Bottom of Pull-ups = Shoulder Pain

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Ive been trying to deal with poor mobility, and posture in my upper body.

Occasionaly i’ll get some impingement or tendonitis, but its usually not that seriuos.

Ive been focusing on thoracic mobility, and drills like YTWL’s.

Today I did my vertical pull exercises, which was mainly neurtal grip chins.

The pain wasn’t serious, but right towards the bottom of the chinup, I would get a pinch in my right shoulder. It also only occured during the eccentric.

Should I:

  1. Cut out the chins for a while, and work more on my shoulder stability/mobility, etc?

  2. Keep doing chinups, but dont go all the way down?

Im leaning toward number two, because im very strong at the bottom of chins, and could benefit from strengthening my biceps, etc.

Anyone have any experience with this, or any suggestions?

2

You might need to stay tighter at the bottom of the chinup.

www.beastskills.com/OneArmPull.htm

About 1/3 of the way down the page there is a dangers section with a couple pictures.

3

I’ve seen EC and Tom from EliteFTS advise against pullups for those with shoulder problems if they cause pain.

I’d ditch them. Don’t do what hurts.

4

[quote] Matt wrote:
I’ve seen EC and Tom from EliteFTS advise against pullups for those with shoulder problems if they cause pain.

I’d ditch them. Don’t do what hurts.[/quote]

Exactly, you would need a good exam with imaging to rule out various types of soft tissue damage.

For example, I have torn right labrum and avoid pulldowns and pullups. I do scapular retraction work to train my lats, various types of rows, face pulls, or seated dumbell power cleans.