Shoulder pain

[SkinnyMike42]

I realize I should probably just see the doc, but I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or had a similar experience first.

For the past 4 years, basically my entire lifting career, I have experienced on and off discomfort in my left shoulder. It is not a sharp, direct pain. It is more of a vague, dull ache that results in weakness on certain movements. If I had to pinpoint the location, I would say it is "deep within my shoulder" with bias towards the rear. Things that aggravate it:

1) About every 3rd pressing day, it will hurt and the result is my left arm will be much weaker on 1 arm movements like DB or hammer strength stuff...my right arm will be at lockout and my left is still 3/4 of the way up.

2) Anything where I am holding heavy weights for an extending period of time makes it feel like my arm is going to detach from my body. I get a pretty intense burning feeling if I am doing a long set of RDLS or deadlifts.

I do prehab before every workout...band pull aparts, etc. I stretch daily with the broom stick behind the head and I do the sleeper stretch (for my cuff).

I have a theory that it is an upper back/trap weakness. I have always trained my back with deads, pullups, and pendlay rows. I am 6'5", 230 and can strap on 50 pounds and crank out 10 pullups....I can deadlift over 5 plates....I can pendlay row 240 x 6. HOWEVER, I did shrugs the other day and seriously, the best I could do, with full range of motion, was 275 x 10. I am thinking my traps are weak...so when they fatigue on certain movements, my shoulder has to take over in supporting the weight and it gets worn out.

Please throw out any suggestions....anyone who can relate, or anyone who knows any good upper back exercises I can throw into my routine.

Thanks.

[Carlito Gambino]

What's your routine looking like? Could be a lack of balance in terms of pushing and pulling (i.e. not getting enough scap retraction). I remember experiencing something similar back when I didn't do enough scap retraction as well.

[DC_catholic315]

definantly see a md... i can tell you that rotator cuff injuries/shoulder injuries are not fun, and with the kinda pain your experienceing youll likely need the input of professionals, perhaps therapeutic modalities, and the supervision of PT/OT for successful rehab (jus my 2 cents)... i would seriously outway the ramifications of sustaining a serious injury (perhaps tearing a muscle or tendon) and being out of commission for a long time or getting to the root of the problem, implementing exercise modification and ther ex to correct the problem...provided your not signifigantly damaged already... its jus my opinion that the board here is not the place for the advice your seeking, its from an orthopedic specialist, and soon... again jus my 2 cents but any damage youve got is going to only be worsened through the mack truck training your doin (much props btw) but find out soon so you can hopefully avoid surgery, a potenital tear or serious dehabilitating injury, or if you already have signifigant damage (i would say youve got some damage but a MRI is far more conclusive than any guess i could wager from your post) to get it repaired ASAP.

[SkinnyMike42]

What's your routine looking like? Could be a lack of balance in terms of pushing and pulling (i.e. not getting enough scap retraction). I remember experiencing something similar back when I didn't do enough scap retraction as well.

My routine is:

M/W/F upper/lower rotation

Upper body is always:
Bench (rotate 5's and 3's)
Then DC style accessories (3 way a/b/c rotation) in the exact order, except I just do 1 set and maybe a quick drop set. I stop just short of failure and I don't do traditional back thickness movements due to lower back recovery issues.

My back exercises for my accessories are:

Upper A:
Neutral Chins
Chest supported Rows

Upper B:
Curl Grip Pulldowns
Pendlay Rows

Upper C:
Wide Neutral Chins
Barbell Shrugs


Lower body is always
Squat (rotate 5's and 3's)
Then the accessories are same as dc training (a/b/c)

definantly see a md... i can tell you that rotator cuff injuries/shoulder injuries are not fun, and with the kinda pain your experienceing youll likely need the input of professionals, perhaps therapeutic modalities, and the supervision of PT/OT for successful rehab (jus my 2 cents)... i would seriously outway the ramifications of sustaining a serious injury (perhaps tearing a muscle or tendon) and being out of commission for a long time or getting to the root of the problem, implementing exercise modification and ther ex to correct the problem...provided your not signifigantly damaged already... its jus my opinion that the board here is not the place for the advice your seeking, its from an orthopedic specialist, and soon... again jus my 2 cents but any damage youve got is going to only be worsened through the mack truck training your doin (much props btw) but find out soon so you can hopefully avoid surgery, a potenital tear or serious dehabilitating injury, or if you already have signifigant damage (i would say youve got some damage but a MRI is far more conclusive than any guess i could wager from your post) to get it repaired ASAP.

Man, thanks for the response. You are probably right, I should just see a doctor. Would suck to tear something and have to basically start over. I atrophy like a mother fucker if I am not training.

[ROB550]

I am having almost the same exact problem with my right shoulder...it seemed that rear delt on pec deck or lat pulldowns caused it but nothing rigt at the moment. the day after a back workout woke up and it killed me for about 4 days but i also got sick with fever.

Now the funny thing is Real weak on Chest press movements, shoulders weaker but not as bad as chest
Got my rotator cuff checked by my chiropractor and seems fine?? Full range of motion...but im having trouble bench 185 now where i was doing 315x5-8 reps before this, other thng when pressing its just weak not really any pain

it does ache the next day I am thinking that the terres major or minor and possibly the infra rotator is strained but not torn.

Let us know if you go to doc , if i am not better in another 2-3 weeks im going to go

[Be Prime]

mike could you be more detailed about the mobility drills you do before your workout? It doesnt sound like rotator cuff, I would definitely add some lower trap drills into your routine and see if that help.