Brachioradialis Pain Pull Ups: A Common Problem?
The brachioradialis muscle group is one of the most common causes of shoulder pain. There are many reasons why someone may have shoulder pain from the biceps brachii. One of them is the brachioradialis muscle. This muscle group consists of two heads (brachiovertebral head and brachial plexus). The brachioradialis is a muscle that is located on the outside of your forearm, it flexes and extends the wrist and is innervated by branches of the radial nerve.
Muscle tissue is divided into two categories: Contractile and Non-contractile. The contractile portion of the muscle is active during movement and the non-contractile portion is at rest. Another way of thinking about this is: the contractile portion of the muscle is like a rope, while the non-contractile portion is like the bucket. If you had two ropes and two buckets and you attached the ropes to a cart and tried to pull the cart, the rope would be the muscles fibers that pull on the cart and the bucket would be in the opposite direction the muscle is tensioned in, now if you were to remove the rope from the cart and leave the bucket in the cart, the cart would just fall to the ground as there is nothing to stop it.
The muscle that is pulling the rope and in tension is the contractile portion and the relaxed portion is the non-contractile portion.
In the case of the brachioradialis muscle, there is a torso and a forearm muscle. We will focus on the torso muscle as the forearm muscle is very similar in execution. The two muscles make up a group of three muscles on the outside of your upper arm that are used in many different activities, from typing to rowing. These muscles help with elbow flexion and extend the wrist.
The common problem with these muscles is brachioradialis tendonitis.
Tendonitis is a condition where the tendons are irritated or worn out and cause pain when used. In the case of the brachioradialis tendon, there is a round ligament at the base of the little finger on your non-dominant hand. This tendon causes pain on the inside of your elbow and under your little finger when you flex your wrist or extend your hand. This condition is also known as cubital tunnel syndrome, as this is where it primarily occurs.
This ligament causes a lot of discomfort when using the muscle. The tendonitis can also lead to tears and misalignment if it is not managed correctly.
Sources & references used in this article:
Experimental muscle pain increases trapezius muscle activity during sustained isometric contractions of arm muscles by E Schulte, A Ciubotariu, L Arendt-Nielsen… – Clinical …, 2004 – Elsevier
Brachioradialis transfer for digital palsy by JM Failla, CA Peimer, FS Sherwin – Journal of Hand Surgery, 1990 – journals.sagepub.com
Assessment of pain sensitivity in patients with deep bite and sex-and age-matched controls. by L Sonnesen, P Svensson – Journal of orofacial pain, 2011 – search.ebscohost.com
Experimental muscle pain changes motor control strategies in dynamic contractions by UF Ervilha, D Farina, L Arendt-Nielsen… – Experimental brain …, 2005 – Springer
