Hello,Im Mall and i am a part time fitness instructor and fitness fanatic. My training involves weight training,swimming and running.recentley i have been unable to do the bench press and the standing military press due to a pain in the shoulder when i lower the bar to the chest or shoulder. I am unable to do handstand push ups any more which i used to do as a party piece at my circuit classes. I have found that i can still do weighted dips and close grip bench presses though not being able to train properly is driving me nuts. I have also noticed when i do back squats my shoulder hurts after doing them. The shoulder also hurts when i do the front crawl when swimming.
Can any body help me fix this damm injury before i go completey mad!
Sounds like you strained your rotator cuff. You really should see an ART specialist, however, do a search on this forum because home remedies have been discussed before. Good luck.
Man sounds like tendinitis or microtrauma ask a doctor first. I have dealt with it for about 9 years my self. You can subside the pain so you can continue training. First, ice it for 30minutes whenever it hurts and always after training. Next, avoid flat bench and military press. Instead use dumbells but do not let your elbows come down past your chest, which means a partial rep. When doing shoulder dumbell press also do a partial rep and kick the angle back a few notches to take pressure off the rotator cuff. Use ibuprofen if necessary. The goal is to keep the pain away.
When you’re rehabbing, I recommend the strand pulling device sold by Matt Furey on his website mattfurey.com. It puts more tension on the stabilizing muscles of your shoulder than anything you can do with weights…
From what I see the answer to your problem lies in your description of your training. Every exercise I see bench press, military press, handstand pushup, close grip bench and the crawl in swimming…they all involve internal rotation of your shoulder and you most likely have created an imbalance. How much pulling do you do in relationship to all your pushing? Start doing some external rotation exercises, hit your traps, rear delts, lats and other rowing movements first on your training days and first in your training week. Lighten up on all the pushing and switch your stroke up a bit in swimming…you might try breastroke for a while. If the pain is constant or there is any clicking, popping, cracking etc you’ll probably want to get it evaluated. Oh and when you squat take a wide grip on the bar. The squat using a close grip is responsible for many shoulder impingement injuries by itself. Best of luck and hope this helps!
I have a simular thing in my right shoulder. It feels deep and I have a hard time reaching sometimes but I am able to lift properly. This is a warning from my body isn’t it? What do I do? I am drug-free but lift heavy and consistently. I feel your pain Mall, LITERALLY!
GO TO YOUR LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL AND ASK THE ATHLETIC TRAINER FOR THE STRONGEST PEICE OF SURGICAL TUBING HE HAS THEY CALL IT (THEREABAND) NOW WHEN U TRAIN YOUR UPPERBODY SPEND LIKE 10 MINUTES JUST STRETCHING WITH IT DO ALL KINDS OF STRETCHES AND HOLD THEM FOR LIKE 30 SECONDS, AND DO THIS ALL DAY LONG WHENEVER U GET A CHANCE IT FEELS GOOD AND HELPS
From my experience “working through” an injury is rarely a good idea - especially when you arent positive what is hurt!
It could be rotator cuff, it could be tendonitis of sorts. Go to a doctor first. ART guys may be cool, but they arent trained like a sports doctor is.
Be careful and take it easy.
Like others have said - don’t neglect your back … at the very least all serious lifters will just laugh at your untrained back. :o)
Go see a sports-oriented physio or chiro for a diagnosis.Having said that I would put my money on external rotation work for the RC,as Kelly suggested.Most activities and sports seem to emphasis internal rotation (swimming, throwing, punching, benching, even sitting at a desk with your shoulders slumped forward) and it is quite common for the internal rotators to overpower the externals, the resulting imbalance opens the door for injury. I fucked my shoulder big time several years ago, my treatment progressed as follows-diagnosis of what the problem was, then several trips to an MD who also practices alternative therapies, she administered some prolotherapy, which is injections of a mixture of lignocaine and glucose into the shoulder joint. This is a little known but extremely effective therapy, (I guess there’s not much money in it for the drug companies…) it worked absolute miracles with my shoulder, then I saw a chiro for a while, when my shoulder was ready I started using the shoulderhorn I had ordered from the states, this also helped immensely. Despite the severity of the injury within a year my upper body was stronger than ever. I do RC work to this day. I also avoid certain excercises, like dips, flyes etc, which is no great loss as I have made power and olympic type lifts the core of my routine anyway. Good luck.