That Stabbing Pain Behind My Right Shoulder

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'm too young to start taking cortisone shots. I want this to be fixed and gone. Kind of get the feeling this won't be like that.

[Hungary Jack]

I'm too young to start taking cortisone shots. I want this to be fixed and gone. Kind of get the feeling this won't be like that.

You really don't know what's going on in there until you see a specialist. Again, even relatively easy-to-fix issues can feel like your shoulder is exploding from the inside.

All of my ex-athlete gym rat friends face the same issues. It might strike in your 20's, or in your 40's (late 30's for me). Typically the anterior and posterior muscles get too out of balance and the continued stress on the shoulder leads to sometimes debilitating pain.

Unless you have had some type of acute injury like a separation or cuff tear, you'll almost certainly be prescribed rehab. Do it, and do it religiously, and make it part of your routine, and I think you stand a good chance of feeling much better.

I realized last week that the chin bar I have been using favors my frontal muscles (the grips turn my palms in about 10-15 degrees). I switched to a different bar and am starting to feel a bit better as the back muscles are being strengthened. This is the key--rear delts, external rotators, and especially the rhomboids ("V" muscle between the shoulder blades).

I think I will eventually have my right shoulder cleaned like my left one, mostly to remove bone spurs (a typical result of years of heavy pressing) and shave out my acromium (typical procedure that removes a bit of bone to free up some space in front of the joint). But the key to shoulder health is maintaining that muscle balance.

[jim]

I'll tell you all a piece of advice here ... stay away from bench press. I really boogered up my shoulder playing ball last year - 40+ games or so. But my shoulder was f-ed before the season even started, and it happened bench pressing I'm sure of it. It wasn't an instant in time that it happened, but starting a year ago November I started noticing a little discomfort and pain when I put weight on it a certain way. Very very minor, in fact during that winter I would bench workouts of 3x225x8 and then start piling on weight until I did a set of 1x260x3. But then in March, when I went to throw a baseball, it just felt like my shoulder was detached. And then over the course of the summer it just kept getting worse and worse.

But I'm 100% sure that my problems stemmed from pushing around too much weight. It might be a good exercise when you are 17 and playing football, but it's stupid for real life.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'll tell you all a piece of advice here ... stay away from bench press.

Yeah. I couldn't agree more.

[cards2468]

I'll tell you all a piece of advice here ... stay away from bench press.

Yeah. I couldn't agree more.

After my shoulder surgery they told me I should never bench again. I couldn't help it though, I still bench but I don't let my elbow go less than 90 degrees.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Here's the MRI results. Still haven't seen a surgeon, so have no clue what this means, but whatever.

[SHOW]

[cards2468]

MRI's are really tough to read. They ended up sending mine off to some specialist in Tennessee who discovered tears in my labrum and cuff. Orthoscopic surgery confirmed the tears plus found more that the MRI didn't show.

[Hungary Jack]

Here's the MRI results. Still haven't seen a surgeon, so have no clue what this means, but whatever.

[SHOW]

OHMYGAWD!!!

Seriously, impossible to tell. You might have some arthritic development on the joint surface, but don't consider that a diagnosis.

[Hungary Jack]

I'll tell you all a piece of advice here ... stay away from bench press.

Yeah. I couldn't agree more.

After my shoulder surgery they told me I should never bench again. I couldn't help it though, I still bench but I don't let my elbow go less than 90 degrees.

Ha. I went from pressing 300 lbs to pressing my pants over the past few years. Oh well.

If you want to press, consider using dumbbells at relatively light weights. For me (when my shoulders feel OK), it's 70-85 dumbbells (6 sets of 8) followed immediately by dumbbell rows to work both sides fo the shoulder.

When you press, whether its an Olympic bar, dumbbell, or pushup, your upper arm should be at a 45-degree angle to your torso. The elbows need to be "in" and "down" relative to the shoulder. This means dropping the weight down to your breastbone (above the solar plexus) and finishing above your neck or chin. This puts your arm through a natural arc that relieves pressure on the shoulder and engages the pectoral muscle more than the frontal deltoid muscle.

The other thing when pressing is to keep your shoulder blades pinched and flat against the bench. This is a much safer position for the shoulder joint. Do not round your shoulders up off the bench as you finish. And keep those elbows in near your sides. Did I mention keep those elbows in?

[jim]

Yeah I can't tell. I can't even tell what is wrong when they explain it to me. Here is what they said to me last June:

There is adequate distention of the glenohumeral joint.

The acromion is type II with lateral downsloping. There are marked hypertrophic changes at the AC joint with edema and fluid at the AC joint. There is diffuse increased signal in the subacroimal bursa suggestive of bursitis. There is abnormal signal seen involving the superior labrum extending posteriorly consistent with a SLAP tear of the labrum. The remainder of the glenoid labrum is intact. The glenohumeral ligaments are intact.

THere is partial fraying of the distal 1.5 cm of the distal supraspinatus tendon at the articular surface consistent with partial-thickness tear at the insertion site best visualized in the ABER position. There is also som gadolinium-tinged fluid dissecting into the infraspinatus tendon fibers likely related to a small 5-mm thick partial-thickness articular surface tear at the insertion site. There is som mild fraying of the bursal surface fibers. The subscapularis and teres minor tendons are intact. The bicep tendon is intact in course and signal.

I think what that is saying is a SLAP tear (torn labrum) and some partial rotator cuff tears.