My left shoulder has been screwed up for about 4 years now. Whenever i have my arm in certain positions, mainly where the upper arm is above parallel to the floor (think top half of military press position) and my elbow is behind my body even slightly…my shoulder twinges on me. I dont know if it actually pops out of socket momentarily or what, but its like it gives out it is how id describe it. I am able to do military presses, but just have to be careful my elbow doesnt drift back. If i was to do a reverse windmill motion (counter clockwise)with my left arm the shoulder also feels unstable doing that. But I can go forwards without problem…
I originally hurt it racking the bar after incline benching. The bench i had was crappy and i guess i put my arm in an awkward position cause my shoulder just gave out or dislocated on me. Luckily it did land on the rack thing and not my head!It hurt pretty bad but i never went to the drs about it or anything. Fast forward to today, and gives me the occasional problems i mentioned…but usually doesnt even hurt at all when it happens…just more or less an annoyance.It doesnt happen as often as it used to, but its still there. Im posting this just wondering if anybody knows about the issue im talking about, and if theres a weakness in my shoulder i should be working on to help correct this problem. If its something that only surgery will correct, well then ill live with it.
This is kina funny to me because your name is skull crusher. That is the exact exercise i was doing about 4-5 years ago and torn the hell out of my right shoulder. I was doing decline skullcrushers with pretty heavy weight and my shoulder just made an awful noise and something popped. It didn’t hurt all that much, but it sounded like snap -crackle-then pop. It was messed up for about 2-3 months before i could use it again.
I still don’t do skullcrushers to this day because i’m afaid of putting my shoulders back into that vulnerable position again and injuring it again. I think sometimes you can permanantly damage your shoulders. There may be corrective surgery for what you have. But I’d be willing to bet you may have done some irreversable damage. I think I did, because I can still hear a popping sound in my shoulder.
Shoulders are a bitch. They seem to get messed up in so many ways and exercises. That kinda bums me out because I loved doing skullcrushers, it was one of my favorite mass builders for the triceps. Especially the long head. I’m about done bench pressing at this point to because of the strain its putting on my shoulders.
You probably should see a doctor. I have had shoulder sublexations in the past and it sounds like you might be experiencing some aprehension when you get your shoulder in certain positions because it’s not stable.
But, like I said, a doctor can tell you for sure. They’ll likely do some stability tests and then see if you may need an MRI.
[quote]Skull_Crusher wrote:
but its like it gives out it is how id describe it. [/quote]
First and foremost I would say: see a doctor. Rather safe then sorry, especially when it comes to shoulders (I have had issues with both shoulders for the past 5 years).
But the above quote leads me to one question: does it give out physically as if something is coming out of place, or as if it is from exhaustion or weakness somewhere (ie. is it a sudden loss of all control without pain or do you gradually lose control over a few seconds)? If the latter - look into your suprispinatus for weakness and possibly overcompensation by the trap.
I had a similar issue, where raising my right arm and putting any amount of pressure on it (even as little as shot blocking a basketball) would cause it to twinge. I ignored it and didn’t go see a doctor, just kept lifting and playing sports.
As would have been expected by a smarter person than I, one day, rather than twinging, it slipped. Took about five minutes to get back in place. After that, it started slipping out more frequently.
When I finally gave in and went to see a physiotherapist, she told me I was an idiot, and could have prevented the whole thing had I gone to see her when I first noticed the problem. She has helped me to get it stronger, but I still can’t overhead press, front crawl, or block a determined defensive back without my shoulder sliding out.
All this to say, go to the doctor, or at least physiotherapist.
have it looked at - shoulders are a total bitch if they go. If you’ve torn a tendon before and built up scar tissue it won’t heal on it’s own. Go to a sports physio first, they’ll probably be the quickest to tie down exactly what it is.