Help: Slight Modification of DC Due to Injury

[LK25 New Member Find all posts View Profile Close LK25]

Fellas,

I am well versed in DC after reading this site and Dante's teachings and i know you are supposed to strictly follow all DC protocols or it ain't DC. But i have an injury making my shoulder training quite difficult/unbearable.

Long story short: I tweaked my left shoulder doing incline barbell presses at least 7-8 months ago, it doesn't hurt at rest or anything but greatly affects 99% of my overhead pressing when using an significant weight (Sometimes traditional standing front military press doesn't sting/hurt).

For instance, i can barely do 35 lb dumbbells in your traditional seated db shoulder press (Traditional start dbs at ear level). Prior to injury i was double that with no pain. I don't feel a ton of pain it almost "gives out/goes limp" for lack of a better term and the strength just gives out.

Obviously, trying to follow DC i was trying to pick 3 shoulder movements i.e. an overhead BB variation, a DB press and I finally tried a hex/trap bar press, and progress every workout. The only exercise i feel no tweak/slight pain on is the hex/trap bar press with my palms facing each other.

My question is until i can get my Dr. to see what needs to be corrected, following DC protocol as much as i can, would you guys avoid a direct shoulder press or maybe do the hex/trap bar press every other workout to give the shoulder a rest? I don't want to be a puss and not press, perhaps my shoulders are hit well enough with all my dips, chest presses even rows to an extent?

Any advice would be great, just to hold me over until my Dr. sets a course of action.

Side note: It even stings a slight bit while squatting because of the position of my shoulder going behind my body when gripping the bar to begin a squat.

Thanks again.

[jimpaul Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jimpaul]

You're not a puss lol. Don't do anything that hurts in a bad way (not like plain muscle ache).
I'd consider waiting to work out until you see doc. Don't want to injure it anymore than it already is or more severely. Def. wouldn't work shoulders and maybe even chest, if you decide to work out anyways. Best of luck.

[SAHD Light-heavyweight Member Find all posts View Profile Close SAHD]

Side raises, wide upright rows and partial side raises, cable crossover side raises or similar. You do get a lot of front and rear delt work with presses and rows so they are still getting enough work IMO.

Stick to just side delt for 6 months and do the shoulder stretch.

[Agi Middleweight Member Find all posts View Profile Close Agi]

I've had left shoulder problems for years. I would tweak it, back off for a while and let it heal. Then I would get back to it. This would go on like every six to eight months. Well, the last time it happened, the shoulder wouldn't snap back. I finally went to the ortho and he said I had rotator cuff impingement. I am in Physical Therapy now and man, what a difference. In my case, there were some significant muscle imbalances that were allowing the head of the humorous to move where it wasn't supposed to go. For me, it was primarily two areas: the muscles between my shoulder blades and a little muscle under the deltoids that were the main culprits. Because of those weaknesses and favoring that shoulder, other ligaments and such shortened up on me. It's been a long process...I wished I hadn't waited so long!

Muscle imbalances can play a huge role in injury. The PT has found other areas were I was suffering from muscle imbalances. This PT rocks. None of the other PT's I've gone to have ever concerned themselves with the overall package.

[dice77 Heavyweight Member Find all posts View Profile Close dice77]

Had a similar problem years ago. Even with the squatting. I tried to work around it with exercise selection and more machines for a while. It sort of worked but my shoulders didnt get better until I moved to a higher volume program. I absolutely loved DC training but it was too much on my joints.

Be careful!

[MAC_collo New Member Find all posts View Profile Close MAC_collo]

I was suffering with a similar pain in rotating my left shoulder especially when holding the bar when back squatting. This came about from pushing the weights too much for lower reps on the close grip chins rather than going for higher reps. I wanted to test my strength and ended up with sharp pain in the shoulder. This I thought was rotator cuff issues and I rested for 3-4 weeks until I could get some range of motion without sharp pain. I trained around this using different exercises for around 5 months while religiously doing the shoulder stretch however it never got back to not having aching pain. I ended up going to see the sports physio who went over everything and then checked out my strength on all ranges of motion with the shoulder. The left was significantly weaker than the right, he then asked if I had any problems with the left bicep. It turned out that I had a minor tear in the lower bicep which had healed with adhesions to the outer bicep!
Therefore the bicep had shortened range of motion leading to the issues up in the shoulder. After some forceful manipulation and releasing the adhesions the strength in the left shoulder was almost the same as the right!
Never felt any pain in the bicep but only pain in the shoulder, resumed normal training with the shoulder. The physio said he always went this way first with shoulder problems with strength athletes as he's seen so many shoulder issues caused by lower bicep issues.

[jimpaul Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jimpaul]

def. interesting Mac.