AthLean-X

Stay Up To Date

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter

• SHOULDER PAIN – THE WORKOUT CRUSHER

  Posted: September 19, 2010

  

  One of the fastest ways to find yourself out of the gym and on the shelf is with an injury that just makes it flat out impossible to train.  Sure, we’ve all probably tried to train around an injury before…only to make it worse and wind up costing ourselves even more days in the long run. Sometimes the stubbornness (or stupidity depending on how you look at it!) can work in your favor…with your achy joint feeling better and better with each subsequent workout.  Other times…it’s quite the opposite.  You feel pain, you work through it and get your workout in…and then can’t move the next day.

  Perhaps the most common joint that is susceptible to these kind of extreme highs and lows is the shoulder. Why is that you ask?  Well…by its very design, the shoulder is one of the most mobile but unstable joints in the body.  That tradeoff of stability for mobility is like a reenactment of the Civil War with North battling South for control.  The key to understanding whether or not to push it or give it a rest in these cases comes down to the following key points.

  1.  Does it hurt when you move it?

  2.  Does it hurt if someone else moves it for you?

  3.  Is it Weak and painful?  Or Weak and Painless?

  When answering the first question…what you’re looking for is to see whether you’re dealing with just instability or some kind of actual muscle tissue or joint problem.  If you answered that you have pain….proceed to question 2.  If you answered no to the first question….consult a PT about receiving an evaluation looking for potential hypermobility.

  The second question will reveal a lot, especially depending on how you answered the first question.  Let’s say you answered yes to the first question….well, the second is going to tell you most likely if the problem is muscle related or joint related.  If your shoulder hurts when you move your shoulder it can either be attributed to the muscles that are working being in distress during the movement….or the joint itself being compressed or strained in some way during the movement.  By removing the muscle contribution from the equation (by having someone else move the arm for you while you rest it) now you’re trying to rule out the joint surfaces as the sole cause of pain.  If it hurts when your arm is moved by someone else then you’ve now confirmed that (with the muscles not involved) the joint surfaces are contributing to the pain and you might need to have an arthrogram or MRI to check for impingement issues, bone spurs, etc.  If it didn’t hurt when the arm was passively moved by someone else, you could comfortably look back to the muscles (rotator cuff, biceps tendon, etc) as the inflammatory suspect.

  In this case, the usual treatment is a few days away from the gym….or just avoiding the aggravating movement, ice after workouts and some anti-inflammatories.

  Finally…If the pain doesn’t seem to subside and significant weakness sets in…then you’ve got to ask yourself one final question.  The first is…is there pain AND weakness or just weakness?  If you’re looking at a potential rotator cuff tear the presence of pain would indicate a partial tear (due to the fibers that are still intact being asked to hold on for dear life pretty much) while the absence of pain would ironically usually indicate a complete tear (no pain nerve endings intact to elicit the pain).

  So am I advising you to become your own doctor or physical therapist every time your shoulder aches?  No.

  But it does help to have a bit of an understanding of what you might want to be looking for as a potential cause, should your shoulder ever start to get in the way of effective training.  Knowing how to troubleshoot the cause, while not curing the issue all the time, may at least help you to avoid doing something that will only hurt you more in the long run.  And that folks, is where potential missed months of training become just missed workouts or exercises.  More like tapping the brakes instead of slamming your foot on them on your road to new muscle growth.

  Stay Strong,

  Jeff

  If you’re looking for the best workout program that not only doesn’t create or aggravate shoulder problems but in fact helps to prevent them (through it’s carefully selected exercises by former NY Mets physical therapist Jeff Cavaliere) then you should look into the AthLEAN-X Training System. 90 days to a better body.  90 days to a healthier body.

