Pain In Shoulder Blade?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve had a pain under my shoulder blade now for about 4 weeks now seriously impeeding my workouts. I can’t seem to bench press or do any type of shoulder movement without serious pain shooting from my shoulder blade to my neck usually ending up in me getting a huge migrain headache. I can use most of the same weights that I was used to but the pain is not worth it.

I was wandering if this ever happened to anyone else and what they did to fix it. I have seen a chiropractor for it but it doesn’t seem to be helping. I don’t want to stop lifting all together but was thinking if time off is all I need. Any suggestions?

2

It could be several things. It could be disc pathology in the neck or very upper back. Disc problems in this region will refer pain into the upper back and under the shoulder blade. This problem will also cause headaches.

It might also be a Trigger Point in the Scalene muscle or possibly some other muscle in that region, it’s hard to say. When you lift you tend to strain the muscles used for inspiration and the scalene happens to be one of them, as well as the sternocliediomastoid. The scalene will typically refer into the shoulder, arms, chest and upper back, although not to the head usually. The SCM is more likely to cause headaches.

I would see another Chiro who knows trigger points and or a Massage therapist who is qualified to handle sports injuries (don’t go to the day spa look around for someone who does Neuromuscular and or trigger point therapy. If it is a muscular problem they will be able to handle the problem much better than a Chiro. If it is a disc or structural problem, see another CHiro and have them take X-rays to see if this is the case. You don’t just want to sit around and let this thing go.

3

Its hard to say exactly what is going on, but if the problem is muscular you may want to try re-evaluating your program to see if you are creating muscle imbalances. Below is a section of the great Eric Cresseys shoulder savers article. I also agree with chriscarini on the sports massage. Find yourself a good massage therapist and they will be able to go and feel around and tell you exactly which muscles are tight and irritated. Often times good ones will give you specific muscle stretch/strength exercises to help balance out the length tension relationships. Also, I know you don’t want to hear this but laying off of the heavy weights until you recover.
Good luck.

Shoulder Saver #5: Structural Balance in Training

There’s been a lot of talk of balancing horizontal pushing (e.g. bench pressing) with horizontal pulling (e.g. rowing), and vertical pushing (e.g. overhead pressing) with vertical pulling (e.g. chinning). For the most part, this system works pretty well.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of exceptions to these rules, and often times, people walk away more confused after hearing this than they were before the issue came up. With that in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that about the only thing you can do is make a list of all the exercises that come to mind, and show how they “balance each other out.”

I look for balance in three main pairs of antagonist movement patterns: scapular retraction vs. protraction, scapular depression vs. elevation, and humeral external rotation vs. internal rotation. In the balancing equation, absolute loading isn’t nearly as important as total reps.

Scapular Retraction
Scapular Protraction

All Rowing*
All Bench Pressing

Rear Delt Fly**
All Flyes

Prone Trap Raise Variations***
Dips

Face Pulls

*Excluding Upright Rows
**Also involves horizontal abduction and external rotation
***Counts as scapular depression, too

Scapular Depression
Scapular Elevation

Scapular Wall Slides
Shrugs

Prone Trap Raise Variations
Upright Rows*

Behind-the-Neck Band Pulldowns
Cleans and Snatches

Prone Cobras to 10&2 (held for time)
Seated DB Cleans

Straight-Arm Lat Pulldowns (strict!)
Cuban Presses

*You’ll find out how I really feel about upright rows in Part II.

Behind-the-Neck Band Pulldowns

Humeral External Rotation
Humeral Internal Rotation

All External Rotation Variations
Bench Pressing, Pushups

Seated DB Cleans
Pullups/Pulldowns

Cuban Presses
Front Raises

Rear Delt Flyes
Dips

Prone Trap Raises
Overhead Pressing

Prone Cobras (held for time)
All Internal Rotation Variations

Now, I’ve deliberately set these charts up so that you’ll realize that the exercises in all left-hand columns are the ones most lifters tend to overlook altogether. If your posture isn’t looking so hot, and your shoulders are bugging you, chances are that you need to shift to the left for a while until you’ve balanced out.

4

I had that problem when I started. I went to a doctor who specializes in physical therapy and she told me I tore a rotator cuff. I knew this wasn’t the case because it only hurt during and immediately after a workout and I told her this but she insisted that’s what it was. She told me I couldn’t workout for 6 weeks and if the problem continued they would consider surgery. Immediately after, I went to the gym and incorperated lateral raises and several rotator cuff exercises into my chest workout and within 1 1/2 months the pain was gone.

I’m not sure if it had anything to do with my rotator cuff at all, I was a noob and if my shoulder hurt, I thought that’s what it had to be.

Yet another reason why you either need to find a really good doctor or don’t go at all.

5

Thanks for all the great advise so far, it’s all been some real good info to build on. It’s just tough because I finally hit the scales at 245 and don’t want to see it all just fade away. Might give me an excuse to target more on the wheels for a while though :slight_smile:

6

If it healed in a months time it was most likely not a tear, and if it was it was very minor. It was probably just a trigger point that was activated when you lifted.

Yea unfortunately there are alot of doctors who are addicted to surgery.

The thing that is concerning about this guy is the headaches. RC injuries don’t refer into the neck and they would not cause headaches. They are also usually only felt in the shoulder and sometimes under the shoulder blade, not just under the shoulder blade.

7

I used to have it every time I did front squats with manta ray, the pain would usually go away in a week, and resume imediately after a leg workout. I went to the chiropractor, but it doesn’t seem to help much.

8

[quote]chriscarani wrote:
It could be several things. It could be disc pathology in the neck or very upper back. Disc problems in this region will refer pain into the upper back and under the shoulder blade. This problem will also cause headaches.

It might also be a Trigger Point in the Scalene muscle or possibly some other muscle in that region, it’s hard to say. When you lift you tend to strain the muscles used for inspiration and the scalene happens to be one of them, as well as the sternocliediomastoid. The scalene will typically refer into the shoulder, arms, chest and upper back, although not to the head usually. The SCM is more likely to cause headaches.

I would see another Chiro who knows trigger points and or a Massage therapist who is qualified to handle sports injuries (don’t go to the day spa look around for someone who does Neuromuscular and or trigger point therapy. If it is a muscular problem they will be able to handle the problem much better than a Chiro. If it is a disc or structural problem, see another CHiro and have them take X-rays to see if this is the case. You don’t just want to sit around and let this thing go.
[/quote]

Great info here. I coudn’t disagree more with the disc stuff (overdiagnosed, rarely the issue), but the scalene issue is true. I have a scalene issue, refering pain into the shoulder. Had I not found it, I may have suffered for years needlessly.(already been 1 year) I get symptoms when I shrug, but not when I do direct neck work. Hope that helps.

9

Thanks. What do you disagree with? It may be true that it is over diagnosed, but the collective symptoms he is describing are somewhat descriptive of this type of problem. I am not saying this is what it is or not, but you should not rule anything out until you have a diagnosis, especially not having the liberty of assesment.