Hi, First post, I have seen some excellent advice in this forum, so was hoping that you could help me.

Two shoulder problems... Easiest First.

Left Shoulder (my good shoulder) I am right handed, athletic, 40's, no specific sports played, but plenty of general exercise in the gym and outdoors. Desk jockey during the day.

I tend to sleep on my left shoulder because my right shoulder pains me a little, but more on the right shoulder later

My left shoulder is excellent in most regards, no clicks or pops. Recently I have started doing more chin ups, typically with the neutral grip (palms facing each other).

If I allow myself to descend to the bottom of the chin-up hang position (not even necessarily a dead hang but just down to the bottom still with some muscle tension) my left shoulder will clunk/pop substantially. It feels like the head of the Humerus has just turned a little in the socket and clunked/popped. There is no pain.

Obviously I try to avoid this by not descending completely, and deliberately tensing the shoulders at the bottom of the chin-up hang. This prevents the clunk. I have also notices this clunk occasionally during single arm overhead presses with the left arm.

Can you please provide any advice you might have on stretches or strengthening exercises that might specifically prevent this? Of course you might like to read about the right shoulder first as it might provide some additional information.

The Right Shoulder (problem shoulder)
This shoulder has improved a little recently..but previously 3 years ago? I wouldn't be able to sleep on this side, at all, now I can lie on this side a little. I had a pain in my right wrist, that in hindsight I believe was just a symptom of the shoulder and saw a surgeon over this, there was a dye contrast? scan and MRI done of the wrist but no tears were seen to the suspect bit of fibro-cartilidge, so I left it and have tried to rehab the shoulder off and on since then.

I am a little more determined now, and really want to focus on this shoulder until it is completely correct.

As long as 5-10 years ago I would have stopped bench pressing, due to pain around the front of the shoulder, around the AC joint. (Yes, I would have landed on it once years ago and nearly popped it out while diving for a frisbee[IMG]file:///C:\Users\Desktop\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\0 1\clip_image001.png[/IMG] and it might be a bit worn). I probably haven't been as diligent over the years at doing my pulling exercises as I should (but that's all changed now). I can do push ups, but too many might aggravate it.

The other day I jumped in and did a few sets of chins and pushups. There was only a straight bar available for the chins and I used the overhand grip, palms facing away, rather than my usual neutral grip. There was no pain at the time. But the next few days were hell. The right shoulder was sore around the A/C joint but also more generally around and behind that lump of bone that I can feel on the top of my shoulder.

Also more generally if I overhead reach, or behind the back reach, like when pulling a sweater/jersey on there will often be a pop in this shoulder, like a tendon/ligament snapping over bone. I don't like the feeling and I am always thankful that it did not happen under load.

I think my shoulder posture is a little forward slumped generally from working at a desk and mousing with the right hand. I have seen various physios for the injury, there is no specific diagnosis. I have great range of motion in this area, possibly a bit of weakness here and there in the rotator cuff otherwise general strength in the area is good, myself I would guess a little winging in the scapula. (I am also working on my desk bound lordosis which is coming along with some glute activation work and a return to deadlifting)

I have been a bit intermittent with my shoulder rehab exercises in the past, but have done plenty of stretches, push up plus's, external rotations, seated rows, etc... I have found that overall nothing has given me more relief that making the conscious effort to retract my scapula when seated, driving, or about to make a reaching movement. I would like this retraction to be a little less conscious and more natural however.

My best course forward would seem to be to knuckle down and really focus on building the strength around this joint. I have decided that I might also need to massacre the front of my shoulder, top of my right pec/deltoid area with a little self trigger point massage. I used to get a lot of DOMS in this area after bench pressing, and perhaps the area is a little chronically tight also pulling my shoulder forward. Perhaps I also need to focus on my serratus anterior work.

For your consideration and any advice.

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