Coach, I'm hoping to steal a few minutes of your time, as this pertains to my mother. 68 years old, never touched a barbell in her life until I finally convinced her to start an LP about a month and a half ago, under the watchful eye of an SSC. She has already pulled 80x3x2, which she didn't think was possible for her to ever get close to, so I'm hoping she's hooked!
Anyway, she told me yesterday that she has started to have pain in her right arm, which is the arm she had a significant amount of lymph nodes removed from back in 2004. No pain on any other lifts. Naturally, she wants to scrap overhead and just do bench; and it doesn't help that she remembers her doctor back then saying she wouldn't be able to lift heavy after the lymph node removal.
The fact that a doctor said it makes me immediately think it's bs and that she's fine to go up slowly as pain allows. Any physiological or other reason I'd be wrong for steering her in this direction?
Thanks for everything you continue to provide to the strength and conditioning community!
The only thing you have to worry about is pissing her off to the extent that she quits. Be careful.