Q: I was doing chest yesterday, and was finishing up on my fourth set of Incline DB presses. I got to about my 7th or 8th rep, with a wide-armed path from start to finish along the range, and my buddy came up under my elbows and pushed in as I was pushing up. My shoulder felt like it was going to pop out of the socket, and then I actually felt a pop or a “give” of the shoulder and I immediately felt serious pain. It was all I could do not to drop the DB’s onto my chest or lap. My left arm was immediately weak as hell and I couldn’t grip very well. My strength came back after 10 minutes but when I went on to do other stuff, my range of motion just sucked and I was sore as hell. Should I get an x-ray? It isn’t back to normal even today.
A: Well, it’s hard to call a medical diagnosis – particularly since we aren’t docs – but we think that you may have moved a piece of tendon or muscle over onto your rotator cuff or front delt and it’s impinging on a nerve or causing you pain from stretching of the tendon. Weakness in grip, running all the way down the arm from the shoulder, means nerve issues. When strength comes back after a few minutes, it’s also nerve related. A diminished range of motion is to be expected until you sort out the cause and begin a rehab program. We suggest you go to an orthopedist or a sports medicine doc and find an ART specialist (Active Release Therapy). This often gets to the bottom of the problem and ART practitioners understanding weight training and injuries as a result of weight training, perhaps better than anyone. One thing you can do is to stand perpendicular to a wall about 18 inches to 2 feet out, and begin walking your fingers up the wall until your hand is well above your shoulder. Walk back down with your index and middle finger and repeat. Take lots of anti-inflammatories and rest for a week or two on the overhead shoulder workouts. Full recovery is important, but doing exercises to help, along with taking anti-inflammatories, is the best policy
If you like this article, click here to share:
