pain with chin ups

[Jdcuth]

I don't think this is a big issue in my long term training but hoping someone can give me some insight,
When I do chins there is a high chance even before approaching failure I will get a pain on the inside of my left scapula. I can grit through it, and sometimes it is fine the next day, but not unusually I might then get a worse pain over the next few days that can interfere with the core exercises of the program.
If I don't chin, and substitute pull ups, I don't get this problem, ever.
If this had been a core exercise I would have to look at fixing the problem but would others just take the attitude that chin ups aren't for me and try to progress pull ups instead?
Thanks
James

[Epictetus8540]

Have you tried a neutral grip?

[Jdcuth]

Actually yes and I've found these very comfortable and seem to be able to do them pain free. One thing I like about chin ups and neutral grip vs pronated is they seem to have an easily felt point where the rep feels complete, whereas with a pronated grip i.e. strict pull ups I seem unable to resist the tendency to cheat the rep a bit at the top.
I think I will continue with the neutral grip and not sweat it as long as the big lifts are progressing.

[Satch12879]

Where’s your grip width at for the conventional chins?

[Jdcuth]

Fairly narrow, pretty much shoulder width, wider seems even more painful

[Epictetus8540]

Fairly narrow, pretty much shoulder width, wider seems even more painful

That's pretty much what I use.
To my mind... supine grip = more bicep activation/reliance, prone grip = less bicep activation/reliance and therefore more lat work, and I would *guess* that neutral is sort of a compromise.
As far as grip width goes... I feel like the wider the grip, the more difficult, which I would intuitively interpret to mean they are incorporating fewer muscles, more isolation, and diminishing natural leverages. In the spirit of doing pullups as an assistance to reinforce my large compound exercises... I think I would stick with neutral hand position, relatively narrow grip, in order to recruit the most muscles at a time that I can. Different goals would require other variations.
:cheers: