Shoulder impingement - brief diagnosis and action to take.

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi,

I’ve listened to your pain podcasts and done a lot of googling, and I’d love to hear if you’re in agreement with the self-diagnosis of “shoulder impingement”, and what steps you think I should take. I know that you want us to be as brief and accurate as possible.

Diagnosis:
46yo male, training for 2 years.
I say “impingement” in my left shoulder, since if I place my left hand on my right shoulder, I can only raise my elbow a very slight amount, say an inch or so. If doing the reverse I can raise my right elbow to my face with no problems. The left shoulder shoulder seems sore in general and it is worsened by benching.

What to do:

i) I read some of Adam Meakins’ work as suggested, and although he has a lot of great material concerning the functioning of the shoulder, the suggestion for lifters was to use movements with a lesser ROM, specifically the floor press. So as part of my current HLM I could floor press for the Medium day. I guess db presses could also be used.

ii) I’ve heard of people do OHPs with 5 second controlled eccentrics as part of rehabbing.

iii) Keep benching on the Heavy day, using naproxen or similar prudently.

iv) PT type exercises with rubber bands to “strengthen the rotator cuff” seem to be BS as far as I can tell.

Thanks in advance.

1 Like
2

Hi there!

You may have what’s called “rotator cuff syndrome”, one component of which is often pain provoked by the Hawkins test, which is what you’re describing. “Impingement” isn’t actually a diagnosis.

Adam Meakins’ stuff is excellent, so I’m glad you’ve found him, and I agree with that idea. The guys over at Clinical Athlete also have some good stuff on this.

If you can tolerate pressing, that’d be great.

I would not continue benching very heavy for now if it provokes worsening pain.

The band stuff may be useful to desensitize someone who is severely symptomatic and unable to tolerate the more “traditional” loading you describe above.