What should I do now? Shoulder pain, scared to keep lifting

[Sparta1234]

Hey all I have been lifting for a few months following the Greyskull LP. I came in a complete newbie going from video gaming all day with bad posture to weight lifting instead. I had been doing very well for myself and was seeing a good amount of gains. A few weeks ago I noticed my shoulder getting sore and kind of shrugged it off attributing it to regular soreness. It progressively got worse until I looked into it and found out it was my rotator cuff. I'm assuming it was due to my bench pressing. I stopped lifting for 2 weeks and started again and the pain is still there. I now haven't worked out for another 2 weeks and its taking a toll on me because I love lifting but am scared I am going to screw it up even worse. I can still feel the pain when I pull my shoulders back and retract my scapula, similar to that when benching. I am at a loss for what to do now..... should I schedule an appointment with a PT or what is my next step here? Should I focus on cardio at the very least to keep a work out regiment going? Any advice is greatly appreciated

[paulinkansas]

I screwed up my right shoulder about 35 years ago. Couldn't even raise my arm over shoulder level. Saw some sports medicine people. They gave me the deer caught in a headlight look. I didn't do any arm exercises for 3 weeks and it felt better. Took another 3 weeks off then started lifting again. This is not advice to you, this is just my experience.

[BadGaskets350]

Since I'm not a doctor, I can't advise you like one. However, from my own experience, you sound like you have mostly damaged soft tissue in ways that you can overcome with time.

Do not let this stop you from lifting permanently. But definitely let this be an educational thing. Most likely you were either using bad form, or excessive weight, or both.


Ease back into this. I tore my shoulder pretty bad (it felt like my trap was tore) last July and it took 6 weeks to heal.

While you are learning proper form, don't use weight that you cannot do 12 reps with. If you can't hit 12, go lighter.

Each week, do more reps than you did last week, not heavier weight.

Once you feel like you're healing, increase the weight a little.

I find that doing LIGHT overhead barbell press just before doing any other shoulder work seems to help me keep the shoulder joint in proper form.

Take it easy, stop anything that causes stabbing pain. If your shoulder is just too wrecked to lift then hit the leg press and leg curls and build up some lower body. When the shoulder is healed, ease into it.

[Sparta1234]

Since I'm not a doctor, I can't advise you like one. However, from my own experience, you sound like you have mostly damaged soft tissue in ways that you can overcome with time.

Do not let this stop you from lifting permanently. But definitely let this be an educational thing. Most likely you were either using bad form, or excessive weight, or both.


Ease back into this. I tore my shoulder pretty bad (it felt like my trap was tore) last July and it took 6 weeks to heal.

While you are learning proper form, don't use weight that you cannot do 12 reps with. If you can't hit 12, go lighter.

Each week, do more reps than you did last week, not heavier weight.

Once you feel like you're healing, increase the weight a little.

I find that doing LIGHT overhead barbell press just before doing any other shoulder work seems to help me keep the shoulder joint in proper form.

Take it easy, stop anything that causes stabbing pain. If your shoulder is just too wrecked to lift then hit the leg press and leg curls and build up some lower body. When the shoulder is healed, ease into it.

Thanks, how do I know if it's healed completely? When it doesn't hurt at all anymore? Or can I ease back into lifting even if it hurts just a little?

[joewattie]

Since I'm not a doctor, I can't advise you like one. However, from my own experience, you sound like you have mostly damaged soft tissue in ways that you can overcome with time.

Do not let this stop you from lifting permanently. But definitely let this be an educational thing. Most likely you were either using bad form, or excessive weight, or both.


Ease back into this. I tore my shoulder pretty bad (it felt like my trap was tore) last July and it took 6 weeks to heal.

While you are learning proper form, don't use weight that you cannot do 12 reps with. If you can't hit 12, go lighter.

Each week, do more reps than you did last week, not heavier weight.

Once you feel like you're healing, increase the weight a little.

I find that doing LIGHT overhead barbell press just before doing any other shoulder work seems to help me keep the shoulder joint in proper form.

Take it easy, stop anything that causes stabbing pain. If your shoulder is just too wrecked to lift then hit the leg press and leg curls and build up some lower body. When the shoulder is healed, ease into it.

Good advice.

Add to it; see a Doctor. Doctor might recommend physical therapist. PT will measure pain, range of motion, strength; set up therapy training and then measure progress. Depending on what he sees he may further order x-rays, MRI or cortisone shots.

Myself, after seeing Doc & PT I switched to stationary weight machines to train injured parts. IMO machines reduce the risk of reinjury.

Good Luck!

[air2fakie]

[MyEgoProblem]

https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog...ining-what-do/

This should be EVERYONES goto first stop upon getting injyred/hurt/banged up..

[PissChugger]

You want to work on external rotation of your shoulder using the lightest resistance band you can find. Just search up external rotation exercises and do them for a couple weeks then ease back into pressing. When my shoulder gets jacked up I pick 3 exercises and do them 2x/day starting off 3x/week and moving into 5x/week. 12+rep submaximal ****. Once you're back benching again do those exercises before and after your pressing workouts, should keep your shoulders in better shape.

[Jhaps]

I'm a chiropractor that specializes in sports chiropractic, functional movement and active release therapy. I treat this all the time especially with my patients who go to the gym a lot. Usually it's over tight pec minor and anterior deltoid that is inhibiting your posterior chain (posterior deltoid, lats, rhomboid) from firing which causes the humerus to rotate internally and your shoulders round and roll forward. To correct you need to do a few short rehabs 2-3x daily... Stretch your chest with a simple doorway stretch followed by banded lat pull downs and banded shoulder external rotations. Always stretch first then do the band work. Give a good month but doing it daily is key. I always recommend stretching the chest well before back exercises to ensure that the muscles are able to fire maximally to ensure optimal strengthening.
If it isn't improving after 2-3 weeks see a provider that does fms and ART to really work on you.

[aGha360]

First and foremost, you absolutely must see a specialist (physiotherapist) to rule out an injury.

Secondly, it really could be a vast number of things. I can speak for myself, there was a time when I had a shoulder clicking sound when I did lateral raises, and elbow clicks when doing regular pushups that I ignored for a while but then it started to hurt. I consulted a physiotherapist who ruled out injury or any tear but suggested Corticosteroid Inj. shots at my pain areas which I did not get anyway. After hearing I had no injury, I simply took it easy on my joints and went back to basics. I realised I was pushing too hard and ignoring warming up prior to working out. I took it slow, thereby putting less stress on my joints and gradually built enough strength to lift the weights I intended to lift with no more issues whatsoever. Good luck!