I have begun experiencing pain in my left shoulder when I squat. More precisely the pain shows up after I complete my set. The pain “radiates” (not sure is correct term. English is 2nd language) to my elbow a bit. Doing strict presses does not seem to increase or bring new pain.
I have been plagued by this pain before and I have tried the following things:
High bar instead of low bar
Wider grip
Going to physical therapist who had me do stretches and foam rolling for warmup as well as doing two different types of shrugs to address imbalances
Switching to front squatting for a period of 4-5 months
After I took a break from back squatting I started doing the bridge using high bar squats, which I have been able to do for almost 8 weeks (Flu put me out for two weeks, so I started 10 weeks ago or so and have a week left). I had no issue until earlier this week, when I started to feel a tingle of the old issue and after my workout tonight, I feel pretty sure it is the same problem.
I will probably be going to the physical therapist again, but I really didn’t feel like the last visit fixed the issue so I would really like a second opinion, tips from people who recovered from the same issue or wild guesses at a diagnosis (I am the kind of guy who needs to know what is wrong with me to be a good patient).
I am hoping a consultation with the physical therapist might help me build an appropriate mental model for how I should deal with the pain: what might and might not aggravate it, what the consequences of training through it might be, how I should expect to be able to fix it etc.
It feels like whatever is wrong is of a permanent nature. There is no pain unless it is provoked, but it feels like what plagued me earlier never really went away, but was just buried under the recovery of a couple of months of not back squatting. For years my left shoulder has had the tendency to “pop” when I raise it laterally, but this has never involved any pain before.
I try to be careful guessing what is wrong, as I am a layman, but this is my subjective experience of the problem.
It’s important to realize, just because you are experiencing symptoms in the shoulder this doesn’t mean there is necessarily something “wrong” with the area. Moderating loading may help with your ability to return to training. For further insight on this approach see - Recovering From an Injury: Embrace the Process | Barbell Medicine
I never got around to replying with a thank you. Thanks a lot for your feedback! Since I last wrote here, I have been consuming a lot of BBM content (points picked up: don’t assume that pain = something objectively wrong (as you say), use variations, see what ROM I can do, return gradually to what I used to do). So I am trying to chill and assume it will get better (which it had been), but it has flared up a little and felt like it was definitely back yesterday when I squatted. I am a bit frustrated as my squat is hilariously weak, especially compared with my deadlift being 60-70 kilos higher (130 vs 190-200 e1RM - long story of issues like this one and my squat always getting worse with any issue like breaks or small weight cuts and my DL not really taking the same hits) and I feel like I have been doing what I understand being the general BBM recommendations (using a variation, going slowly back to the problem lift). Anyway, I have found a local physiotherapist who seems to share your take on things, so I might be paying him a visit if I am not lucky and the pain goes away. I basically just wanted to provide an update and journal a little.
No worries - these things happen are a part of the process. Sometimes these things can be difficult to work through on your own. Especially when symptoms become a part of the equation, we often wonder is what we are experiencing normal, how should we move forward, etc. Having guidance from a clinician can be very beneficial from a point of reassurance and devising a collaboratively game-plan to progress you towards your goals. Keep us posted.