Pain management/training advice for shoulder pain

Good afternoon,

I recently(started last weekend on Sunday) started having pain in my left scapula. It was a dull ache at first, something I felt I could train through on Monday. Warming up for the squat, I noticed that the pain would slowly increase to a sharper sensation but would dissipate somewhat during rest times. However, on the last 2 sets of paused squats, the pain increased to where I felt shoot through my left arm and I had to cut my last set short due to the pain as well as a slight tingling/weakness in my left arm and shoulder. This carried over to my presses for the day as well. I was not able to hit my target weight and my rows felt off as well.

The pain slowly decreased to a dull ache again after going home and only seems to worsen if I put enough of a load or pressure on it. The pain is also more noticeable at work(I work at a UPS warehouse). There’s no change in ROM as far as I can tell unless the pain starts shooting down my arm and the tingling/weakness returns then it gets slightly harder extend my arm overhead or raise laterally.

Looking it up, I can only find MTS, pinched nerve or muscle strain that matches the symptoms. But I’m more interested in how to manage the pain so I can still get good training volume in while resolving the issue. The pain makes it hard to load the squat and the press and I’m assuming I’ll run into the same issue with bench and any pulls. I’d like to get back to training at 100% as soon as reasonably possible.

Hey J_filipinio,

Sorry to hear you are having to deal with this issue.
How old are you?
Was there any recent acute trauma to the area?
You said it began last weekend, anything in particular occur then?
How far down the arm is the tingling/weakness? Does it go into the hand and if so any particular part of the hand (fingers)?

Hey, Dr. Ray

I’ve been training for the past year and a half/two years and I’m 22 years old. I’ve had a similar issue with my right side last year, though that one was more towards my lat, close to my arm pit. That pain happened after I ego lifted on rack pulls though it hasnt resurfaced.

I’ve only dealt with this this specific issue for the past couple days, though I have had random aches and pains that come and go. As far as acute trauma, I can’t say. The closest thing to trauma I recieved before this happened was hitting my shoulder on a book shelf. I also sat down in a massage chair on Sunday if that counts towards anything. For the tingling/weakness, it got to the point where it shot all the way into my fingers though I felt it the most my ring and pinky finger, felt it slightly in my middle finger. During my last set of squats on monday and wednesday, the pain also caused some slight tremors in my hand. As of right now though, no tingling or weakness and its a very dull ache.

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