Left shoulder pain during bench

[Bill Whitmer]

Hello Gentlemen,

For 10 months now, a pain in the top/front part of my left shoulder occurs while bench pressing. It also occurs after about 10 pushups. Not severe. Goes away after stopping and doesn't really hurt outside the gym. I can feel it though sometimes turning the steering wheel or the odd shoulder move around the house. I've not exceeded say 150 lbs bench pressing as the pain sort of warns me away. I also recently got nervous and stopped pressing heavy as I thought it was starting to hurt more also (after a recent Press personal record).

MRI showed only a fluid filled cyst near scapula... no rotator cuff or labral tear. My ortho prescribed the steroid shot which was given 8 days ago. This had no effect.

I can and do just about everything else with this shoulder: heavy pullups, heavy dips, deadlift, squats, with no pain.

I think the Doc will say next step is a surgical "clean out" of this cyst. Probably will not go down this road since bench pressing is about my only real issue.

I think this injury occurred while lifting myself over my two year old asleep next to me in bed. Never would've believed at the time that this would be bothering me 10 months later!

I'm 48 and love Starting Strength more than any program I've ever done. Thank you for any and all advice and comments.

I suck at deadlift, but that's another matter!

[Meshuggah]

Proceed carefully, the Bench Press is Evil. I had a nagging shoulder pain that wouldn't go away. I switched to close grip benches thinking that would be easier
on my shoulders, but I ended up blowing out my left shoulder with them. My benching days are over, but thankfully I can do overhead pressing. (which I prefer anyway)
Good luck with your training.

[Charlie Davies]

Bill, I think it's on you to figure out how to work around this injury, given you don't have a clear diagnosis from imaging.
Maybe press but not bench, or narrow-grip bench, or dips will not aggravate it.
Incline press or landmine presses instead of overhead press if you lack shoulder range-of-motion to get perfectly overhead.

Be careful with dips, they work for some people and injure other people -- kind of like bench.

I'd avoid any more steroid shots, from what I've read those things are purely for pain-control and sometimes make things worse in the long run.

I've got a screwed-up shoulder too, it's very common among the elderly crowd.

In my case, a torn labrum progressed to "frozen shoulder" that kept me from doing much of anything for over a year, then got better by itself.
These days I can do all the lifts except low-bar squat (insufficient flexibility) and front squats (aggravate an arthritic AC joint).
I use a fairly narrow bench grip.

[Marlin]

Unless you are planning to compete, stop BB benching. I got tired of hurting and getting hurt with the BB and switched to single arm DB's.

[Todd Moser]

I too had some shoulder pain when bench pressing. It was in the right one though, which is my non-dominant side. When I started doing overhead presses it diminished and has gone away completely now. I can't really explain it other than maybe it was a muscle imbalance kind of thing. Do you OH press?

[Bill Whitmer]

Thanks Mesghuggah. Sorry to hear but glad you shared. It seems like everyone (including guys my age) at the gym are phenomenal bench pressers. Guess everyone isn't so lucky and I should accept it. Yeah, I'm probably going to give up the bench press unless some miracle recovery occurs. Not my preferred lift either.

[Bill Whitmer]

Hi Bill

I too have some funny shoulder stuff bench pressing, and it feels kind of pinchy and weak steering/odd movements if I've aggravated it. I went to the doctors, got a physiological referral but long story short they didn't help. I have found that close grip benching is fine, as is overhead pressing. If I'm careful benching I can do some, but it mostly isn't worth it when I can work around it pretty simply. A football bar feels fine for me too, I just prefer the close grip barbell bench.

Good luck.

Thanks JC. Sorry to hear but glad you shared. Close grip hurts my shoulder also. In fact, I like lying triceps extensions with z bar and even these hurt when I press the bar off my chest with 115 lbs to start my first rep.

[Bill Whitmer]

I too had some shoulder pain when bench pressing. It was in the right one though, which is my non-dominant side. When I started doing overhead presses it diminished and has gone away completely now. I can't really explain it other than maybe it was a muscle imbalance kind of thing. Do you OH press?

Quit OH press a few weeks ago as I thought my shoulder was getting worse. Glad to hear your feedback though and others. Maybe if I give up bench press completely I will feel better and can get back to the OH press. It could be my attempts at pushups and bench that keep aggravating my shoulder. Thanks much.

[Bill Whitmer]

Unless you are planning to compete, stop BB benching. I got tired of hurting and getting hurt with the BB and switched to single arm DB's.

Thanks Marlin. Not competing. My goal for the past year is to beat my nemesis Hugh Jackman and join the 1000 lb club. He's my age and height, is better looking, has a cooler job, and is still stinkin' stronger than I am! I guess with my stupid shoulder I probably should find a weaker nemesis... what does Brad Pitt or Robert Downey Jr squat?

[Bill Whitmer]

Bill, I think it's on you to figure out how to work around this injury, given you don't have a clear diagnosis from imaging.
Maybe press but not bench, or narrow-grip bench, or dips will not aggravate it.
Incline press or landmine presses instead of overhead press if you lack shoulder range-of-motion to get perfectly overhead.

Be careful with dips, they work for some people and injure other people -- kind of like bench.

I'd avoid any more steroid shots, from what I've read those things are purely for pain-control and sometimes make things worse in the long run.

I've got a screwed-up shoulder too, it's very common among the elderly crowd.

In my case, a torn labrum progressed to "frozen shoulder" that kept me from doing much of anything for over a year, then got better by itself.
These days I can do all the lifts except low-bar squat (insufficient flexibility) and front squats (aggravate an arthritic AC joint).
I use a fairly narrow bench grip.

Thanks cwd. Cool... didn't know a torn labrum will heal but gives me hope that perhaps my shoulder still may have better days ahead. Yeah, glad at least I can work around it and sure sorry to hear your story. The shot seemed to just have no effect whatsoever. I did stop the low rep heavy weighted dips this year as a result of perusing this forum about "shoulder pain". Thank you.