shoulder pain from bench press

[choyhosoi]

The other day I was going for my 2nd set of bench after my warm-up, and after my 5th rep I felt my left front delt area get tight and sore. I immediately racked the weight, and finished the workout with light weights. (dumbells)
Today I have discomfort in my left shoulder area when I lift my arm high above my head. Not too much pain but enough for me not to want to mess with shoulders ,arms,chest. Does anyone have advice or has anyone had similar experience?

[Iceiktitan]

Similiar experience. Saw a doctor. Problem solved.

[Paneristi]

i dont go blow eye level on bench for that reason

[DJAuto]

RC cuff.

Start rehab ASAP: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=529968.

[Roke]

Always do rotator cuff exercises! This will imrpove blood flow to shoulder areas.

[choyhosoi]

Thank you for the advice. My concern is how long should I lay off the bench? What is recommended? My shoulder since posting the thread , and taking Motrin is not as discomforting as before but I dont want to rush back. I will just stick to other area's namely lower body.

[CobraKye]

This past summer (of 07) I was having very similar shoulder problems. Bench press was always the thing that irritated it the most, but after a while it also spread to shoulder pressing exercises. I went to a sports doctor and was diagnosed with: Bursitis and RC tendonitis. He recommended NSAID's and icing.

Here is my empirical experience w/ shoulder injury:
Step one in correcting any problem is to modify the activity. Take note of what is causing you pain/discomfort, take a break from that activity for a while (2 weeks or so). For me, I switched to doing bench press on the Smith press for a while, this takes some of the stress off the deltoids (you don't need them as much to stabilize). Another thing that helps me a lot is to do dumbell flyes first. This way you prefatigue your chest so that you can use less weight on bench press and still target your pecs. Another way to modify is to use less weight for more reps. Using these techniques has worked wonders for me. Your ego may take a hit but your shoulders will thank you in the long run! I never bench heavy any more and chest is still one of my strong points (visually)

NSAID's are not a long term solution in my opinion. I took Aleve for a few weeks and it helped a lot with the pain and the grinding sensations I would get. However, your activity still needs to modified

Omega-3 supplementation is a healthy way to fight inflammation (which in my case was the root of the problem).

Lastly, try to ice your shoulder for 15-25 minutes or so after every workout where your shoulders are stressed (chest, back, or shoulder day).

[choyhosoi]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think maybe ego is a problem that is going to have to be corrected but I would rather have mass than stats. Thanks again.