mid-50s.

posted by Winnie the Proust to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Any tingling or numbness? Does any of this extend down to your pinky or ring finger?
posted by beagle at 9:27 AM on August 13, 2020

Odd question, prompted by the fact that I've also been having occasional pain in about that same place, on the right side - Do you sleep on your side, and if so, which side? If it's on the left, what are you doing with your shoulder in your sleep?

In my case the muscle is in my right arm, and I couldn't figure out what the issue was. Then I remembered that I sleep on my right side, and I've had a bad habit of scrunching my right shoulder up towards my ear as I sleep, and I've always done so; partly because where else am I going to put my shoulder, and partly to firm and plump up the pillow. I looked into getting another pillow (that search is still ongoing), but also started working on stretching out my neck more often, and switching up to sleep on my other side more often. I also got one of those weird trigger point massage hooks to help with some of the knots I found in my shoulder and neck that were affecting things.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on August 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

Are you working from home due to the pandemic, and using a computer, by any chance? Unergonomic set-ups can take a while to feed through into pain, and then suddenly you hit a tipping point and it’s hard to get rid of unless you change your work station. I’ve certainly had typing overuse pains show up surprisingly specific ways.
posted by penguin pie at 10:20 AM on August 13, 2020

I've gotten similar muscle pains from overuse/repetitive use that I never would have expected to cause an issue. In my left arm, it's generally been from holding a phone or tablet for too long, in my right arm from gaming (holding down my thumb to click on a trackpad for longer periods than usual). I'm usually able to figure out the specific trigger by paying closer attention to when in particular I feel the muscle twinge. It can be pretty subtle variations of a normal action -- the particular way I have my fingers arranged when holding the phone, for instance.

With the ibuprofen, I'd recommend trying to keep a more continuous dose, since what'll help longer term is the anti-inflammatory aspect rather than the pain-killer. Once something is inflamed, it starts rubbing up against stuff it shouldn't even with normal movement, which then reinforces the inflammation. Keeping that inflammation down consistently for a couple days can make a big difference. You might find Aleve/naproxen sodium easier on your stomach, and the 12-hour dosing makes it much easier to keep in your system overnight.

If you do go the anti-inflammatory route, though, it can make it easier to keep doing whatever's causing the issue without noticing, though, so it's worth being a little extra-cautious.
posted by duien at 10:41 AM on August 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

Could this be tennis elbow? If so there are a number of home treatments.
posted by bq at 11:44 AM on August 13, 2020

You must have come across:

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

So it could even be a back/spine/posture problem!

You might want to see an experienced physiologist.

I once had an accident which caused me to not be able to raise my arm above shoulder level. Tingling pinky, too. Had an MRI, the doc couldn't find shit. Went to the physio who looked at my back and immediately had the correct diagnosis which (after a few months of doing his exercises) completely solved everything. Physio knew best, here (and the doc SHOULD have seen it). For me it was basically posture exercises which fixed my shoulderblade.

Also, you mention it isn't like RSI because there is no tingling. Doesn't mean it ISN'T RSI/Carpal tunnel related if you do do computer work; you should follow ARBO norms (google a pic), NEVER rest your wrists on anything whilst typing (wristrests are BAD mkay?!) and best thing would be to hover you arms/wrists/hands above the keyboard (at a 90 degree angle to your upper arms) like a piano player does (google/youtube that) and let your fingers fall on the keys and at most rest your palms, lightly.

And try some anti RSI exercises: see some of those '3 (or 5) anti-rsi exercise' vids on youtube. You want the 'extend the arm and pull the the fingers so it bends at the wrist, in two stages', the 'extend arm, twist out and push with, now upside down, inside of the hand on wall' at the very least.

Finally: your Ibuprofen use is a)bad for you, your stomach, and other organs but more importantly b) hiding the true issue.
posted by MacD at 1:05 PM on August 13, 2020

Ibuprofen is hard on your kidneys.
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 11:35 AM on August 14, 2020

This may not apply to you, but I started having fits of random inflammation since the pandemic curbed my daily activity. That paired with a burst of eating too much sugar was causing me all sorts of weird repetitive pains in all my extremities, the worst being my hips and wrists/forearms. I also put my back out in early April, and was barely mobile for a few days. My arm flareups were so bad that I had to get carpal tunnel braces and wear them for days on end, especially because I am limiting my ibuprofen use.

In the last few weeks I have done the following things which have made all the difference:

- Take an occasional once a day 30 minute walk around my neighborhood (I'm not even doing this all that consistently but it still helps), as I've heard exercise helps control inflammation in the body.
- No more sweets. I'll have a touch of honey on peanut butter toast or in some tea here or there, but no more daily cookies and treats.
- I got a ring holder to affix to the back of my phone to alleviate pressure on my wrists and thumbs from overuse.
- I've cut out drinking alcohol completely, despite being a light drinker to begin with (2-4/5 drinks a week generally).
- Started taking joint health vitamins, albeit sporadically. I usually remember a few times a week.

While I think everything made at least some difference, the biggest change I've noticed was from removing alcohol and sweets. My diet is not particularly restrictive or saintly, and I was a pretty light drinker overall, but there seems to be something about the reduction of motion that was making my body flip out in reaction to what I was ingesting, like I wasn't able to burn through it effectively. I know that made a huge difference because I had one glass of wine after a few weeks of abstaining and immediately felt like crap. That was all the confirmation I needed to keep up my restrictions.

I'm still stiff and have an occasional twinge in my arms after an aggressive bout of cleaning or similar, but overall I'm much better. Might be worth trying an adjustment to see if it gives you a bit of relief.
posted by amycup at 8:43 PM on August 14, 2020