Subscapularis injury questions

[adamricky]

About 6 months ago I hurt my shoulder doing something I don't remember, it wasn't a bad injury but there was a bit of pain when squatting and benching. I ignored this and when warming up on my bench I 'heard' a squelch and felt my shoulder sink back into itself, if that makes any sense. I saw a physio the next day and she gave me some exercises to do, saying I'd given myself a subscapularis tendinopathy. My arm hurt a bit for a few days but after a couple of weeks it was 90% healed and I didn't notice it in day-to-day life any more.

My issue is, 6 months later, it's still only 90% healed. I have full ROM, no pain or tightness in regular life, but I can feel it's not completely there yet. When I go to sleep I can notice something isn't right, though I don't have any pain. Recently I benched fairly heavy, and 5 days later I'm still noticing a bit of pain on my subscapularis (I'm assuming muscle, could be tendon though). I'm not sure why it's still like this, considering I'm young, fairly active/healthy and haven't been working out heavily for a while - though I have started bouldering so maybe that's an issue?

If anyone has any ideas that would be great, as having a bench warmup give me a permanent injury would suck a lot of balls. Cheers

[Will Morris]

I saw a physio the next day and she gave me some exercises to do, saying I'd given myself a subscapularis tendinopathy. My arm hurt a bit for a few days but after a couple of weeks it was 90% healed and I didn't notice it in day-to-day life any more. Was your physio experienced with weight training?

My issue is, 6 months later, it's still only 90% healed. I have full ROM, no pain or tightness in regular life, but I can feel it's not completely there yet. When I go to sleep I can notice something isn't right, though I don't have any pain. Recently I benched fairly heavy, and 5 days later I'm still noticing a bit of pain on my subscapularis (I'm assuming muscle, could be tendon though). I'm not sure why it's still like this, considering I'm young, fairly active/healthy and haven't been working out heavily for a while - though I have started bouldering so maybe that's an issue? We have covered this on the board multiple times. The single best treatment for tendinopathy is heavy, slow resistance training. But, to a more fundamental point, you report you are 90% better. No pain or problems in regular life. What is there to really complain about? Is your expectation that you are going to be active, healthy, and be COMPLETELY painfree ALL the time? If so, some expectation management is in order. There is a growing section of the population that trains with chronic, persistent, debilitating pain. This is a type of pain that traps these individuals within a prison of pain, and yet they train. Many don't, but a growing number do train. There is an individual on this board who is training despite stage IV brain cancer, who, I bet would welcome a 90% improvement over his situation. The fact of the matter is this: you are physically capable of training, despite some relatively minor pain. You owe it to yourself to continue to train because there are thousands of people with stories far worse than yours that are training hard every day.

If anyone has any ideas that would be great, as having a bench warmup give me a permanent injury would suck a lot of balls. Cheers

It isn't a permanent injury unless you make it permanent.

[adamricky]

> you report you are 90% better. No pain or problems in regular life. What is there to really complain about?

I understand, but the joint is clearly weaker and is limiting me when I bench and boulder. I agree it's not a very serious issue however.

> you are physically capable of training, despite some relatively minor pain.

I didn't want this to come across as a 'woe is me I'm in pain' post, I was more looking for advice as to whether I should push through it or take a couple of months off to prevent a more serious injury. I take it you think I should just carry on with my training? You say 'It isn't a permanent injury unless you make it permanent.' but I was concerned pushing through may lead to an issue in the future.

Thanks for the advice