Persisting shoulder impingement

[Dragar]

I’ve had persisting shoulder impingement pain for a long time now (didn’t know what it was originally), occcurring mostly during chest work and referred about 1/3 of the way down from my shoulder to my elbow. I’ve had a history of exercise related shoulder pain – my tendency was to let my shoulders, left especially, jump around all over the place when doing any kind of lifting, particularly up and forward which is something I’ve been working on for several years now.

After finally getting it diagnosed I did all the physio stuff, achieved little except for some bettter shoulder mobility and becoming an expert in bosu ball dumbell exercises, and then searched this forum and started pressing every session (>3 months) without benching at all. The shoulder feel fine pressing as long as technique is solid – if I let the bar get away in front of me I know about it. My press has improved constantly (from 45kg to 60kg), posture is better as my shoulders have straightened (were a bit rounded), and my shoulder feels pretty good in normal circumstances, whereas it used to twinge in normal life or playing sport quite often.

Last night I tried benching again for the first time in a long time, having reached my self-determined target of pressing 2/3 of my old bench weight. I used very light weight, focused on keeping my upper back tight, shoulders stable, keeping the bar path vertical. I started feeling the pain down my left arm almost straight away, even at half of my current pressing weight. I tried dips, slightly better but shoulder still not feeling healthy.

Is the prescription to keep pressing for another few months and then try again, or is there an alternate way of dealing with this I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[Mark Rippetoe]

No, you're dealing with it correctly. But be aware of the fact that if you have produced a bone spur on the AC, it might be that you cannot bench press at all until this is fixed, i.e. removed. It may very well be that you're now a press specialist, with an occasional set of dips thrown in to keep your pecs from looking too silly. It works for me.

[Dragar]

Thanks Mark

Presumably a bone spur shows up easily on an x-ray? That said I'm not inclined to undergo any surgery if I've managed to rehabilitate myself to the point where all that is impacted is my ability to bench - it was really causing me daily grief half a year ago

I guess I'll try again in a couple of months with dips first, and if that fails call it quits and keep lifting stuff over my head

[Mark Rippetoe]

Intracapsular osteophytes are sometimes difficult to see on an x-ray. If you've been benching a long time and are having shoulder trouble, just assume they're there.