Greetings all,
I have recently started getting some weird kind of shoulder pain. The pain seems to come from exactly the meeting point of my left scapula, to rear delt, just under my upper trap. The pain is not sharp at all, but just a dull, constant pain, that is awoken from pressure on the area, or doing something like shoulder circles (Benching of course as well, as the area gets pushed into the bench and the shoulder exerts force too).
Again, I was still able to bench 80-90% without jolts of pain like you feel from torn/strained muscles, or something of the like. From what I have experienced in the past this may be some kind of nerve irritation, and what caused it/how to rehab it I have no clue. Heat helps, but I would like to get to the core of the problem.
Upon analysis of my training, I have recently started narrowing my hand position on squats (high bar), and it turns out where the bar touches on my left shoulder is where I feel tenderness. I have done all sorts of rotator cuff tests and they all seem fine. Thanks for reading, if you have any recommendations please let me know.
So this odd, dull pain that was going on the night before, and day of benching, has almost completely subsided 3 days later. I was at first worried that I may have torn my labrum, a piece of cartilage that “insulates” the humerus entering the shoulder joint. I have since concluded that it is probably just a pinched nerve, as now the pain has gravitated to more following my trap up to the bottom of my ear. Perhaps I slept on it wrong, or my poor posture from sitting in a chair all day/driving all day has something to do with it. I benched yesterday, did 135x20+ no pain, OHP, no pain, deadlift was OK too, and even lateral raises were fine. It still feels a little odd, but I am hoping it will eventually go away.
Pain in the shoulder blades and trap region are a good sign the pain is referring down from your neck. Correcting your daily posture like you mentioned above is important. Though the possibility of it coming back is still there, have it looked at if it keeps coming back so it doesn’t snowball into more constant symptoms.