Anterior deltoid pain - from bench press

[semi43]

Hi guys,

I'm a 25yo guy with what I think is an anterior deltoid problem. I first injured myself when I started bench pressing about 2 years ago, and have had slight pain ever since. When I bench press, I feel a fairly sharp pain in my left deltoid, close to where it joins to the bicep. I think that my bench press form has been too wide and possibly too high, causing too much strain on the deltoid rather than my chest when bench pressing. I've only realised this now, with some research and will obviously be changing my form when I decide to go back to the bench press.

I recently got back into weight training (6-8 weeks ago) and the problem is still there, so I doubt that rest alone is going to be a big help here. Apart from changing my form to reduce the stress on the delt, is there anything that I can do to rehabilitate or strengthen that area, so that I can eventually go back to bench pressing? I was thinking of front raises , or silimar isometric exercises, but I'm not sure how much I should be doing to promote healing and not make it worse?

Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Sam

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[neurospast]

I do not think it is likely you hurt the deltoid. i think you were spot on with your biceps area. Poor technique, too much weight most likely caused the problem. You do not mention you have been given any advice from e.g. a personal trainer but that you try to sort the problem out yourself. Well unfortunately that is (and you know it) possibly the road to disaster. You mention you ignored the problem and then have tried to solve it by not training and rightly you assume the problem will return when you re-start. I think you are right on this.
If I were you I would get professional advice on technique.
The reason is that your problem islikely a joint problem. Around the shoulder we have a so called rotator cuff(Infraspinatus Teres Minor, Teres Major, subscapularis suprapsinatus) which ought to keep the joint parts in position so the strong muscles as Pectoralis, Lats will not pull the parts of the joint apart and cause e.g. a subluxation of the joint (and/or more serious problems like labral tear of the anterior capsula). Now if you think is this it. No it becomes more complicated as the position of the shoulder joint (Gleno-Humeral) is affected by the position of the Scapula. Now if you have protracted shoulders (most people who work out in gyms do) and internal rotated arms (your thumbs point towards your body and not forewards at rest) You have to assume that the positoning of the shoulder is incorrect and thus the starting position on loading wrong. Next problem can be the general posture (ears at rest should be more or less over shoulders and not in front) of the spine.
Ok do you still think YOU can fix it? In that case: back of from your Pecs exercises, from your Lats exercises and from you Upper traps exercises. Start working on posture, maintaining posture during loading. Train rotator cuff and Scapula stability BEFORE you even think of doing bench presses. Given this 4-6 months and try again. Personal I think you ought to see a Physiotherapist and/or a personal trainer to given advice (or risk to do yourself serious harm and great a orthopedic consultant in the near future.
Hope this helps. I don't think this is what you would like to hear but my experience tells me that the majority of people in the gym have no clue what they are doing.

[joosts sports injury clinic]

Hi Semi43, given that your injury has moved from acute to chronic you may find some relief from a good trigger point therapy type treatment. If the therapist is experienced they may well find what in Chinese Medicine is often referred to as "stagnant energy", which is essentially damaged tissue or scar tissue which was not cleared from the original injury site - hence the injury has failed to properly heal and consequently recurs. As you noted rest may not help, however possibly reducing your weights for a period may be enough to not aggravate the injury