Shoulder pain with incline pressing, rehab template?

Hi,

I do Olympic lifting so benching is something that is usually not part of my world. I did 8 weeks on a power building program (SBS) because I had a sprained wrist that made snatching and holding a full grip front wrack uncomfortable from the reduced mobility. Had a great time hit PRS, but at the end of the first 8 weeks the higher intensity lower rep stuff stuff especially on the incline pressing really set off my left shoulder, sharp pain across the front of the shoulder at the bottom of the lifts.

I did gymnastics as a kid and generally had very flexible shoulders, A couple years doing BJJ and I accumulated some sort of shoulder injury, no specific incident it never got like wrenched hard it just gradually became painful to lift above horizontal on that side. That was in 2019 BJJ stopped with covid and I started Olympic lifting and haven’t thought about it since except like putting on sunscreen or a backpack with tight straps as my left shoulder is now significantly less flexible than my right.

Strict pressing/push pressing hasn’t been an issue it’s just bench and especially incline that bother it. Since I’m Olympic lifting, I could pretty happily never bench again, mentioned it to a PT when I first sprained my wrist who said something about bursitis and just modify exercise selection, landmine press, football bar, that sort of thing, but I’d rather resolve than avoid it if possible and was planning to get back into BJJ eventually. My dad and my uncle both had multiple shoulder surgeries in their 40s after playing collegiate basketball and baseball, so I expect more shoulder pain in my future and would like to get comfortable managing it instead of avoiding it.

Is this something the shoulder rehab template would be appropriate for?


Hi there,

Depending on the duration of symptoms & degree of sensitivity you’re dealing with, something like the shoulder rehab template may indeed be helpful (particularly for longer duration of symptoms, and/or higher degree of sensitivity).

However, if the symptoms haven’t been super longstanding, and/or if the symptoms are not especially severe (as it sounds like you’re able to tolerate a lot of other movements without issues), you may be able to successfully rehab this without such a formalized rehab program by following our general guidelines for basic rehab, as outlined here:

Of course, our rehab team is available for consultation if you’d like more individualized advice.