Hey guys little help here dealing with a shoulder injury...

[Luminaire]

Ok my shoulder is pretty busted up and im wondering how to fix it. It hurts when i do bench and i go ALL the way down, 2 inches before the bar touches my chest and im good, it also hurts during military presses and it ESPECIALLY AND EXTREMELY HURTS when im doing any sort of pec flies. Any advice on how to rehabilitate it, I try stretching during the week and whenever im in the Ill hit it with some warm water and give it a little massage and nothings working and i really dont have time for physical therapy, and im on cycle so i really cant stop workin out... thanks for ne advice

[Luminaire]

also im not sure if this was the right forum to post this but i figured it would b the best

[DaGCHILD]

well best thing to do if it really hurts is to see a doc, but if u cant do that now and u wanna fight thru it, you might make it worse, but if ur willing to take that risk then what i recommend is stretch before you lift, then warm up your shoulders for a good 10 minutes with some light weights, this worked for me but i also took some time off. Also you can try using like icyhot or other creams and start taking glucosomine/chondoritin for joint health. Last, i wouldnt even recommend going ALL the way down on flat bench, thats how most people hurt their shoulders in the first place, espeically if your going heavy...keep it 2 inches above ur chest always and ur shoulder problems wiill dissapear..try switching to DB's

[Blown_SC]

Above all, see your physician. You may choose to give this a try though.... hope it helps.

***Taken from DoggCrapp***

With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the following movement--a large "rolled up like a rope" beach towel works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then down and back to the middle of your back--STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE WAY--this is going to be very difficult and hard the first couple times out and then will be "old hat" with time----and its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way---i want 50 reps each time you do this--one repetition is from in front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all with straight arms)--the important part of the movement is the area overhead that is really tight--do all of this carefully/slowly---dont just whip it over and back---if your hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip, or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a longer broomstick too)--again do all of these revolutions controlled and carefully--push into the stretch as you go along toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward and your shoulders rolling back--your shoulders are going to blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull pumpwise--Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as you can---sometimes I have people do it every single day---but every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone in 2 weeks--also try to move your grip in as you are doing the 50 revolutions--start off with a stretching but relatively easy 10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at 30 try to move the grip in another centimeter--really try to push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up here--trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering "**** you dante" after you get to your 25th revolution--Ive cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees ---Heres a pic attached to this post so you can get an idea (thanks to a trainee of mine who cured his shoulders with this)--but remember the broomstick goes overhead and all the way back to the middle of the back (he just drew the start of the movement when you begin).

[Prime]

I had the exact same problem, i got it from doing upright rows and military press and working through the pain. For me what helped was to simply stop doing what made it hurt. I gave up doing millitary presses and flies and switched to incline bench which diddnt aggrovate my choulder as much. i still could do flat db presses dips etc. Over the space of 18 months i have recovered somewhat. I sometimes do light flies in my chest workout and i can flat bench again (altho this does stress out my shoulder a bit). Still cant to military presses or upright rows, they simply hurt too much.
If like me you have no faith in the medical system and see visiting a doctor as pointless then try working around it and not stressing it. Dont do what i was reccomended to do by my doctor (this is one of the reasons i have little faith) load up on painkillers and ignore it.

[ryamigo]

you def want to lay off it a while
this is what i did when I had the same problem
first i took like two weeks off after like a month of irritation...then I iced it 20 minutes a day twice a day, took glucosamine chondroitin, tried to sleep on my back because it hurts like a b*tch when you lay on your arm and every other day i did these exercises to strengthen it. i just took a light weight i had laying around...like a 10 pounder....held it like i was going to do a hammer curl but i rotated it horizontally instead of vertically.
My uncle had rotator cuff surgery, his were all f*cked up and this is what he told me to do.
then when i got back to the gym i layed off shoulder exercises, flyes, anything where i put my arms over my head
also used a closer grip on the bench and definately didn't come down as far.
in a month it was better but i still do those freakin exercises to get it warmed up b4 a work out because for some reason they work.

i found a lot of websites that tell you to do those things lying on a bench but that didn't work for me.

sorry for writing a book. i hope it helps though. that sh*t is a B*TCH

[Luminaire]

haha wow, thanks for sharing in my pain everyone and a special thank u blown for that diagram, im goin to try doin that and ima try icing it twice a day and as we speak im on the way to vitamin shop to pick me up some joint shtuffs. Thanks all!

[Blown_SC]

haha wow, thanks for sharing in my pain everyone and a special thank u blown for that diagram, im goin to try doin that and ima try icing it twice a day and as we speak im on the way to vitamin shop to pick me up some joint shtuffs. Thanks all!

Good to hear bro.. give it a try, and if the pain persists, def. see a Doctor!

[MrBigSh!T]

Guys, I got problems with my left shoulder from doing heavy behind the neck presses and bench presses. But my probelm isnt with the joint, but with the rotator cuff and the tendons. Everytime I move my shoulder in an overhead circular motion, I can feel and hear the tendons and ligaments snapping around. Ive had to lay off from training from time to time, but it always gets inflamed sooner or later. My question is this, because I have tendonitis, is it more likely that I will sufffer a tear? Ive lived with this problem for 11 years now. One of my friends swears up and down that a 12 week cycle of Deca will do wonders to heal the rotator cuff, tendons and ligaments. What do you guys think?

