Should I give up on low bar?

[sergiogodoymd]

35, male, new to training.

- Chief Complaint: Pain in the left acromioclavicular joint when placing the bar in the low position.


- Pain 7/10,
- Deep pain
- What makes it better? Doing high bar squats
- What makes it worse? Trying the low bar position again
- How do your symptoms behave throughout the day? the same

Whenever I put the bar in the low position it starts to hurt, if I only do 1 or 2 workouts it goes in a week but if I ignore it it can persist for several weeks. My grip is wide (in the outer knurl) beause of lack of flexibility.

Should I give up on low bar?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Have you tried widening your grip?

[Bryan Dobson]

The only way this is happening is if weight is being transmitted down the arm, your hand is receiving pressure because your elbow(s)are likely getting under the bar. Modify the position, get the elbows up, pressure should be on the upper back, the hands are just resting there. If you feel pressure in the hands think "elbows up" .
I have diagnosed osteolysis of the ac joint and I can low bar pain free, don't give up, get your form fixed.

[Will Morris]

35, male, new to training.

- Chief Complaint: Pain in the left acromioclavicular joint when placing the bar in the low position.


- Pain 7/10,
- Deep pain
- What makes it better? Doing high bar squats
- What makes it worse? Trying the low bar position again
- How do your symptoms behave throughout the day? the same

Whenever I put the bar in the low position it starts to hurt, if I only do 1 or 2 workouts it goes in a week but if I ignore it it can persist for several weeks. My grip is wide (in the outer knurl) beause of lack of flexibility.

Should I give up on low bar?

The pain in your AC joint when squatting is comparable to throat cancer?

[Mark Rippetoe]

This 1 to 10 thing is a largely useless scale in the hands of those who have never almost been killed.

[Will Morris]

This 1 to 10 thing is a largely useless scale in the hands of those who have never almost been killed.

It is virtually useless in the clinic too, except for providers to make fun of you with later.

[mrflibble]

This 1 to 10 thing is a largely useless scale in the hands of those who have never almost been killed.

Interestingly, I've actually experienced a glimpse of 9/10 pain. Possibly would have been a 10 if it had lasted more than a split second. I was in a dentist's chair. He touched my tooth (that had been incorrectly filled and required a root canal) with some hellish icy cold instrument. Agony. Words cannot do it justice. Felt like my entire skull had frozen and then grown too big for my head. I think I screamed, but I don't clearly recall. Nothing else I've experienced has come remotely close. Not even being hit by a car or when I almost electrocuted myself (both maybe 6-7 during, down to a 4-5 shortly after)

I'm always skeptical of anyone claiming chronic pain of 7+. My take is, if you ask someone to give a 1-10 for their pain, and they are able to understand the question and reply with a number, whatever number they give you, it must in reality be no more than a 6-7 at the highest.

[ecj]

The only way this is happening is if weight is being transmitted down the arm, your hand is receiving pressure because your elbow(s)are likely getting under the bar. Modify the position, get the elbows up, pressure should be on the upper back, the hands are just resting there. If you feel pressure in the hands think "elbows up" .
I have diagnosed osteolysis of the ac joint and I can low bar pain free, don't give up, get your form fixed.

Other than widening grip, things that helped me when I was dealing with this:

- make sure you're spending enough time warming up the shoulders and chest region - shoulder circles, dislocates with a band, arm circles; my issues were linked to trying to jam myself under the bar before my chest and shoulders were loose enough
- move your grip gradually inward as you do your warm up sets - start very wide and then test your limits coming in before there's heavy weight - one thing that helped me was to do five sets of two reps of just the bar before starting to load weight, where every two reps I'd put the bar back on the rack and reset the grip moving inward a little bit
- make sure the bar is resting on your back (the shelf), not on your arms - the arms shouldn't feel like they're supporting the bar
- you may have the bar too low, which is why it's sliding down your back and putting pressure on your arms

[sergiogodoymd]

Ok, ok, maybe 7 was too high.

[Bolson32]

It is virtually useless in the clinic too, except for providers to make fun of you with later.

Hahaha yea, I can imagine. I read a cracked article once, something like 5 things about the ER that would shock you. And he said that he can pretty much guarantee that if you come in and say you have a high pain tolerance, that you're completely full of shit, and probably a big baby.