Guest guest Posted May 27, 2002 Report Share Posted May 27, 2002 Has anybody heard or suffered from this before? I know a few individuals who have suffered from headaches especially on the bench press. Some have suffered quite severely - note they weren't even lifting very heavy weights. " Weight lifter's cephalgia. Weight lifters headache is generally sudden in onset and occurs during active lifting (see references below). In many cases, the weight training exercise being performed at the time of headache onset was the bench press. The pain is described as burning or boring in quality and localized to the posterior head and neck. Though onset is abrupt, the headache may persist for several days to weeks, gradually resolving. No clear cause has been identified; the presumed mechanism is ligament or soft- tissue injury. [Nice word, " cephalgia " - " ceph " simply means " head " and " -algia " refers to poain, so that all it means is " pain in the head " ! It doesn't sound half as impressive when translated into normal English, does it? As the article stresses, no single cause has been identified and may involve blood pressure increase associated with strong eliciting of the Valsalva manoeuvre, spasm in the muscles of the neck and shoulders, neural impingement or minor traumatisation of ligament or muscle tissue. Mel Siff] Initial management consists of avoidance of weight training, cervical range-of-motion exercises and stretches, and pain medication. After a patient's pain resolves, training technique should be reviewed to eliminate incorrect technique. " Take from: Weight Training Injuries: Part 2: Diagnosing and Managing Chronic Conditions K. Reeves, MD; R. Laskowski, MD; Jay , MD THE PHYSICIAN AND SPORTSMEDICINE - VOL 26 - NO. 3 - MARCH 98 B: Weight lifter's cephalgia. Ann Emerg Med 1982;11(8):449-451 son GW: Weightlifters headache. Headache 1983;23(4):193-194 Ibbotson SH: Weight-lifter's headache, letter. Brit J Sports Med 1987;21(3):138 [One important comment - as usual, there are far too many medical authorities who do not seem to know what weightlifting is. They always seem to classify most gym injuries under the heading of " weightlifters " something or other - it would be better to use weight trainers or bench pressers headache, but definitely NOT " Weightlifters " headache. I suffer from immediate " Weightlifters Headache " every time that I see this ignorance being proliferated. Maybe it is time that we started calling our orthopedist colleagues orthotists or orthodontists, or the pediatrists/pediatric specialists by the name, podiatrists/podiatric specialists, or the psychiatrists by the name physiatrists. Close enough! Mel Siff] ------------------------- Many thanks, Carruthers Wakefield UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 27, 2002 Report Share Posted May 27, 2002 I suffered from exactly what you are talking about several years ago. Almost every time I would be bench pressing I would get a sharp pain in the back of my head, so painful that I had to stop immediately. After having an MRI done and seeing two neurologists, I got nowhere and was told to simply " stop lifting heavy weights and do pushups against the wall instead. " Finally, after a lot of frustration, I found a doctor who immediately diagnosed the problem as an " exertional migraine " and prescriped Propranolol HCL. I took it for one month and the problem was gone and never came back. Hope this helps son Seattle, WA ----- Original Message ----- From: carruthersjam Has anybody heard or suffered from this before? I know a few individuals who have suffered from headaches especially on the bench press. Some have suffered quite severely - note they weren't even lifting very heavy weights. " Weight lifter's cephalgia. Weight lifters headache is generally sudden in onset and occurs during active lifting (see references below). In many cases, the weight training exercise being performed at the time of headache onset was the bench press. The pain is described as burning or boring in quality and localized to the posterior head and neck. Though onset is abrupt, the headache may persist for several days to weeks, gradually resolving. No clear cause has been identified; the presumed mechanism is ligament or soft- tissue injury. [Nice word, " cephalgia " - " ceph " simply means " head " and " -algia " refers to poain, so that all it means is " pain in the head " ! It doesn't sound half as impressive when translated into normal English, does it? As the article stresses, no single cause has been identified and may involve blood pressure increase associated with strong eliciting of the Valsalva manoeuvre, spasm in the muscles of the neck and shoulders, neural impingement or minor traumatisation of ligament or muscle tissue. Mel Siff] Initial management consists of avoidance of weight training, cervical range-of-motion exercises and stretches, and pain medication. After a patient's pain resolves, training technique should be reviewed to eliminate incorrect technique. " Take from: Weight Training Injuries: Part 2: Diagnosing and Managing Chronic Conditions K. Reeves, MD; R. Laskowski, MD; Jay , MD THE PHYSICIAN AND SPORTSMEDICINE - VOL 26 - NO. 3 - MARCH 98 B: Weight lifter's cephalgia. Ann Emerg Med 1982;11(8):449-451 son GW: Weightlifters headache. Headache 1983;23(4):193-194 Ibbotson SH: Weight-lifter's headache, letter. Brit J Sports Med 1987;21(3):138 [One important comment - as usual, there are far too many medical authorities who do not seem to know what weightlifting is. They always seem to classify most gym injuries under the heading of " weightlifters " something or other - it would be better to use weight trainers or bench pressers headache, but definitely NOT " Weightlifters " headache. I suffer from immediate " Weightlifters Headache " every time that I see this ignorance being proliferated. Maybe it is time that we started calling our orthopedist colleagues orthotists or orthodontists, or the pediatrists/pediatric specialists by the name, podiatrists/podiatric specialists, or the psychiatrists by the name physiatrists. Close enough! Mel Siff] ------------------------- Carruthers * Don't forget to sign all letters with full name and city of residence if you wish them to be published! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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