[The Massacre]

Bro, Ihad the same problem for months and months after getting into a crazy fight in a club. My buddies and I got into a big ass fight and I went to clobber some idiot that hit me while I was fighting some other guy and I missed big time and threw my shoulder out. Went to the Dr and all...He just told me to go light or not work out at all. Took about 6 months before I was able to get back to recooperation. My gym partner is also going through the same problem. He's been with his condition for about 8 months. It jsut happens and you gotta wait it out. Try doing machines for chest and shoulders.

[MrBigSh!T]

Massacre, do you know anything about Deca being able to heal up rotator cuffs and tendons? Several of guys at the gym swear by it and I was told that years ago Drs as a rule would prescribe Deca for such a purpose.

[Luminaire]

dam massacre dat sucks...hmm does deca have any regenerative use? if so ill stop sticking it in my ass and start pumping it into my shoulder

[The Massacre]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure about healing. I know GH heals at incredible speed! As far as Deca healing rotator cuffs and tendons...not too sure about that.

[MrBigSh!T]

From what I was told, back in the day, before everybody got anal about gear, Drs used to regularly prescribe it for torn rotator cuffs and tendons. I just want to know if there is any truth to this.
Now about GH, how long of a treatment and how many IUs a day do you need to reap the benfits if the prupose is to heal a torn tendon or rotator cuff?

[Warrior]

Are you working in your verticle plain? For example, military presses or lat pull downs behind your neck...

Don't try and mask the pain with drugs - find the problem, fix it and then take a preventative approach - versus symptomatic. My shoulder pain ended up getting cleared up from a high dose prednisone treatment in the hospital for an anaphylactic reaction (big time allergy reaction). It was all better - but the corticosteroid ate up a lot of muscle gains I had made. Since then I have elimated all training behind my neck (to include the extremely damaging delt flyes) and warm up throughly. To this day that pain never came back... it was so bad that it hurt simply reaching to turn off the light at night. Stress warming up, stay off your verticle plain and listen to signs your body sends you of incoming injuries...

Better to stay off cycle until you get better, IMHO. Gaining a lot of strength at this time could deffinitly increase your problems. You should be in good shape and well-prepared for each cycle...

[BASK8KACE]

Ok my shoulder is pretty busted up and im wondering how to fix it. It hurts when i do bench and i go ALL the way down, 2 inches before the bar touches my chest and im good, it also hurts during military presses and it ESPECIALLY AND EXTREMELY HURTS when im doing any sort of pec flies. Any advice on how to rehabilitate it, I try stretching during the week and whenever im in the Ill hit it with some warm water and give it a little massage and nothings working and i really dont have time for physical therapy, and im on cycle so i really cant stop workin out... thanks for ne advice

Some advice:
1. Obviously, go get it checked. Better to catch an injury early than to let it go.
2. Time to rest for a while. Let your body heal.
3. Elbow position on bench press can lead to greater stress on your shoulders. There is debate on how the hands should be held and where elbows should be. If you want to reduce stress on your shoulders during bench press, consider the following (for flat and decline bench presses):

A. Your grip should place your ams in a position where your forearms are perpindicular to the floor at the bottom of the motion. In other words, when your upper arm (biceps/triceps) are parallel to the floor, your elbow should form a 90 degree between your upper arm and forearm.

B. While bench pressing, it puts undue stress on your shoulders when you try to position your arms so that the arm pit forms an angle close to 90 degrees between the torso and the upper arm (biceps/triceps). The safest place for your elbows when bench pressing is in a position where the arm pit forms a 45-50 dgree angle between the torso and upper arm (biceps/triceps). The farther your elbows are away from your torso, past an angle of 45 degrees, the closer the bar must move up your chest toward your chin (if your forearms are kept perpindicular to the floor--which is correct form). The further you move the bar above your chest-nipple line, the more stress you put on your shoulders.

C. Keep the bar at or slightly below the nipple line, with forearms perpindicular to the floor. This will put your elbows in the correct position.

4. When doing flyes, variations of bench presses, or variations of shoulder presses, there is NO NEED to go past parallel at the bottom of the rep (Parallel is the point at which your elbows are even with your shoulders). Once you pass the parallel mark, you're putting excessive stress on your shoulders, which will slowly tear up your shoulders without pain until they are so damaged that the lifter begins to experience chronic pain.

DO NOT WORK THROUGH THIS TYPE OF PAIN.

If you are unlucky to have reached this point--where you're experiencing pain--you need to stop lifting and see a doctor AND a therapist. You need to follow the therapists directions carefully. You should not lift again until it is healed or until the therapist directs you to resume lifting.

Once you begin lifting again after healing. DO NOT GO PAST PARALLEL.

Getting a "good stretch" during an exercises is often more dangerous than helpful. Once you pass parallel on pressing exercises, you are placing too much stress on the joints and tendons which--contrary to popular belief--takes away from the stress that's placed on the muscle you're trying to work.

Get well soon!

[BASK8KACE]

For more information, check out the following post about shoulder pain:

SHOULDER PAIN: A few tips