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Thread: shoulder pain while benching

  1. #1
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    Default shoulder pain while benching

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    Hi all, I am hoping someone can lead me in the right direction.

    M, 48, 225, 5'9 (and a half)"
    week 11 or 12 of NLP (I lost track)

    Bench press:
    This morning I could not even get final warmup rep at 100 kg because the pain in my right shoulder became enough to where I think the rep would have done more harm than good had I kept going.
    The pain and cracking started a couple weeks ago and I 'pushed' through it last week and got a triple at 107,5 kg before hitting failure and grinding 5 sec on the 4th rep but could not lock it.

    Eventually important info:
    • The shoulder only hurts per se when I bench press, not when I (OH) press, starting with the liftoff out of the hooks.
    • It hurts whether I bring my grip in or out.
    • It does not affect my Press as far as I can tell.
    • I actually gave it 7 days to heal up on its own but as soon as I started warm up sets today it started hurting again.
    • When I rotate my shoulder at all to the back or front I hear and feel all kinds of weird popping and cracking (even more than is normal for my age, I suppose).



    I am finally at a (for me, anyway) semi-respectable weight with the bench so I would hate to have to 'take a break' from benching and have to start all over.
    And in case I forgot to mention above, it is only the right side - the left side is fine.

    Any help or link to an easy-to-follow (for non-doctors) article discussing this particular injury would be highly appreciated.

    I am guessing some sort of impingement or rotator cuff problem but I am not a doctor (whose advice here would probably be to stop bench pressing, which would suck ass).

    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    Without a diagnosis, what do you want us to tell you?

  3. #3
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    Thanks, good point Rip.

    I guess I was under the presumption that going to the doctor would be a waste of time in this case.

  4. #4
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    Going to a doctor FOR TREATMENT would be a waste of time. But you need a diagnosis. A Physical Therapist -- "physio" to you people -- could diagnose it as well, but is equally incapable of treating it.

  5. #5
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    ahhh got it, many thanks to you for all you do!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    A Physical Therapist -- "physio" to you people
    By the way, I am an American veteran and just happen to live in Germany.
    No offense taken by the "you people" remark, LOL :-).

  6. #6
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    You will want to go to doctor so you can get a MRI arthrogram. Unless u need surgery for say bone spur, roator cuff tear, labrum and so on doctor is a waste of time. A good orthopedic surgon is what u want to go too. Other that find a weight u can press with not to much pain and rehab it with presses and chins if u r able to do chins already. If not just 3x5 or 5x5 with presses 30 to 60 precent of 1rm is a good rehab weight. Ik this is a big range in weight but I cant feel your pain. I'm 26 and have had both my shoulders worked on due to bone spurs causeing damage.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by gv3055 View Post
    Hi all, I am hoping someone can lead me in the right direction.


    Any help or link to an easy-to-follow (for non-doctors) article discussing this particular injury would be highly appreciated.
    Honestly, an experienced coach who is comfortable working with someone who has some pain with lifting is quite likely to be of more benefit. Walking into a GP or physios clinic with an expectation that you will get a diagnosis that is going to radically change what an experienced coach is likely going to do to work around shoulder pain is quite lofty. Unless, that is, you believe your condition requires surgery, then by all means, go to the doctor. You’ve already stated what 99% of clinicians are going to say, which is “stop benching”, but there is a whole world of modifications to bench pressing you have not attempted yet.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Morris View Post
    Honestly, an experienced coach who is comfortable working with someone who has some pain with lifting is quite likely to be of more benefit. Walking into a GP or physios clinic with an expectation that you will get a diagnosis that is going to radically change what an experienced coach is likely going to do to work around shoulder pain is quite lofty. Unless, that is, you believe your condition requires surgery, then by all means, go to the doctor. You’ve already stated what 99% of clinicians are going to say, which is “stop benching”, but there is a whole world of modifications to bench pressing you have not attempted yet.
    Thanks a lot Will. Yeah about 3 weeks have passed since I could bench and I still feel pain in the rotator cuff - but only when I accidentally hit certain positions in the range of motion.
    I hadn't even thought about needing surgery yet because literally the only thing I cannot do is bench press - I can do most other things in life and at the gym with little or no pain.
    I think the key lies in what you suggested, which would be finding a modification in the meantime which I can perform without pain from someone who has coached this kind of injury before.

    I had assumed that many lifters have experienced a similar issue with one or both shoulders and so I guess my underlying question would be which rehabilitative modifications to the standard bench press would be helpful or even worth a try (close grip did not feel good at all, even with just the bar).

    Hence, if I understood you correctly, I would agree with you that a good coach beats a doctor in this case. I go see Steve Ross for coaching in a month and will see if he can show me some bench workarounds.
    The good news is that since this pain started, my Press numbers are going up nicely since I am pressing twice a week and not tiring things out with heavy benching.
    The bad news is that benching was my strongest lift out of the big four so not being able to do it is quite frustrating to me and my motivation.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by gv3055 View Post
    Thanks a lot Will. Yeah about 3 weeks have passed since I could bench and I still feel pain in the rotator cuff - but only when I accidentally hit certain positions in the range of motion.
    I hadn't even thought about needing surgery yet because literally the only thing I cannot do is bench press - I can do most other things in life and at the gym with little or no pain.
    I think the key lies in what you suggested, which would be finding a modification in the meantime which I can perform without pain from someone who has coached this kind of injury before.

    I had assumed that many lifters have experienced a similar issue with one or both shoulders and so I guess my underlying question would be which rehabilitative modifications to the standard bench press would be helpful or even worth a try (close grip did not feel good at all, even with just the bar).

    Hence, if I understood you correctly, I would agree with you that a good coach beats a doctor in this case. I go see Steve Ross for coaching in a month and will see if he can show me some bench workarounds.
    The good news is that since this pain started, my Press numbers are going up nicely since I am pressing twice a week and not tiring things out with heavy benching.
    The bad news is that benching was my strongest lift out of the big four so not being able to do it is quite frustrating to me and my motivation.
    Unfortunately, it should be understood that outside of general questions, specific situations, specific rehabilitation techniques, and the like are professional services performed by highly skilled individuals. If you wish to get such services, it is going to be quite difficult, if not borderline impossible, to get someone of this caliber to work with you for free.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Morris View Post
    Unfortunately, it should be understood that outside of general questions, specific situations, specific rehabilitation techniques, and the like are professional services performed by highly skilled individuals. If you wish to get such services, it is going to be quite difficult, if not borderline impossible, to get someone of this caliber to work with you for free.
    Understood.
    Steve's services are not going to be free, I assume

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