Eric,
Could you give some exercises for the neck region?
EC,
yes, its the same shoudler.
Why will stretching help an inpingement problem?
There are a few exercises that I will never do, due to the fact that they put a terrible strain on the shoulder joint.
Dips
Barbells Bench Press
Behind the Neck Press
One reason that I can continue to break new personal records and train hard at the age of 48 is because I am careful about what exercises that I use.
Mark/Boss14,
Chin tucks for endurance.
GD,
Tightness alters the length-tension relationship of muscles. More importantly, muscles are attached to bones via tendons; tight muscles pull bones out of alignment. This tightness makes it difficult for the antagonists to be effective, and also leads to mechanical impingement.
Eric,
Correct me if im wrong…chin tucks are done supine with head supported by a pillow, small range of motion. Always good to hear other peoples thoughts on training.
Isometrics with swiss ball against a wall would also be a exercise to strengthen the neck. I rarely recomend neck harnesses or heavy manual resistance except maybe for an athlete and even then done with caution. If i had a dollar for every time i saw someone using either the harness or manual resistance wrong i’d be a rich man. It surprises me how some of these people walk out of the gym in one piece.
Boss14,
Yes, although I don’t use the pillow; it decreases the ROM. Just use a mat or other padded surface and have the client focus on tucking the chin without moving the head forward.
ZEB,
I would love to see a pic of your upper body without dips, benches, and BN presses.
EC/others,
Okay I went to a PT last week like I said and he performed a series of tests on my shoulder and couldn’t find shit wrong with it.
Today, I go see an ortho, and after five minutes he determines a have a weak or slightly injured subscapularis. He said it is really not a big deal because if it was major, he said I would not even be able to move the arm.
He did say, however that my external rotators, and other muscles are very strong, and I am NEGLECTING my internal rotators (subscapularis). I find this very interesting and he showed me an exercise to do: Lie on back with elbows tucked into sides, arm at 90 degrees. Rotate dumbells inwards.
It seems as in focusing on my rotator cuff I’ve done only external rotation exercises and no internal rotation ones. This is excellent, because now I have a new exercise and a new exposed weakness to improve/work on.
Thoughts?
geek,
I do Dumbbell bench pressing-Weighted push-ups and many other great exercises that do not harm the shoulder joint. My arms measure about 171/2"-My chest 48" and I weigh 188lbs. My body fat usually stays between 8.5% and 10%,(I went as high as 11% last spring). And I do it all with no Dips!
More importantly, I don’t have any shoulder joint pain. I have no idea how old you are but if you plan on training for many more years I suggest that you listen to your body.
That is supposed to read “greek” not “geek”. My apologies.
Greek,
Glad you got things figured out. This is why we don’t do internet diagnoses!!
That said, weak subscaps are pretty uncommon, as they get quite a bit of work in benching, pullups, etc. That said, if you’ve got some synergistic dominance or postural abnormalities going on, the subscap often won’t fire like it should. There are tons of variations of internal rotations; I usually have people do them supine on the floor from the “waving” position to neutral.
Thanks for the update. Good luck!
OK I went to another PT/ART guy today and he said it was bicepital tendonitis…
WTF? One guy says internal rotators, this guy says bicepital tendonitis??
Any suggestions?
Easy test for bicipital tendonitis:
Position your arm and hand as if you are halfway through a DB Front Raise, but in a supinated position. Have someone resist the upward motion (no elbow flexion allowed); all the motion (or attempted motion) should be at the shoulder. If it hurts anteriorly, the test is positive.
tell both of them to get fucked, and get some deca!!! j/k
the only thing i would suggest is to perhaps find some good books on the subject and see if you cant figure it out yourself. or just get a 3rd, 4th, and 5th opinion.
Greek,
Medicine is a very difficult field. One symptom can be caused by thirty different conditions. Everyone you go to will see your problem differently. I definitely would work on internal rotation. I have a shoulder impingement as well and it used to cause me lots of pain. The PT told me the same thing, the smaller rotator cuff muscles aren’t as strong as the overlying ones. Work on building up your rotator cuff with those internal rotation exercises. Give it some time, it took me two months of rehabilitation to fix my shoulder. The exercises may seem useless or easy, but they do work if you stick with it.
Any other thoughts?
Greekdawg, I’ve had similar experiences with conflicting diagnoses. The musculosketal system is extremely complicated, and a heck of a lot can go wrong. Different problems can offer similar symptoms. The doctors have a difficult job to do.
I’m thinking the doc who diagnosed the internal rotation may be valuable, because, as he said, the condition is uncommon. Doctors probably don’t often diagnose something uncommon without careful consideration.
Is it also possible that both are right, or that you developed the tendonitis more recently? An imbalance around one joint often ultimately leads to irritation in multiple places.
Now that I give it more than a few seconds of thought, it really isn’t all that difficult to explain.
Both the subscap and long head of the biceps are anterior stabilizers of the GH joint. We’ve established that your subscap is weak, so it’s logical that the biceps tendon is working overtime.
Additionally, the long head of the biceps helps to stabilize the humeral head during the cocking motion. If the subscap is too weak to decelerate the humerus during the external rotation phase of cocking, you can imagine that the biceps tendon is working pretty hard to keep your arm from flying all over the place.