Collar Bone Stress During Dips?

Well basically, throughout my weightlifting career I have always liked doing dips. Before I always used to do a 5x5 / 5x7 type of routine.

Recently I have increased how many reps I am doing and generally do 5x10 / 5x12 depending on how I am feeling that day and found that towards the end of each set, there is a lot pressure on my collar bone, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. I have never had any issues with my collar bone before, broken bones, pulled muscles, etc. etc.

I have also tried different hand placements (ie: closer together or further apart) but I still feel the pressure. It doesn’t hurt per say, but I dont feel anything like it with virtually any other excersize I do.

Has anyone else experienced problems like this before? Is there a fix?

i broke my collarbone 5 years ago. now when i do weighted dips, sometimes i feel awkwardness/discomfort on the side which suffered the break.

it’s not a real “fix,” but i’ve found that looking up relieves the pain somewhat.

i’d also be interested to see if there are any other ways to work around this pain. it’s limited the amount of weight i use for quite some time now.

u sure you dont have a fracture?

is it your whole collar bone?left?right?middle?

[quote]aburke22 wrote:
Well basically, throughout my weightlifting career I have always liked doing dips. Before I always used to do a 5x5 / 5x7 type of routine.

Recently I have increased how many reps I am doing and generally do 5x10 / 5x12 depending on how I am feeling that day and found that towards the end of each set, there is a lot pressure on my collar bone, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. I have never had any issues with my collar bone before, broken bones, pulled muscles, etc. etc.

I have also tried different hand placements (ie: closer together or further apart) but I still feel the pressure. It doesn’t hurt per say, but I dont feel anything like it with virtually any other excersize I do.

Has anyone else experienced problems like this before? Is there a fix?[/quote]

I have recently started adding weight to my dips (thanks to ABBH). I, too, noticed discomfort in the collar bone region. Coincidentally, I found that the alignment of my head/neck significantly affected the stress placed upon said area. Keep your head up and don’t look at the ground.

Yep, same discomfort in my right collarbone on, far left side. As others have mentioned, if I pay attention to my form then it’s not an issue.

Yep, same discomfort in my right collarbone, far left side. As others have mentioned, when I pay attention to my form then it’s not an issue.

[quote]jmwintenn wrote:
u sure you dont have a fracture?

is it your whole collar bone?left?right?middle?[/quote]

Well I haven’t taken X-Rays, but I’ve had fractures before in other parts of my body, and this definitely isn’t it. Its more of a pressure and discomfort than pain really.

It doesn’t hold me back on reps or sets because the second I de-load I feel fine… Even when I get back on the bars it doesn’t start getting like that until I am in the higher reps again, even on the 4th - 5th - 6th sets.

I’ve had the same problem, but no answer.

Check out this link.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1164218&pageNo=0#1164790

One problem may be you are raising your shoulders (like in a shrug) while doing dips for extra power, placing stress on you collar bone. Try to keep your shoulders as flat as possible, places more pressure on your pecs and less on your shoulders. You also may be leaning forward? anyways try it out and see what happens