[quote]Anfield wrote:
Well as far as my symptoms go, like I said they can really be divided up into lower body and upper body based issues. Originally I thought these might be two separate issues, although the fact that they are both based around the left side of my body kind of makes me think that they might be related somehow.
For the shoulder issue, I can’t exactly pinpoint the time when I first started noticing the injury (I’m kind of a suck it up and work through the pain type of guy), but I vaguely remember doing a 1-RM max incline bench press about 3-4 years ago and having that shoulder spontaneously give out, forcing me to drop the weight and having the shoulder be really immobile for a couple of days. Still, this was years ago so I’m not sure if it’s still relevant now.
As far as the current symptoms go, the #1 thing I notice is instability and pain on top of the left shoulder whenever I do any sort of overhead pressing movements or with things like L-raises and side DB raises. When doing pull-ups, I also noticed that I can’t seem to place the shoulder in the socket well and it severely limits the amount of pullups I can do.
Like I said, my left elbow also tracts outward a bit when doing OH pressing movements. I also feel a noticeable amount of tightness under my armpit (lat area) that seems to radiate towards my triceps when doing some exercises. Still what gets me is that in the pic and video, it seems like my right shoulder wings a little bit, which I think is interesting.
For the back, I did get an x-ray and MRI not too long ago because it’s something that’s been bothering me for a while now. The x-ray did show possible spondylolysis in the L5 vertebrae, but the doc said that it’s not actually clear from either image whether there is actually any fracture. There is no scoliosis or any other bony issues (or I’m assuming) since they didn’t mention anything and I think that would have showed up on the x-ray.
As far as my symptoms there, the pain is also located mostly to the left side of my lumbar spine and when bending down, there is like a, well hump-like appearance just on that side. I seem to get the pain especially after days when I do squats and deadlifts, and the doc suggested that perhaps my form was off for whatever reason and I led with one side.
There might be some truth to that, however, this whole year I really cracked down and improving and perfecting my form on all the lifts and the pain still is there. Also, during things like side bends, I’ve noticed that I can’t really bend as far to the RIGHT, so maybe there is an issue with something like the psoas or the oblique? I dont know just a thought. Lastly, I’ve been getting extremely tight hamstrings (both but left seems to be a little worse sometimes) and the ortho said that that’s something that’s commonly seen with spondylolysis.
Btw, I just want to say thanks for the help! I honestly didn’t expect this kind of interest and response and I appreciate it.[/quote]
The shoulder injury sounds indicative of a SLAP lesion, OHP is probably one of the most dangerous (and in my opinion overrated) lifts. With a labrum pathology, I would avoid any overhead shoulder work (you can attempt/try to continue with the incline pressing). SLAP lesions involve the bicep anchor which is most likely why your having pain during pullups and also complaining of instability. With a SLAP lesion you can typically perform ADL’s without trouble or surgery but if you want to perform higher level activities it typically has to be repaired.
Spondy typically hurts with extension exercises, although pain on forward flexion doesn’t completely rule it out. I wouldn’t read too much into the soreness after squatting and deadlifting, I think the majority of our backs are sore after these lifts. The biggest improvement I’ve noticed with reducing back pain with heavy squatting and deadlifting is to raise your general physical preparedness as it improves our bodies abilities to adapt to stress.