Most of us have suffered from a soft tissue injury at some time in our lives. Soft tissues are defined as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments throughout your body. An injury to one or more of those tissues can be caused by overuse, repetitive motion, as when demand over time exceeds the tissue’s ability to recover, or a single event, such as a collision or fall.

Soft tissue injuries can be some of the most painful and difficult to treat because we can’t see what is going on under the skin with the soft connective tissue, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The body’s response to this type of injury is immediate. The body switches into high gear, increasing circulation to the area to facilitate healing. Regardless of how you may have injured soft tissue, the result is the same – swelling, instability, and PAIN. Acute or chronic pain in the forearm, hand, neck, back, or other part of the body can make daily activities much more difficult, interfering with work, family, and social life. This article will focus on injury to the forearm.

Forearm Pain – What You Should Know

As we approach the spring and summer months the seasonal tasks around the house that many of us dread need to be done again! It could be major yard work, painting the exterior of the house or just a good spring cleaning of the house and garage. It may be tasks that you would just love to hire someone else to do, but current economic times make that infeasible. These types of tasks combined with whatever else you are doing during the work week can result in forearm pain.

Most forearm pain symptoms will be primarily muscular. Forearm symptoms almost always include grabbing, aching, weakness, and/or possible throbbing. You might even get some stabbing pain or numbness. All of these symptoms are the body telling you that the task you are performing is overworking the forearm muscles.

The forearms rely on the coordinated movements that happen between the flexor muscles which are on the palm side of the forearm and the extensor muscles which are on the back-of-the-hand side of the forearm. In many cases of forearm pain, the muscles on one side of the forearm get overworked and begin to “glue” themselves together to support one another through the strain.  This “gluing together” is known as “adhesions”. Adhesions are a main source of forearm pain. When side-by-side muscles become stuck together, or adhered, they begin to act like one big muscle rather than smaller, more action-specific muscles.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that you always carry a heavy briefcase in your right hand. The gripping causes the muscles on the palm side of your forearm to become overworked. So, they attempt to spread out their effort by sticking themselves together and acting as a group. After the adhesions have formed, you cannot expect the tiny index finger muscles alone to do the work they were designed for…… instead, the whole “glued” mass of muscle has to be dragged into action by the tiny index finger muscles. This leads to extreme fatigue and the
chance for more serious injury.

Adhesions also prevent muscles from relaxing and lengthening fully. They are in a constant state of some level of contraction. Result – very tired and overworked muscles. The muscle adhesions are compressing important structures such as blood vessels and nerves, resulting
in your pain symptoms.

Let’s look at another overuse example. Joe’s job requires him to drive several hours a day and Mary’s requires all day computer work. Joe decides to start painting the exterior of his house on the weekend and Mary tackles the yard clean up and gardening. Although weekday and weekend tasks are different for each of them, they are both doing tasks at least six days a week that require them to overwork the flexor muscle of the forearm. The result – forearm pain. Both Joe and Mary were motivated to get the weekend tasks done so they ignored the beginning signs of pain and weakness. Then they returned to their weekday jobs and continued to overuse the same forearm muscles. The cycle of overuse continues until the pain is too great and effects work and home activities.

Help is on the Way

If you are an individual that suffers from acute or chronic forearm pain, medical massage is a treatment modality for you. In Medical Massage, the therapist utilizes a variety of techniques to restore structural muscle balance. The goal is to lengthen shortened muscles, strengthen overstretched muscles, and realign the scar tissue. Although scar tissue is a normal part of the healing process, it can constrict muscles and impinge upon blood vessels and nerves at the injury site, a major cause of pain. Knowledgeable therapists are able to identify, isolate, and manipulate the affected muscles, and break up and realign scar tissue and adhesions. Treatment results not only in the re-alignment of the proper balance of the forearm muscles, but there will be a reduction in pain, increased circulation to the affected area, and improved flexibility and range of motion. The restored muscle balance minimizes strain at the injury site. To maintain healthy soft tissue following treatment, therapists educate patients in self-care techniques. This empowers them to speed their recovery and quickly minimize and control any pain from future injuries.

Conditions Medical Massage Can Treat

Some of the medical conditions that benefit from medical massage are as follows: neck pain, whiplash, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff or other shoulder injuries, headaches, numbness and tingling, repetitive motion injuries, carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet syndrome, and sciatica or low back pain. Currently in the state of Delaware, Medical Massage treatment is covered under automobile insurance and worker’s compensation. Medical Massage specialists are working diligently to get this treatment covered by all forms of medical insurance. Private pay is always available. Contact your health care provider today for a prescription referral.

Self Care

Follow these simple steps in restoring structural balance to the forearm muscles and release the adhesions. These techniques should be done frequently – at least twice a day. Continue these techniques even when symptoms are gone.

1. Stand beside your bed or table. Place your right hand with the palm pressing down flat on the table bending the wrist. With the left hand, deeply massage down the inside of the forearm from the elbow to the wrist simultaneously as you bend and stretch the wrist, ending with the palm flat on the table.

2.Reverse the position of the wrist by placing the back of the
hand flat on the bed or table, as you simultaneously deeply massage down the outside of the forearm from the elbow to the wrist.

3.Adhesions (scar tissue) are best released by rubbing in all
directions or “teasing” through the affected muscle. Imagine as if you were trying to untangle a ball of yarn by separating the many muscles that are stuck together. Common places for the adhesions to develop are a couple of inches below the elbow. This area may be very tender to the pressure, but don’t be afraid to work out the adhesions. “Iron the muscle out”.