Teres Major Trigger point

[212019156]

Have had shoulder pain for a while. Had sub acromial decompression back in October 2013. This seemed to relieve some of the pain. I have full range of motion and can do everything pain free except for bench and OH press. The pain hits my upper tricep, back of shoulder and front of shoulder. Because I still have this pain I have been messing with foam rolling using Lacrosse ball. When I roll on the Teres Major it hurts a lot and refers a lot of pain to the above mentioned areas. I hold it for a while and the pain subsides on the knot and then my shoulder is almost completely free of pain for a couple of hours. The problem is that even though it seems like I am releasing the trigger point in the Teres major, it always comes back. I have stopped doing OH pressing all together and am debating stopping bench press until I can get this under control. Any idea how I can get rid of this trigger point permanently? This is really driving me crazy.

[Greg Esres]

Hey fellow Memphian:

Supposedly trigger points can be created by other trigger points, so you may have other, unaddressed trigger points causing this one. I usually roll out pretty much everything in the shoulder area. Plus, for me, it has taken several weeks to relieve trigger points in the area. If you get several hours of relief from the pain, why did you stop the OHP? When I was having problems, I would work the trigger points right before the workout, and then between sets. I had a minor flair up yesterday at the gym, and I used the corner of the captain's chair to work the area.

It could be that you're recreating the trigger points after every workout; you might hit the lacrosse ball after the workout is over, too. I've found the Theracane to be a bit more useful than the lacrosse ball in this area, because the tip is smaller than the ball and it can really dig in.

[212019156]

Hi Greg,

Where do you workout at in Memphis?

I spend a lot of time using the lacrosse ball on all the areas of the shoulder, front delt, and pecs. I'm currently resting it and just doing stretching and lacrosse ball. Its starting to get better. I theorize that I'm still recovering from the surgery and this will get better with some time.

Regarding doing the lacrosse ball before the workout, I do and after as well. That works ok for bench but the OH press reactivates right away. Before the surgery I was putting up some okay numbers (320 x 5 on bench and 185 x 5 on OH press), and I know once I get this under control I can get back to those numbers in short order. I'm just annoyed because as I get older (I'm 42) I notice these mechanical problems tend appear more frequently. Its frustrating.

Hey fellow Memphian:

Supposedly trigger points can be created by other trigger points, so you may have other, unaddressed trigger points causing this one. I usually roll out pretty much everything in the shoulder area. Plus, for me, it has taken several weeks to relieve trigger points in the area. If you get several hours of relief from the pain, why did you stop the OHP? When I was having problems, I would work the trigger points right before the workout, and then between sets. I had a minor flair up yesterday at the gym, and I used the corner of the captain's chair to work the area.

It could be that you're recreating the trigger points after every workout; you might hit the lacrosse ball after the workout is over, too. I've found the Theracane to be a bit more useful than the lacrosse ball in this area, because the tip is smaller than the ball and it can really dig in.

[Greg Esres]

When I go to the gym, I go to the ATC on Quince. Got frustrated at the difficulty of getting access to the single squat rack, so I built a workout room in a spare bedroom. I don't need to go to the gym as often as I used to.

I'm 50, so I share your frustration. We're trying to do the right thing, so the universe ought to grant us a little break, right? I'm struggling with Golfer's elbow right now, and I'm having to make do with the machines that don't stress the elbow.

Your numbers strike me as better than OK for an old guy. I've been plateaued well below that for about a year.

[212019156]

Memphis area sucks for gyms.

One thing that I noticed about golphers elbow that I usually could tie it to shoulder trigger points. For example when my shoulder is acting up I experience golpher elbow symptoms.

In regards to my numbers, I had taken a long hiatus from lifting and only started again about a year ago so that I can train my teenage son who is 15 now for football. Started to experience these shoulder issues as I got closer to my old heavier weights. My original best when I was in my late 20's where 365 x 3 for bench 235 x 3 for OH press. My squats were pretty high as well (over 500), but I wasn't breaking parallel on those. I'm not sure if I will hit those numbers again being in my 40's. Can only try. All I know is now I have constantly have to think aout mobility issues where when I was younger I didn't. M 15 year old is lucky and gets to benefit from all the wonky things I used to do to my body of the years. I have ingrained in him to do lots of mobility work which he complies with. Hopefully it will save him from all the stupid issues I have.

[Greg Esres]

One thing that I noticed about golphers elbow that I usually could tie it to shoulder trigger points. For example when my shoulder is acting up I experience golpher elbow symptoms.

My shoulder on this arm is in pretty good shape as far as I can tell, but I roll it regularly. I've seen a variety golfer's elbow solutions here: deadlifts (who isn't doing those?), curls, reverse curls, pullups, static holds on fat bar, graston, A.R.T., forearm stretching, DMSO, ice, ice/heat alternating, NSAIDS

I'm a great fan of ice, but it hasn't touched this. I suspect I got it by bending my wrists too much on the lifts, because that position seems to aggravate it.

I'm not sure if I will hit those numbers again being in my 40's.

I've seen some pretty impressive numbers on guys older than I am in that list being maintained here. Maybe it's easier to keep strength in later years than it is to get it. I ran into recovery issues with SS and switched to 5/3/1. No recovery problems, but then I haven't progressed much, if any, past where I was in SS. I probably haven't found the right balance between stimulation and recovery.

Hopefully it will save him from all the stupid issues I have.

He'll probably discover his own stupid issues. He's got to be proud to have a dad who can outlift most of his teammates. Or embarrassed, you never know. :-)

[212019156]

He'll probably discover his own stupid issues. He's got to be proud to have a dad who can outlift most of his teammates. Or embarrassed, you never know. :-)

He likes it. He liked the training even more when they tested maxes on the high school football team about a month ago. He beat all the Freshman on squat, bench, and power clean (the don't deadlift) and he beat almost all of the varsity and JV on everything but bench. He's squatting 385 x 1 Benching 225 X1, cleaning 225 x 1, OH pressing 155 x 5 deadlifting 350 X1. It was pretty funny on squats because the coaches were telling him he goes too deep. On power cleans we had hardly done any training on at all. The kids on the team have been asking me to train them. I'm not sure if the lifting program the team uses sucks or my training him was superior. Now the coaches want him lifting with them, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses.

[Greg Esres]

coaches want him lifting with them, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses.

Argh, my heart would sink. My observation is that whenever you discover a route to excellence, you'll find hordes of people who want to drag you back. It's particularly tough when you're competing to influence someone else. I teach people to fly and I put an enormous amount of time into researching what I teach my students, and it's frustrating when they start hanging around other students at the flight school. I end up having to make a big effort to defend my methodologies; even so, some students just don't like to do things differently from the way that others do, regardless of which way is better. Fortunately, you got to your son first, so he's more likely to stick with what you taught him.