[quote]ScottL wrote:
Hi Eric,
Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Shoulder rehab question:
PROBLEM: When I started lifting about 4 years ago, I couldn?t bench without shoulder discomfort. My shoulders were forward, and the palms were facing partway backwards.
IMPROVED AFTER: deep tissue work, one ART session and a lot more back work then chest work. I can bench without pain, and palms only face a little bit backwards.
STILL HAVE PROBLEM WITH: rear delt raises. Even a small weight produces mild left shoulder discomfort around the inferior scapula although it is difficult to pinpoint. Seated rows, even to the neck, are fine and this seems only to be an issue while bent over.
FYI: there is this clicking sensation/sound during rear delt raises, during the cuban rotation even with zero weights (when rotating my forearms back to the prone position), and just moving my arm through 360 degrees (when the left arm goes from overhead and moves backwards) there is this…catch or sticking position).
I’m 44, 6’, 190 about 17% BF and am just getting back to lifting after arthroscopic knee surgery. I?ve never injured my shoulder.
I do iyengar yoga and would rather avoid more ART unless you feel it is necessary.
Thanks again for your time.
Scott[/quote]
Chances are that you just have a little bit of adhesion build-up in your mid/lower traps and/or rhomboids. It probably just gets irritated with the bent-over position where it’s difficult to maintain a minimally kyphotic position. I think that ART would be a great idea, although you can probably get some good results from self myofascial release on the foam roller. Thoracic extension work is the key with SMR for you. Keep an eye out for an article from Mike and I this week on this very topic.
The clicking may actually just be normal functioning for you. There’s considerably evidence to suggest that subacromial impingement is a natural phenomenon in the shoulder, and only when it reaches a certain threshold (above clicking in most cases, thankfully!) does it elicit pain.
If bent-over rear delt raises give you discomfort, don’t do them! There are plenty of other way to train the posterior delts. Nonetheless, you still ought to take care of that problem, as it could be causing you to compensate elsewhere.