Shoulder problem

[TheDevilAside]

Straight to the point..

 

Whenever I do certain types of lifts, my shoulder starts hurting pretty badly and starts to feel as if ligaments (do shoulders even have ligaments?) are out of place. I'll start rotating my arm (it's only my right arm) and I can hear, what I can best describe as "crunching noises".

 

I usually have this problem with benchpress. Even if I'm doing relatively light-weight (150lbs for me) it will start hurting a bit after 6 or so reps. But it's the worst when I'm doing weights in the 1-5 rep range. It's also pretty bad with military and incline bench press. However, with just regular pushups, I have no problem with my shoulder whatsoever.

 

So, I'm wondering if this is anything I should worry about, or if there's anything I can do to improve it, or what's causing this?! If it is, I'll see a doctor about it, but if it's not.. I really don't want to deal with my mom, she'll probably take away my weightlifting equiptment or something.

[ncole_91]

Thats a tough one, I am not an expert by any means but a trip to the doctor would probably be a good thing...

[Red J]

I'll start rotating my arm (it's only my right arm) and I can hear, what I can best describe as "crunching noises".

 

The only time that you want to hear crunching noises is when you eat cereal.

 

You may have strained your shoulder. Possible ailments include tendonitis, bursitis, and rotator cuff tears. You need to give it a few days and take advil, apply ice and rest it. After two days stop the ice and apply heat to the area to promote circulation and healing. If you don't get anywhere, go see a doctor.

 

I am not a doctor and I don't play one on the internet, but I have a simular injury in my left shoulder that I am currently being treated for. Good luck.

[Jinxx0r]

Everytime I tell my doctor, "Hey, it hurts when I do this", the tells me to not do that... heh.

 

RICE (Rest, Ice Compression, Elevation), after a week start doing some easy shoulder stretches/weights. I want to stress light weights (very light weights) and range of motion excercises.

 

- Lat raises

 

- arm circles

 

- Front raises

 

Do easy sets of these. You want to feel a burn, but not a burden. If you feel pain with these, you should see a doctor. After you've done this for about 3-4 weeks without pain, ease back into a normal shoulder/bench workout. If you still have pain after this point, you need to see a doctor as you may have something structurally damaged.

 

I can't stress enough that you need to use light weight for this.

[Rich67]

I have the same problem. The best I can tell from feedback I've received from doctors is that I have bone spurs in my rotator cuff. Here's what happens: You embark on a tough bench pressing program for several years. During that time, your rotator cuff and other connective tissue in the ball and socket joint of your shoulder are under tremendous stress. Pieces of tissue are damaged, and scar tissue is formed...some of ths scar tissue floats inside of the joint after it breaks free. This causes some of the discomfort and popping noises in the joint during movement. Calcium or bone spurs also develop from the overuse, and this causes pain and "catching" in the joint during certain movements, particulary during heavy pressing movements. What to do? Well, if the pain is intense, cortisone injections in the site can relieve the pain and any inflammation. Surgery is also an option to clear up the joint, but not a very fun one. Lastly, and the best option, is to change your workout routine. Avoid the flat or incline bench presses...OR use only partial range of motion reps: don't go all the way down to your chest...stop about 6 inches or more above it. Don't "bounce" the weight from your chest. I mix in my benching with pushups...in other words, I'll light bench for a month, then do nothing but pushups for a month. I'll alternate this throughout the year. Good luck, it definitely sucks, and I feel your pain.

[aefibird]

Sorry tohear about your shoulder.

 

Hope it gets better soon!

 

Lots of rest...

[WhiteBelt]

Do you do prehab exercises for your shoulder?

[TheDevilAside]

I almost forgot about this thread.

 

Firstly, thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

At home, I've started to do relatively light-weight and mixing it up with calisthenics. But at school, I'm taking a weight training class, and the guy likes to work us pretty hard and he insists that the bar touches your chest when you benchpress. But as long as I don't too many sets, my shoulder usually doesn't bother me too much. I've noticed that (and this kind of contradicts my first post) doing high repitions before I do heavy sets actually agitates my shoulder. If I just do medium reps and then move on to doing heavy weight, it's fine most of the time. However, if I'm maxing out on bench press, my shoulder really starts having problems as I'm trying to push the weight back up from my chest. Sometimes I'll just have to give up and let my spotter help me with it. Last Monday, though, we had a max out day and my shoulder was perfectly fine the entire time. This was maybe because I was alternating grips, and I was very careful when bringing the weight down and didn't bounce off my chest at all, like Rich reccomended. I don't know, maybe it's improving. But the day after, it was pretty sore (now, I don't know if that was from extra strain on my shoulder, or muscle soreness.. probably the former because nothing else was sore, at all.) But that went away on Wednesday.

 

I think I'll give it another month, and see what works and what doesn't. Eventually, I'll have a doctor check it out (probably sometime in December) and see what the problem really is. In the meantime, if it doesn't get better progressively, I'll take some of the suggestions and just easier on myself and change my routine.

RICE (Rest, Ice Compression, Elevation), after a week start doing some easy shoulder stretches/weights. I want to stress light weights (very light weights) and range of motion excercises.

I'll try that, thanks a lot.

 

Again, thanks everyone for the advice and kind words (*tips cowboy hat in Aefbird's general direction*)

Edited October 23, 2004 by TheDevilAside

[TheDevilAside]

Do you do prehab exercises for your shoulder?

Nope, got any?

[WhiteBelt]

You should be doing some quick prehab exercises for your cuff and rear delts. These are usually done with light weight and for a couple of sets of 10-20. I try to do one of these exercises after an upper body workout.

 

Seated DB cleans

 

Face pulls

 

Retract-row-rotate

 

Or if you've got any bands lying around you could try variations with them.

 

Note: these are done before you get injured so that you help reduce the rick of injury. Either finish off a workout or use them in the beginning, which ever works best. You're not trying to set any records so remember to go light.