Pain in palm with DB bench press.

I used to do dumbbell bench press just fine, but recently I moved to heavier dumbbells and now I get this ridiculous pain in the heel of my palm. This is only in my right hand as well :s-smilie:

When I say heel I mean the area below the thumb, not immediately below the thumb, a bit closer to the wrist. I'm doing sets of 5 to 8.

I try to work through it but my right hand is screaming just to drop the weight immediately and I have to stop. I should mention this isn't an instant thing, today I did 2 sets without any problem but on the third set, the pain in my right hand stopped me finishing properly. Feels like the heel of my right palm is being crushed by the weight, almost like it's pinching something.

Is this a result of weak grip? It's odd to me that it only happens in my right hand. It's not really a form issue I don't think, I fully feel the movement in my chest, I just have to stop before the pain makes me drop the dumbbell instinctively. I kept glancing at my wrist and it seemed straight to me.

Will this go away over time, or is there anything I should do to combat it? Thanks, appreciate any advice. The same thing happens when wearing gloves, maybe I need some better ones. Mine were pretty cheap.

Edit: It seems other people have had this problem, some say it just went away for them as they lifted for longer. Hopefully that's the case but any advice still welcome!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

BKS

19

Depends on the sort of pain. I think it's one of those things where you need to decide based on knowing your body

I don't think grip strength comes into it. If it did then you'd know about it when doing pulls, push involves minimal grip. Gloves aren't really the answer either. My first guess would have been if the heavier ones just cut into you more because of the weight or better knurling. But if it's the same with gloves then that isn't the problem. It's the only thing grip helps with but really you are better of removing the gloves and toughening up the skin on your hands but that won't help this issue. Maybe you aren't gripping it right so it is sitting in the wrong part of your hand? But I'd guess not since you'd likely feel it in both hands even if to different events.

the odd ache and pain is part of lifting. You can either work through it or change exercise for a couple of weeks. But sometimes things are more serious and you need to see a doctor/physio and it's impossible for anyone on the internet to tell you if that is the case here

Reply 2

Converse Rocker

OP

16

Original post by BKS

Depends on the sort of pain. I think it's one of those things where you need to decide based on knowing your body

I don't think grip strength comes into it. If it did then you'd know about it when doing pulls, push involves minimal grip. Gloves aren't really the answer either. My first guess would have been if the heavier ones just cut into you more because of the weight or better knurling. But if it's the same with gloves then that isn't the problem. It's the only thing grip helps with but really you are better of removing the gloves and toughening up the skin on your hands but that won't help this issue. Maybe you aren't gripping it right so it is sitting in the wrong part of your hand? But I'd guess not since you'd likely feel it in both hands even if to different events.

the odd ache and pain is part of lifting. You can either work through it or change exercise for a couple of weeks. But sometimes things are more serious and you need to see a doctor/physio and it's impossible for anyone on the internet to tell you if that is the case here

Cheers for the reply mate.

For a second I thought I had injured something, but this never bothers me in every day life or in any other exercise, just the dumbbell bench. :confused:

I've read of other people experiencing a similar pain, and some say they just stuck at it and it went away. Some say gloves helped them. I guess solutions could be swapping over to something like cable crossovers but bench press is part of the routine and I don't want to take it out immediately.

There's also a 'palms in' version of dumbbell bench, who knows, maybe that will feel better. I intend to barbell bench twice a week which hasn't given me any problems so I'm not bricking it just yet. Thanks! :smile:

I appreciate it's hard to spot a problem over the internet, so ta for posting.

Reply 3

Beardbrah

11

Either a ligament sprain, muscle strain, a bruised carpal (wrist) bone, or nerve impingement.

I won't advise you on anything medical, but if it was me, I would ice it, take some ibuprofen and maybe take a week off lifting. If it persisted, I would see my GP.

Care to answer a few questions? How severe is the pain on a scale of 1-10? How would you describe the pain in your own words? Does the pain radiate anywhere? Do you have any other sensations with the pain?

Also, how long's this been going on for/how long's it been a problem?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

Converse Rocker

OP

16

Original post by HFerguson

Either a ligament sprain, muscle strain, a bruised carpal (wrist) bone, or nerve impingement.

I won't advise you on anything medical, but if it was me, I would ice it, take some ibuprofen and maybe take a week off lifting. If it persisted, I would see my GP.

Care to answer a few questions? How severe is the pain on a scale of 1-10? How would you describe the pain in your own words? Does the pain radiate anywhere? Do you have any other sensations with the pain?

Also, how long's this been going on for/how long's it been a problem?

I thought it might be something like you suggest, but it only occurs in this one movement. I never feel pain outside of the gym (I should have told you this earlier) and never in any other exercises. I tried incline bench press with some lighter dumbbells and no pain.

On a scale from 1 to 10...at first it's like a 4, gradually gets worse up until a 7 or 8 maybe? Hard to say. I'd say it feels like the heel of my palm is being 'crushed' by the weight, again almost like something is being pinched. Hard to say the exact location of the pain, sorry. If you look at this image:

Spoiler

Where the red section begins directly under this guy's thumbnail, it's right about there I think.

I don't get it anywhere else, just that one lower area of my palm in my right hand (not the left) Only been a problem for about a week, since I moved up to heavier dumbbells, and again only in this movement. Not out of the gym, not on anything else, just dumbbell bench.

Maybe my grip is messed up on this exercise? I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong if this is the case though. When I get to the better gym I'll try it with their dumbbells, maybe the grip on these was literally pinching the skin because they do have a pretty strange grip on them. I really appreciate the advice mate.