Shoulder pain and winging scapula

[Dr Damien]

they also seem adducted...can you upload side view videos of yourself ? one stationary and the other doing the movements youve already uploaded

[theshoulderguy]

Hi funkodrunko, man oh man!

Great videos by the way and very helpful from an overall perspective.

I hope you don't mind but I am going to be frank here.


Your impingement problem is multifactorial.

Firstly, pain inhibits muscle activation and thus will change the way you move and the complex nature of your normal shoulder function.

So pain that is chronic, not well controlled or exacerbated by loading, overuse or poor muscle length and tension relationships (due to poor scapular positioning for example) will only make matters worse.

Get your pain under control asap by avoiding those things that aggravate it. It has to be no more than 3/10 at any one time, so keep on top of it.


Secondly, your scapulae and the muscles stabilising them are dysfunctional and so your scapulae move in an abnormal pattern as Dr Damien pointed out.

You look generally deconditioned and so your muscular and tendinous tissue will not cope well with loading and will tend to fatigue quickly (as seen in the videos and evidenced by pain exacerbation following cuff loading).

Your rehab ideally has to be focused on the basics of ideal posture, normal shoulder function and conscious muscle activation.


Ideally, your hand (which is the most important thing here in terms of upper limb use) should work off an arm that is connected to a stable, upwardly rotated and posteriorly tilted shoulder blade (especially when reaching overhead) which is connected to a strong and stable pelvic and core musculature (deep abdominals and gluts).

So if you are having trouble stabilising your lower half then you are going struggle stabilising the top half...get my drift?


Due to your level of de-conditioning and muscular dysfunction...the key to your success will lie in your ability to gain "conscious control" of your body, scapula and rotator cuff muscles, so that you are able to "feel" what it feels like to activate the right muscles in the right sequence.

Gentle loading and feedback are so important here to help you get that feeling.

This is going to take you some time but once you get "the feeling" then you'll be rockin'

I wish you all the best.