Thread: Nerve impingement affecting strength. Anyone experience the same?

Hey all,

I've been dealing with a pinched nerve on and off for the past 4-5 months or so. My main symptoms are a small but still noticeable loss of strength in my left arm during certain movements and a nagging type of pain in my neck (which isn't there all the time). I can do all rowing movements without any impairment and without any loss of strength. I feel the loss of strength the most when doing bench press or overhead press. I can press about 5kg less in my left arm when compared with my right arm. This loss of strength isn't always prevalent and there are times when I can press my normal weight with my left arm. Another movement where I can feel a loss of strength is dumbbell lunges. The dumbbell in my left hand gets heavier quicker than in my right hand and I can tell that it's not down to muscle fatigue. It's difficult to describe the sensation because it's not painful as such, it's rather a feeling of weakness. It runs down the outside of my arm and into my forearm.

I have had an MRI of my cervical spine done and my cervical spine is completely fine. I've been to my orthopedic doctor a number of times and it doesn't come from my shoulder or my rotator cuff. I've been going to my physio once a week and she isn't sure what it could be and where exactly it comes from. She reckons it could be trigger points in my traps causing the symptoms directly or it could be trigger points impinging on the nerve. I will be visiting another physio in a couple of weeks time who will do an EMG to measure muscle activity, which will then in turn show if there's a nerve problem or not.

Now one of the main culprits (what me and my physio think) is my posture. In my case I have a kyphotic spine, rounded shoulders and forward head posture. All of it is quite subtle and I'm wary of my posture but it's still there.

This is a pretty common occurrence in the world of bodybuilding, so I'm wondering if anyone has been through something similar and would care to share their experience and their journey with me.

Much love fam