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Our user asked: "I was recently diagnosed with a C7 herniated disc. I had severe pain in my right arm especially in the tricep area and some numbness in index finger. The pain has since gone but the strength in my tricep and right chest muscle has decreased significantly. I have been working out consistently and have had no real gains and the muscle in the chest and tricep have seemed to almost disappear. Any suggestions as to why or advice for treatment?"
Ask a PT Response: "I was just wondering what your course of action was to help alleviate your pain? Did you have surgery? Was there permanent nerve damage? It is not uncommon to experience atrophy of a muscle with severe impingement of a nerve, in your case C7. Increasing strength and redeveloping muscle mass for an injury such as yours will require a lot of time. When I work with patients with similiar conditions such as yours, I would first have them work on regaining strength before I focus on developing more muscle mass and tone. The strengthening exercises I prescribe will target the involved muscles. I would generally have them start with lighter weights and higher reps and then progress them to heavier weights and lower reps. A person will typically first gain strength as a result of the brain being able to estabish additional connections with more motor units in the muscle and not from lifting very heavy weight. It may be a good idea to work with a trainer/certified strength and conditioning specialist if you are able to and pain is no longer an issue for you. I hope this helps and thanks for using CyberPT."
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