I'm 48 years old and am currently recovering from two recent shoulder surgeries (Mid 2015 and Mid 2016) to address significant pain in my left shoulder. During the surgery, the first doctor discovered a severe (Grade IV) chondromalacia of the humeral head and a minor chondromalacia of the glenoid, diagnosing me with significant degenerative glenohumeral osteoarthritis. After that surgery I still experienced significant shoulder pain and decided to switch orthopaedic doctors. The second doctor diagnosed me with an inflammatory condition called synovial chondromatosis. This condition can be caused by as well as contribute to osteoarthritis in a circular kind of way. We went ahead with the second surgery this past July.

On the positive side the second surgeon found a root cause diagnosis for my shoulder issues. Even better was that he felt that the first surgeon overestimated the osteoarthritis in my shoulder. Based on arthroscopic images, he thought that the chondromalacia was more of a grade II-III on the humeral head and a I-II on the glenoid. On the negative side, the inflammatory condition has a modest tendency to recur especially when arthritis is already present.

I'm currently following SS standard programming 5 months post surgery but am still keeping my upper body exercises a bit more modest in intensity (currently about 8 reps of a 10RM) while my shoulder continues to recover. I perform Bench Press and Press on alternating workouts and plan to progress in intensity back to 5RM work within the next month or so. My ROM is currently near 100% and pain is minor but still exists to some extent. I tend to get abnormal soreness throughout my left shoulder region that dissipates 24-36 hours after the lift and is slightly worse with the Press than with Bench Press.

One question I have is should I consider eliminating the Press entirely?

Rip and Baker's Practical Programming for Strength Training discussed programming for special populations that included a hypothetical example of an elderly lifter with severe osteoarthritis of the shoulder. They eliminated the Press for that lifter. However in the general discussion on the Press for that population, their issue with the exercise seemed to be more related to limitations in ROM rather than wear and tear arthritis concerns. As I said above, I don't have ROM issues and my pain is manageable.

A grade III chondomalacia isn't too far from the subchondral bone, so I am a bit concerned about it. Also from what I understand (could be mistaken), the Press has a greater ROM in the glenohumeral joint than the Bench Press. And as a pressing motion, the glenoid and humerus are going to mash together with more force with the Press than with pulling motions like the Deadlift and rows. If too much cartilage flakes off into the synovium, it could trigger my inflammatory condition to recur.

I want to lift for a long time and absolutely love it. I can't bear the thought of ever having to quit or limit it in some way, but I want to do it smart. Any thoughts?