  
  

• HEALTHY SHOULDERS – THE GATEWAY TO TOTAL BODY MUSCLE GROWTH

  Posted: July 6, 2010

  Don’t get scared.  I’m not going to get all “Physical Therapist-ish” on you here and start talking about anatomy, physiology, biology, and every other “ogy” out there to make my point.  What I am going to do however is show you how of all the muscle groups in your body, the single most important to keep healthy if you want longevity in the gym is….the shoulders!

  That said, the shoulder joint is probably one of the most injured joints in the body (even higher if you consider that group of guys I work with…major league pitchers!).  The cause actually has to do with what actually is the joint’s greatest asset…it’s mobility.  As a tradeoff for being one of the most mobile joints in the body, the shoulder isn’t the most stabile.  I’m sure you’ve either heard about, known someone, or even suffered yourself through a dislocation, broken collarbone, had impingement, or had a rotator cuff and/or labrum tear.  Unfortunately none of these are that uncommon.

  That said, how do you continue to get in your workouts and make your regular trips to the gym if your shoulder is aching something fierce?  The answer is…you probably don’t.  At least, you don’t with the idea of making any progress.  Maintenance becomes the goal at that point.

  You might say, well…I can still train legs, but I challenge you to try and put 45 pound Olympic plates on the ends of the bars when your shoulders aren’t strong enough to hold the plate let alone lift it to almost head height.  Even holding dumbbells at your sides could be a bit of a challenge if you have a labrum tear. When you tear the labrum you lose a bit of the suctioning ability of the shoulder joint to hold the ball and socket tightly in place.  Lose this and then try to hold a 45 pound dumbbell and you’re libel to feel like either Plastic Man getting his arms stretched out or worse…like your arm is no longer IN the socket!

  As I pointed out last time there are a few exercises you can avoid if you want to try and protect your shoulders, particularly if you’ve had problems in the past or are a current athlete who relies on your arms for your living!  The first was the upright row.  While I have at times used this exercise in combo with other movements like a clean, I still maintain a love-hate relationship with it.  It does produce effective shoulder development, but in people with unhealthy shoulders already…at a cost. If you’re going to lift the weights up to this height (either on a side lateral raise or an upright row) one simple tweak can make all the difference.  Simply don’t allow your pinkies to raise higher than your thumbs.  You’ve probably heard before to assume a position at the top of either exercise like you’re pouring a pitcher of water?  Well….um…..scratch that.  That’s bad advice.  You’re internally rotating your shoulder and making it all the more likely to have an impingement flair up from that position.  Instead, keep the thumb higher then the pinky and you’ll reduce the stress on the rotator cuff and shoulder by a significant amount.

  Finally, when doing your dumbbell shoulder presses, try as often as possible to do them standing.  This will keep your shoulder blades operating smoothly with normal mechanics.  If you sit on a bench with your back plastered to the pad, you’ll actually lock down the shoulder blades and prevent them from rotating up as smoothly as they should be.  This will throw off the whole mechanics of the arm traveling overhead, which will ultimately lead to compensations and breakdowns.  For as simple a change as just standing instead of sitting, believe me…the long term benefits are invaluable.

  So you see, the goal when going to the gym or even starting a new workout program shouldn’t just be finding a program that produces results…but also one that produces results that you can repeat for days, weeks, months and even years without it leading to an injury that prevents you from working out at all.  As I said, the most vulnerable point in your kinetic chain is that shoulder joint. A poorly put together strength training program can destroy a shoulder quicker than a bad personal trainer can tell you what the role of the shoulder even is! Don’t put yourself in the position where you have to rely on this type of advice.  Do what you can do to “arm” yourself with only the most logical but also fun and challenging exercises and workout routines that are not only going to get you strong, but keep you going strong for years and years to come!

  Best in health,

  Jeff

  Know you need to start a workout program but aren’t sure if it’s safe due to your already achy joints?  CLICK HERE to find out more about the AthLEAN-X Training System, a 90 day strength and conditioning program developed by former head physical therapist and strength coach for the New York Mets and current trainer to elite celebrity athletes.  Copy the same program that keeps these guys going strong.