Impingement/Supraspinatus

Training Injuries
1

hello
for a long time , I would say years , I have pain , discomfort in my left shoulder . consulting various specialists , I understood it should be a Shoulder impingement syndrome , perhaps caused by the shape of my acromion or at least a supraspinatus tendinitis (ultrasound showed calcification) .

the pain runs along the edge above the spine of the scapula , sometimes on the top of the rear deltoid , sometimes along the back of the left arm.

I still can do very heavy bench press with reverse bands and fat Gripz without difficulty ; heavy floor press , decline bench press ;

I do not do any vertical exercise as overhead press , lat pulldown or chin ups .

I do a lot of work for my upper back : band pull aparts , face pulls ,rows, inverted row, prone T, Y…with no problem.

the volume of work between horizontal push and horizontal pull exercises is equal if not greater for the pulls.

I also tried to stay away from training for a while, but the problem remains.

Maybe I should forget to always exercises over the head but I wish I could go back to perform Lat Pulldown or Chin Ups and I wonder how.

Same thing for High Pull , an exercise that I would like to do but I still fear and doubt about it.

I will appreciate any advice,section or links that can help me.
Thank You

2

I feel you, I am dealing with my left shoulder, some sort of impingement… no pain, but significant weakness on L side… but only overhead pressing movements. I can do dips & pull ups, etc. no problem… but I was having trouble with DB shoulder pressing 25lbs with neutral grip!

I could not lockout a empty 45lb bar!
My shoulder issue started 3 weeks ago, but at that time the nerve was so impinged that my grip and bicep strength was also affected, I could not do a curl with 25lb dumbell. I think this came about from doing push ups ( bad form using T form, instead of arrow form)
My L shoulder is higher than R anatomically, so occasionally I have to take a time off from training.

I have had calcifications in my shoulder before as well, rest, dose pack of corticosteroids, and nsaids.

I would suggest for you to try to see a chiropractor ( you could have some thoracic/ alignment issues contributing to the problem), acupuncturist, massage therapist , along with a RX dose pack of corticosteroids from the Dr. I would also take NSAIDS & the hated " take off from all pressing movements or anything that causes pain" regimen. (sucks, I know)
Look at your volume of pressing, you want to do the least amount to get the desired affect. Personally, I may only train one exercise for chest/ tri on a given day… ie 10-12 sets of incline, ( not including warm up).

In the mean time, I would do some things ( non irritating or replacement exercises) such as: kettlebell swings, Yoga, Thoracic mobility drills, shoulder rehab drills, work on other weak areas, concentrate on conditioning, train for power with lower body explosive movements/ plyos, as well as, change your training focus/ scheme until you are pain free in your shoulder.

I personally do not do barbell bench press or do high pulls anymore. For me personally… to much risk/ not enough benefit
I close grip bench ( slightly closer than normal grip) to a board or towell, floor press, & Incline Press ( I do not touch my chest, I stop 3"- 4" above my chest) or I use dumbells. Even without benching in over decade… I tried benching about 3 months ago, did my own nfl combine and benched 225 lbs for 26 reps @ 265

3

Thank you ironwill68
If it is impingement, in my case, is the tendon of the L supraspinatus.

I tried with the rehabilitation of the shoulder with elastic bands , I tried to not train at all for a long time , I still do mobility exercises before every workout ( thoracic mobility , mobility of the shoulder blades …performing movements that I learned from old interesting writings of Eric Cressey )

Ironically I have no major problems during training (although obviously I do not do any exercise in the vertical plane ) , pain , discomfort appears to me the most at rest : during my workouts the fear of it makes me avoid chin ups / pull ups , lat pulldown or push press , high pull).

I also have to say that apparently the reverse band bench press , decline bench press, close grip reverse band bench press and floor press are okay for me.

any form of exercise for upper back and row variations help me ( I guess)

I thought I could find a more correct form , if any, to re-introduce some exercises in the vertical plane.
About the use of corticosteroids for infiltration into the joint space I had read somewhere that could be counterproductive, weakening the tendon, making it thinner.

Thank you

4

Let me preface this with saying I’m a certified TPT and IASTM practitioner, as well as an LMT.

Anyway, have you looked into soft tissue work like IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization), Trigger point therapy, ART, or MAT?
I’ve seen people with Supraspinatus impingement before get 100% relief from pain and restore full range of motion with soft tissue work.

