Another shoulder thread...any advice?

[uao85]

Hey guys I am a newb, but thought I would post up and ask for some advice.
History-
I was a lineman in highschool, destroyed my shoulders, end results 6 surgeries. 2 ortho to rebuild rotator cuff on left shoulder..
Right shoulder is a different story though. 2 ortho, 1 open, and the last surgery they did the latorjey(sp?) procedure. It is basically where they cut the tip of the coracoid process off, and screw it into the front of my rotator cuff to rebuild the rim of the socket. I had basically dislocated the shoulder so many times(cant even remember how many) it had worn down the rim, and was prone to reinjury. That was last May(06).

I have been back in the gym since last October, have been consistently gaining my strength back and then some with exception to my chest excercises like bench and stuff like that. Delts and arms feeling healthy and getting strong again. Military press is still kind of week, but dont want to push the issue of upward external rotation, because that is always a trouble spot for reinjury or dislocation. I have started it back again within the past month or so with light weight (100-115 pounds total)and higher reps and never behind the head. No problem there.

Fast forward to NOW. Within the past few weeks, I have been trying out a rest pause workout to help stimulate my chest to get my strength back that I use to have. The workout says to use the 5rep max of all your excercises for like 6 sets of 2/3/4 with 15-20 seconds rest in between each set depending on which excercise it is. But this is giving me alot of pain and discomfort in my right shoulder in the anterior (frontal)region. It feels like it is on the outter edge of the front delt when I move through my ROM, and different things like driving my truck(standard tranny), and moving things around throughout the day.
Flat bench is ok until I get to close to failure and it starts to ache, incline is the same way. But Decline barbell bp f###ing hurts and causes it to ache for 3-5 days afterwards. And if I switch the dbells, the pain is lessoned almost completely, maybe just slight discomfort on high weight rep to failure excercises. Also this week, I tried out stiff legged romanian deadlifts for a few sets of the previous style, and it intensified the pain somewhat and has prolonged the soreness for the past few days. Instead of staggering off, it is somewhat persistant now. Obviously I gotta lay off the deadlifts and bench for a week or two, but is there anything else besides ice that will help or speed the recovery? I have read several other shoulder pain threads and thats all I could find was stay away from painful excercises and ice ice ice.


BTW sorry for the novel, just wanted to divulge my complete history before I asked for answers.
Oh yeah I am also 21, and as a note-I will do anything short of ungodly to keep the mentioned injury from reoccuring. All advice welcome and appreciated.

Regards,
Remington

[uao85]

to the top...Doc sus? anybody?

Remington

[KAEW44]

I'm not an expert on shoulders cause i never had serious injuries in mine except for my left shoulder being a little looser my chiropracter always tells me, so i am training it and doing the rotator cuff exercises as much as i can to strengthen it and i do shoulder stretches always so i have good range of motion.

When i read the first part of your thread i felt bad for all you have been through because it seems like some very serious procedures you went through which for many other people might have left them done from sports/weights for good!!! But you are back in the gym and training which is great news.

Then comes the part when you say that you have started with light weights (100-115 pounds total) and dude that was the part that shocked me because like i said i havent had any type of injury in the shoulder like you have and i cant even do half of that weight!! Call me a wuss but man i think your in good shape if you can do that weight after so many surgeries!!

HOWEVER i dont think anyone would recomend that you push extremely heavy or max out on weights especially that bench and military press will really stress your shoulders and you dont want any more dislocations or surgeries. Your chest and shoulders might just end up being the bodyparts you train using higher reps and lower weights! At least that way you stay safe, are a few more pounds of muscle worth you getting another surgery??

[uao85]

Hey thanks for the advice, yeah I have thought about it for a few days, took the weekend to relax and ice and stretch, and it feels pretty good this week. I also changed my workout from the rest pause workout I mentioned to a medium-higher rep dumbell workout and have no pain this week at all so I am pretty pleased and excited about the no more pain thing. Heck I even bottled water (5 gal bottles)a little today at work with no soreness(I usually start to get slightly sore after a few racks of water). So I will definitely be sticking to dbell workouts, maybe some straight bar for shoulder press since it didnt bother me, but I am definitely taking this one by ear. Thanks again KAEW44.

Remington