Learning About Diagnosing Common Health Problems

Posted on: 23 January 2017

If you're an avid weightlifter, then you understand that there are serious risks that you need to be careful about. This is why form is so important. If you don't have proper form, you can severely injure yourself. However, there are times when your form might be correct and yet other things can cause an injury so severe you will have to visit an orthopedic surgeon. Here are three potential problems you might encounter in your routine and how to go about dealing with them.

Calf Pain After A Squat : Roll It Out

When you squat, you expect to feel sore in your glutes or your thighs, but what your calf muscles? The calf muscle should be sore after standing raises, not squats. If you are sore after a squat, it means that your calf muscles are tight and they are getting too stressed. You need to stretch and roll them out using a foam roller. The problem with tight calf muscles is that, over time, they can cause you to lean forward too much on your squat. This will stress your knee. If this happens, you might end up blowing out your knee and be in need of an orthopedic surgeon.

Upright Rows: Tendon Snappers

If you have upright rows in your routine, dump them ASAP. They are often listed as one of the most dangerous exercises around. People like them because they are a great way to develop traps, but they also stress out your shoulders. If you find yourself with sore shoulders bordering on pain, realize that it's not just a case of needing to let your muscles get over the fatigue. You are possibly straining the tendons and ligaments. Should they snap, you will need to have orthopedic surgery to correct it. This will also sideline most other lifting for quite a while. So, skip the upright rows and switch to something less dangerous such as dumbbell shrugs.

Snap, Crackle, And Pop: The Deadly Deadlift

The deadlift can build a powerful back, and many people who are serious lifters get very defensive when people mention that it can cause back problems. If done correctly, the deadlift strengthens the back (particularly the spinae erector) but, if done wrong, it can cause serious back issues. The most problematic thing to watch out for is a rounded lower back. If you round your lower back, you risk popping your discs (causing a rupture and the textbook audible sound). This happens to lifters who normally have good form, but are loading up really heavy and looking to max out their lift. Should you hear the pop and feel the pain run through your body, it's not something you should try and fix with rest, ice, and massage. You need to get yourself to an orthopedic doctor who can do an MRI and see exactly what the issue it. They can determine if surgery is needed or if alternatives such as traction and steroidal injections are necessary.