Bicep/Shoulder pain from LB Squats

[zaphr]

Hi Mark,

I have been doing SS for about 3 months now and everything has been going well until I reached 85-90kg on the squats a couple of weeks ago. After each set of the squat I get a deep growing pain like ache in the top of the bicep and lower shoulder area.

After watching your video on bar placement and reading a couple of threads where people had similar problems (not entirely the same though because most were talking about pain in the arm and elbow, my pain is as I said in the front deltoid to upper bicep),
I found out that I had been having the bar too low.

I corrected that and now I'm squatting with the bar at what I think is the correct spot, the "shelf" on the posterior deltoid. I also try to keep my elbows up and back tight.

I'm still having the pain though and It has really hampered my progress in the press and bench. The pain subsides maybe an hour or two after finishing the squats.

I'm thinking of changing to high bar because I have a feeling I will really injure myself if i continue training through this pain, I really want to do the low bar squat though and I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

I'll upload some new videos if that helps to show my bar placement, right now most of my videos are from 45 degrees behind/from the side, so the bar placement isn't that visible.

Here is me doing 95kg(210lb), angle isn't optimal but its the latest video I have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqST1...ature=youtu.be

[Mark Rippetoe]

No one can tell anything about a squat recorded from 40 feet away.

[zaphr]

Hopefully this is better, I recorded from behind(1st set) and 45% to the side, but closer this time:

Set1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4lik...ature=youtu.be

Set2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4sXK...ature=youtu.be

Set3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6EF...ature=youtu.be

I increased my grip width a little today from having the little fingers inside the finger mark to now having the ring fingers on the mark. I also focused on keeping my elbows up. The pain was decreased greatly, to maybe 15%-20% of what it was just a week ago. I still got sore, but it was much more bearable.

If you see any errors in my technique, both relevant to the pain and not, please tell me. I seem to "fall" forward slightly at the bottom, don't know if this is significant.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Your grip looks very wide.

[Will Morris]

Hi Mark,

I have been doing SS for about 3 months now and everything has been going well until I reached 85-90kg on the squats a couple of weeks ago. After each set of the squat I get a deep growing pain like ache in the top of the bicep and lower shoulder area.

Far too little information to really even take a SWAG at what's going on, but in general, both subacromial impingement and SLAP tears can present with pain and referral patterns as you describe. Are your shoulders rounded anteriorly (in a slumped type posture)?

[Mark Leavy]

For what it is worth, I was having that sort of pain and at one of Rip's seminars he moved my hands in nearly six inches on each side. I thought I would dislocate my shoulders getting under the bar. Even now I have to really lean into the rack to get under the bar after warming up my shoulders. But I don't have arm pain anymore.

[zaphr]

Your grip looks very wide.

How much narrower would you say I should go?

Far too little information to really even take a SWAG at what's going on, but in general, both subacromial impingement and SLAP tears can present with pain and referral patterns as you describe. Are your shoulders rounded anteriorly (in a slumped type posture)?

Any answers I can give you that would make it easier to diagnose the problems?

The pain is mostly when I do the low bar squats, and as I said before it was much less severe when I really focused on pushing my elbows up. Wouldn't a tear give me constant pain?

Thanks for all your help so far

[Mark Rippetoe]

Like I said in the video, use the closest grip you possibly can use correctly.

[Will Morris]

How much narrower would you say I should go?



Any answers I can give you that would make it easier to diagnose the problems?

The pain is mostly when I do the low bar squats, and as I said before it was much less severe when I really focused on pushing my elbows up. Wouldn't a tear give me constant pain?

Thanks for all your help so far

Dude, I don't want to sound like a dick, but you could start by answering the question I asked you in my post. Also, there is a sticky at the top of this forum that gives a format to fill out that gives a lot of information that would be gathered in a subjective examination from a provider. Follow that template, give complete answers, and people can go from there.

Also, just to make it clear once more, what you will get is an educated assessment.....not a diagnosis. Diagnosis needs to be left to a provider who can see you in person, and depending on where you live, only a physician can diagnose.

[zaphr]

Dude, I don't want to sound like a dick, but you could start by answering the question I asked you in my post. Also, there is a sticky at the top of this forum that gives a format to fill out that gives a lot of information that would be gathered in a subjective examination from a provider. Follow that template, give complete answers, and people can go from there.

Also, just to make it clear once more, what you will get is an educated assessment.....not a diagnosis. Diagnosis needs to be left to a provider who can see you in person, and depending on where you live, only a physician can diagnose.

Lol, sorry about that. I forgot to answer that question. Yes I would say my shoulders are slumped forward, maybe not when I'm walking or standing upright but I do spend quite a lot of time in front of the computer, where I'm usually a little hunched forward.

- 23 years old, male, new to this intensity of training but have been lifting weights for a couple of years.

- It hurts the most when I squat low bar, especially if I don't focus on keeping my elbows up. Bench press also feels weird and I have to have perfect form to not feel any pain (mostly anterior shoulder area). Also throwing a ball overhead can make my front and rear shoulder area really hurt.

- The pain slowly appeared, there was no acute injury. I have had problems with my shoulder before though.

- Pain: 1-2 when not training, 3 when squatting last time and 6-7 when squatting incorrectly before.

- The pain is like a deep growing pain in my front shoulder

- What makes it better: Elbows up when low bar squatting, shoulder blades back when squatting/bench pressing. Resting. Stretching the arms backwards (arms down against my sides then backwards) helps relieve some of the pain.

- What makes it worse: Throwing overhead, Bench press. Lifting something with arm extended forwards.

- How do your symptoms behave throughout the day: Pain is mostly light throughout the day but might flare up if I do something stressing like throwing, lifting medium-heavy stuff with one arm extended out forward overhead.

I have had problems with shoulder joint instability before, I went to a PT/chiropractor a couple of weeks ago and was told that my shoulder joint is slightly unstable and when pressure was put on the shoulder I didn't feel as uncomfortable in some of the testing positions. The area between my shoulder blade and rear deltoid (infra spinatus?) was pretty sore and hurt a lot when an elbow was used to put pressure on it. He advised me to do rotator cuff exercises every other day for a couple of weeks and lay of the bench/pressing.

I think though that the rotator cuff weakness/overuse (or whatever it is) is a different problem than the low bar squat front shoulder pain, pain is on different areas. But it might all be symptoms of some sort of join problem, I don't know.

Hopefully this is a bit more information.