5

[quote]Trevorxgage wrote:
Let me preface this with saying I’m a certified TPT and IASTM practitioner, as well as an LMT.

Anyway, have you looked into soft tissue work like IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization), Trigger point therapy, ART, or MAT?
I’ve seen people with Supraspinatus impingement before get 100% relief from pain and restore full range of motion with soft tissue work. [/quote]

Actually no I didnt. I had some Rolfing time ago. IASTM, ART, or MAT are not so common in Italy, where i am.
can you suggest please something to do by myself, something simple as can be a Self-Myofascial Release on a foam roller…

6

[quote]maxiron wrote:

[quote]Trevorxgage wrote:
Let me preface this with saying I’m a certified TPT and IASTM practitioner, as well as an LMT.

Anyway, have you looked into soft tissue work like IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization), Trigger point therapy, ART, or MAT?
I’ve seen people with Supraspinatus impingement before get 100% relief from pain and restore full range of motion with soft tissue work. [/quote]

Actually no I didnt. I had some Rolfing time ago. IASTM, ART, or MAT are not so common in Italy, where i am.
can you suggest please something to do by myself, something simple as can be a Self-Myofascial Release on a foam roller…[/quote]

www.mobilityWOD.com
And a lacrosse ball. That is a pretty good start and should help.
Can you do neutral grip overhead work?

7

I had significant left shoulder pain last year, and after several months of concentrated effort at increasing my horizontal rowing strength, it went away.

However, for the past several months I’ve dealt with right shoulder pain, and nothing is helping to alleviate it. The weird thing is that I cannot overhead press an empty barbell without pain, but I can jerk, bench press, and do dips and chin ups pain-free. Can you do jerks? If it doesn’t hurt to do those then at least it would allow you to get in some overhead work.

8

[quote]elliottcorum wrote:
I had significant left shoulder pain last year, and after several months of concentrated effort at increasing my horizontal rowing strength, it went away.

However, for the past several months I’ve dealt with right shoulder pain, and nothing is helping to alleviate it. The weird thing is that I cannot overhead press an empty barbell without pain, but I can jerk, bench press, and do dips and chin ups pain-free. Can you do jerks? If it doesn’t hurt to do those then at least it would allow you to get in some overhead work.[/quote]

It’s weird, you cant OHP but you can do Jerks;

I did not really familiar with weightlifting ( a part for simple High Pull), so I do not know, but I believe that little difference between OHP and Jerks, if not for the fact that the second movement is performed with explosiveness. incorrect technique could also be far more dangerous for me. my shoulders are okay though, considering that I do a lot of rows and bench press variations (reverse band flat b, decline b, floor p.,), my problem is trying to be able to balance my schedule with exercises performed in verticality, especially for the back muscles.
thanks

9

[quote]Trevorxgage wrote:

[quote]maxiron wrote:

[quote]Trevorxgage wrote:
Let me preface this with saying I’m a certified TPT and IASTM practitioner, as well as an LMT.

Anyway, have you looked into soft tissue work like IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization), Trigger point therapy, ART, or MAT?
I’ve seen people with Supraspinatus impingement before get 100% relief from pain and restore full range of motion with soft tissue work. [/quote]

Actually no I didnt. I had some Rolfing time ago. IASTM, ART, or MAT are not so common in Italy, where i am.
can you suggest please something to do by myself, something simple as can be a Self-Myofascial Release on a foam roller…[/quote]

www.mobilityWOD.com
And a lacrosse ball. That is a pretty good start and should help.
Can you do neutral grip overhead work?
[/quote]
Thanks
i will give a check on it.
Having my pain ( most during rest time then during training) i didnt try anything over my head in the last time, i couldnt say.
My first approach to vertical exercises maybe will be some form of pull-ups or lat pulldowns.

10

[quote]maxiron wrote:
my problem is trying to be able to balance my schedule with exercises performed in verticality, especially for the back muscles.[/quote]
I understand. The point I was trying to make about jerks is just getting some weight overhead and stabilized, since overhead stabilization brings the entire torso into play and absolutely involves the back. I think the reason I can jerk without pain is because there isn’t a long concentric action in the deltoids and back musculature, only a quick explosion to get the bar overhead then everything is isometrically contracted.

My pain is located in the middle and posterior parts of my shoulder, so that’s why I thought it might be similar to yours, and jerking is a way to get weight overhead while skipping over the part of the movement that hurts. Anyway, I don’t know what to tell you about a vertical pull. Good luck figuring it out.