Well when I push shoulder blade backward and rotate my shoulder forwards - the very tip of AC joint hurts. With certain movements I feel the pain even bit down my arm, which could be caused by inflammation.
Most frustrating is that this pain does disappear with time. And within few weeks of training - it comes back again. IDK what to do so it finally fully heals.
I like to go to gym and it’s my hobby basically, I don’t even have certain goals set, just for about a year now, almost every gym day is leg day…
My friend isn’t even my gym bro anymore as we didn’t work out together in ages, that guy skips leg day like it’s his duty LMAO… we just eat together lately.
Now I usually work out alone or with a woman I know from former job…
I kinda wanna go to old routine, yet I feel old personally.
I’m just some guy so take with the smallest pinch of salt, but I don’t think AC joint pain would radiate down your arm. Everyone I’ve ever known with that kind of shoulder problem says it stays pretty sharp and local to the shoulder. Given your comment about rows hurting it after a while, avoiding curls etc. It’s worth considering it’s actually your bicep tendon causing the pain (and yes, this can hurt on bench presses too).
Do a front raise with your palms facing the ceiling, if that produces the pain. I would consider your bicep tendon in this. That’s not to take anything away from the shoulder as this is a complex problem that needs proper advice. From my minimal knowledge of anthropometry, AC joint would hurt more if you try and go across the body. The actual educated physio above might shut this down though.
Avoidance is typically never a good idea for anything other than a short time. The more you avoid, the less tolerance any tissue gets in general. This why so many people get caught in an endless tennis/golfers elbow cycle or a recurring strain in the same spot. The trick is knowing it’s tolerance, building up slowly and knowing when to back off when it talks to you. Rehab is rarely linear. My biggest mistakes and most frustrating lingering injuries have always come down to avoiding things instead of regressing and finding a tolerable entry level.
It hurts when I do that, I feel pain in my arm, but it also hurts when I laterally raise extended arm, which causes me pain when I for example put my arm on the bar during squat.
I will see if it helps if I rotate my hand to have my palm under the bar as someone here suggested.
I guess I just gotta see what it is. I can take picture of my shoulder bump when I get home. I hope that’ll be helpful.
Respectfully disagree - ACJ pain location is highly inconsistent, which is why an in-person assessment from an appropriately trained & experienced physio is essential
This action - modified speed test - is good at ruling OUT biceps tendon issues if pain-free. However, pain during this action has a very poor statistical probability of identifying people with biceps tendon issues, as many structures may be painful during this movement.
Additionally, biceps tendon is never the primary issue, short of a proximal tendon rupture (which would be obvious). Biceps tendinopathy is secondary to rotator cuff related shoulder pain, and inflammation within the biceps sheath is secondary to subacromial bursal inflammation
I still have some mild limitation but even with the best physio you need some solid imaging to know what to work on or if you you medical attention. Some injuries just won’t go away with rest like my grade 3 shoulder separation. Well it would have been ok if I did not bike, ski, ride horses and lift weights but with my list of want to do it was needed.
Now, it is a fun game of introducing new movement very slowly to not upset or surprise the joint and some how it is working.
So see a doctor, get good imaging and start working with a sport physio as soon as you can.
Yeah, funnily enough I think it was a Rugby coach who I saw doing it to someone casually in the gym. So it’s good for saying “no it’s not”, but shit at saying “yes it is”? Cool to know.
Thanks for the info. Will keep that stuff in mind. I only ever really get pain in that area when i’d push too much volume which I don’t do anymore. Shoulder dislocations with a stick/band and band pullaparts at all kinds of different angles seems to have made my shoulders pretty much pain-free for now. Time will tell.
Yep! You nailed it. We call this negative and positive predictive value (NPV and PPV). Tests with high PPV tell you when someone has the condition, and high NPV tell you when someone does not.
As general rule, orthopaedic tests for the shoulder have decent NPV but terrible PPV
