Shoulder Pain from Overhead Press

[strongnovice]

I have an injury which isn't fixable which makes overhead press asymmetrical. The left side of the barbell where my grip is has to go around 2 inches to the front off center for me to press it. For this reason, I've done incline press only rather than overhead press and bench press for the majority of my training so far.

Around a month ago, I decided to give overhead press another try. My left shoulder has been hurting for around a week now. This is mild chronic pain rather than soreness. It doesn't seem to impede strength yet though. My question is, how long should I wait to see if my shoulder gets better before giving up on overhead press again?

[Nick D'Agostino]

What is the injury? Also, we would need to see a video of you pressing to give you feedback and suggestions for how to tweak the exercise for your situation. Sometimes a small grip adjustment, start position adjustment, or top position adjustment makes a big difference. I'm not a big fan of substituting inclines for presses because the mechanics and balance demands of the exercises are entirely different. If you didn't do any overhead pressing, I would include an incline, but I would first look to other implements as a starting place for press and work from there. If a barbell doesn't work, I would want to know if you could press a dumbbell or even a kettlebell without pain.

[strongnovice]

What is the injury? Also, we would need to see a video of you pressing to give you feedback and suggestions for how to tweak the exercise for your situation. Sometimes a small grip adjustment, start position adjustment, or top position adjustment makes a big difference. I'm not a big fan of substituting inclines for presses because the mechanics and balance demands of the exercises are entirely different. If you didn't do any overhead pressing, I would include an incline, but I would first look to other implements as a starting place for press and work from there. If a barbell doesn't work, I would want to know if you could press a dumbbell or even a kettlebell without pain.

The injury is that the humerus is pointing the wrong way. It's not that I don't want to take your advice but I don't think form adjustments can do anything about bone imbalance.

Status update is that I've dropped overhead press and am doing incline press only now. The pain is static now, it's not getting worse but it's also not getting better. At least it only hurts mildly now when pressing, not when at rest. Any tips? My diet already has a lot of collagen, fish oil, and turmeric.

[Will Morris]

The injury is that the humerus is pointing the wrong way. It's not that I don't want to take your advice but I don't think form adjustments can do anything about bone imbalance.

Can you provide a more thorough explanation of what this means?

[Will Morris]

StrongNovice, understood. Want to contact me via email and I might be able to provide more assistance in a less publicly accessible forum. I do have some experience with similar issues.