Reccuring shoulder injury

Training Injuries
1

So, for a while now, I get a shoulder injury, avoid upper body for months, it goes away - I start again - and it returns.

It got really frustrating. I feel like a chick, doing only legs and glutes for almost a year now…

Today, I even felt shoulder pain while resting my hand on the bar during squats.

I had AC joint dislocation on that shoulder many years ago and to this day it’s a bit lower than my other shoulder, with visible bump up there. But it wasn’t making me any issues until about a year ago…

At this point IDK what to do, except maybe see a doctor?

And I guess I’ll just keep hitting legs few times a week and wait this out till it hopefully does fully heal some day…

Guy, close to 30yo, 80kg, 12% BF, most of my muscle mass is well - legs and glutes.

2

Yes. The shoulder is extremely complex but the right doctor and imaging can tell you a lot more than people on the internet

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3

Should have done that allot sooner and not let months go buy.

4

I initially did, I was told to take time off, which I did. But I guess my mistake was not going to doctor again first time the injury returned…

5

Was it a general doctor or a specialist?

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6

Do pulling exercises cause you pain?

7

General doctor sent me to physio guy who did one check-up and was like “Yea, just take it easy and let this heal”

They didn’t really do much TBH.

8

Well that sucks.

9

Nope. I can deadlift just fine.

Things I do are:

Squats, deadlifts (normal, sumo or romanian or b stance romanian depending on what I wanna target), bulgarian split squats, lunges, hip thrust, side leg raises… you get the picture - if leg workout exists - I probably either did it or will soon do it.

I only do legs and it’s a bit frustratig by now… the only positive about this is the fact that I obliterated all my PR’s on both, deadlifts and squats… I stagnated for years and thought that it was my max - nope, it wasn’t even near my true max as I’m still even seeing progress. But I wanna nothing more than to lie on that bench and do a proper bench press set without fear again…

10

Shoulders are tricky because it is technically 4 joints. The glenohumeral joint is the one everyone thinks of. Anyhow, you can get friction in a few different spots when the arthrokinematics of the joint get thrown off. Simply put its like picking a scab over and over if you don’t change things to address it. It honestly isn’t that hard to manage if you know what you’re doing. You can try giving yourself an obrienst test
or a hawkins test.

Probably some shoulder impingement. If you open your hands up on the bar and just use your finger tips and rotate your elbows forward- that will probably alleviate the pain during your squat at least. I’d be happy to help more.

-Tate

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11

Can you do shrugs?
Can you do pull-ups of lat pull-downs?
Can you do rows?
Can you do curls when your shoulders are supported, aka Scott Curls, etc?

Have you tried a dip machine, where you push down?
Can you do a machine pec deck?

12

Thanks for help. I appreciate it. I’ll try to do some and see how it goes.

13

Dips and pull ups are a no, and so is bench press.

Shrugs hurt when I raise to the highest point.

Rows hurt after a while. And I honestly don’t do curls and similar as I kinda don’t see point in it given the situation…

I prefer free weights and I prefer compound movements to be main part of my workouts.

14

I agree with your preference, but I find an exercise to stimulate as many of my muscles as possible. I do exercises that don’t cause pain.

2 Likes
15

Ya, looking into releasing the pec minor is a great place to start. Feel free to reach out more for help. I coach remotely

16

I think I’ll go to doctor again, ask to see the specialist and then explain how this is a reccuring issue and that it should be looked more into.

As much as it’s frustrating - I think it might be for the best to avoid upper body workouts until I know what exactly is wrong, and until specialists tell me what I should or shouldn’t be doing.

Because this pain returns every time I start again and then takes long time to disappear - only to slowly appear again within few workouts. And last thing I want is to make it worse.

I should see a doctor this week then.