Shoulder Pain

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

ok my shoulder has been bothering me for about 3 months now and it is incredibly frustrating because I have no idea what is wrong with it. here are some of the symptoms I am having so please tell me what type of injury this likely is NOT

  1. I have absolutely 0 problems doing any sort of shoulder press.

  2. I have absolutely 0 problems doing any sort of row.

  3. I have absolutely 0 problems doing chinups

  4. I have absolutely 0 problems with day to day life. I can move and bend my arm and twirl it around in any direction or against resistance with absolutely no pain. I would never know anything is wrong with my shoulder unless I try to lift.

  5. My shoulder pain is mostly present on flat bench type of presses (including dumbbells to a lesser degree). It hurts towards the middle to bottomish part of the movement. The pain is towards like the top middle/ top inside ish area of my shoulder (top as in the front of my shoulder or top of it when laying down on a bench).

This pain is bad enough to know that it is something I should not be doing. This pain has been present for about 3 months. At first it was a little bit less and I worked through it and I suspect I made it slightly worse. However I have taken so far about a month and a half off all sorts of pressing including overhead even though that does not bother me.

This seems to be different from everyone else because I have no pain AT ALL unless I’m doing some sort of flat press. Also everyone else seems to say that overhead stuff is what really gives them problems, but I could do that no problem just any sort of flat thing just is really bad.

Any help would be appreciated maybe on what it is or isnt. For instance I am guessing it is not my infraspinatus since that is mostly for external rotation and overhead stuff?

2

It would be difficult for a professional to give you a differential diagnostic online let alone an internet diagnosis…The body is quite complex.

As a weightlifter all I can offer is to ask how are you benching? Some who bench to chest with the elbows flared out can get pain in the shoulder joint. Benching like a powerlifter might help if you aren’t already. I wouldn’t try it now if it still hurts by any means. When I had problems benching(I also could overhead press fine while having difficulty pressing) I found I felt 100 times better tucking my elbows in and bringing the bar towards the lower part of my chest.

I’ve had good experience with a massage therapist who knew his shit and lifted. Might get some adhesions removed as well, and it certinaly wouldn’t hurt getting it checked out.

3

What’s your routine look like?

4

Do dips bother you? I would guess it is supraspinatus, though that is more of a internal slightly lateral top side of the shoulder when standing placement… supraspinatus is also one of the most commonly injured rotator cuff muscles. Could possibly be the short head of the bicep, coracobrachialis, or pec minor, though I would tend to think not pec minor as this sensation is more on the torso and less on the shoulder…

Do you do any bicep curls on an incline bench where you try to really get a full stretch? Because that can really fuck up your bicep, giving you tendonitis, thus the only time it bothers you is on horizontal presses where that muscle is stretched…

5

From what I have read, I am thinking that it might in fact be your infraspinatus since that comes into play during pressing (bench) while your supraspinatus would be more in play when you do shoulder presses. I assume you feel the same discomfort when you incline press?

After having pain/discomfort with shoulder press and bench, I searched on YouTube for DC shoulder rehab and then for dislocates. I did a combination of those daily in the evenings and it has helped tremendously. I also took some anti-inflammatories (3 Aleeve with breakfast and dinner for 2-3 days).

Good luck.

6

OP,
Do dips or lateral raises hurt, especially the bottom part of the range of motion on the lat raises?

If the dips hurt but the lateral raises don’t hurt at all, it could be an AC joint problem.

If the bottom of the lat raises hurts, it’s most likely the supraspinatus because it is the primary mover in the first 5-10 degress of the ROM just before the medial delt takes over.

7

[quote]alleyesonme11 wrote:

  1. My shoulder pain is mostly present on flat bench type of presses (including dumbbells to a lesser degree). It hurts towards the middle to bottomish part of the movement. The pain is towards like the top middle/ top inside ish area of my shoulder (top as in the front of my shoulder or top of it when laying down on a bench).

This seems to be different from everyone else because I have no pain AT ALL unless I’m doing some sort of flat press. Also everyone else seems to say that overhead stuff is what really gives them problems, but I could do that no problem just any sort of flat thing just is really bad.
[/quote]

First, I’m not a Dr., that’s just my username. However, I’ve had symptoms that mimic yours exactly and after speaking with a DPT, came to realize that it was inflammation in the proximal end of the short head of my biceps tendon ie: tendonitis. The fix in my case was simple, I let it heal and widened my grip for all flat pressing. The wider grip took care of it. YMML.

8

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:

First, I’m not a Dr., that’s just my username. However, I’ve had symptoms that mimic yours exactly and after speaking with a DPT, came to realize that it was inflammation in the proximal end of the short head of my biceps tendon ie: tendonitis. The fix in my case was simple, I let it heal and widened my grip for all flat pressing. The wider grip took care of it. YMML.[/quote]

Doesn’t make sense. The short head of the biceps tendon does not cross the shoulder joint. If anything going wider grip would stress the long head, which does cross the shoulder joint.