Pain in your forearms is caused by adhesions, or stuck spots, in the Fascia that is found throughout the forearm muscles. Adhesions prevent your forearm muscles from contracting fully, making them feel weak.
It is a good idea to learn as much as you can about the conditions that are leading to your symptoms.
The muscles of the forearms do three things:
1. They close the fingers into a fist and then open them again
2. They move the wrist up, down and tilt it to the side
3. They rotate the forearms from a palm down to a palm up position
Visit the Forearm Pain Symptoms page to explore this important subject.
When you have forearm pain, it indicates that you have done one or more of these movements to excess and it has caused strain.
Here are some common movements that fall into this category. You might find the cause of your pain here, or you might have developed another pattern that is leading to the pain in your forearms. Use your imagination and pay attention to how you use your hands and arms in the course of a day to figure out why you are experiencing pain.
Any combination of these movements will accelerate the changes in your forearm muscles even more. For example, if you are a dental hygienist, you will probably find that you have to grip your instruments firmly and at the same time, put stress in all your arm muscles to keep your hands steady. In addition, you will likely have a bent wrist and elbow as you work with your patient. Three sources of stress going on simultaneously!
When you perform stressful movements and holding patterns over and over in the course of a day, the fascia in your forearms begins to change consistency to help the muscles carry the work load. The fascia becomes thickened and sticky and begins to glue layers of neighboring muscles together. This in turn begins to inhibit or restrict the movement of the muscles required to move your fingers or wrist. Now they all have to work harder because they are dragging along their neighbor muscles with each movement.
The result? PAIN, FATIGUE, WEAKNESS
Visit the Forearm Anatomy page to learn more about the muscles that are responsible for your kind of forearm pain:
Once you understand how each of these muscle groups work, you can better identify the movements that are responsible for your pain. Limiting those movements can help reduce the strain in your forearms.
To fully eliminate your pain, you must release the adhesions or stuck places that are locking your muscles together. Once released, your muscles will move freely again and will no longer cause you any pain. Strength and endurance will be restored.
You can find helpful tips about managing your symptoms on the Forearm Pain Self Care page.