Shoulder strain

[xbillyx]

I hurt my shoulder in the gym today. I completed the bench (flat) and was on my second set on seated triceps extension when I felt pain in my shoulder. I called it quits and went to my massage therapist. He thinks I strained it and doesn't think it's anything serious. He couldn't feel any tears or anything.

 

I'm not sure what I did exactly. I've been lifting for three months with no injuries until now. I moved up slightly on the bench (about 5 lbs) and was doing the same weight as last week on the triceps extension. It hurts when I move my shoulder. Not a ton but there is a sharp pain.

 

Have any of you ever done this? How long does it take to heal?

 

Also, what do you recommend I do in the future to prevent this kind of injury? As I said, I was working on chest and triceps today.

 

I'm hoping for a speed recovery, as I hate being even the slightest inactive.

[VeganEssentials]

Hey, xbillyx!

 

Shoulder stuff can be tricky - it doesn't always take anything major to be able to mess up a shoulder, they're definitely one of the more vulnerable body parts, particularly with benching.

 

I wish there was a video clip of you benching so we could try to diagnose your form a bit to see where it may have gone wrong and caused the injury. If you do bench in the next few weeks, I'd suggest either going with close-grip (hands torso width apart, not TOO close) or a medium grip (somewhere around 2-4" out on each hand from a torso-width position) and always make sure to keep your elbows slightly tucked in. Letting elbows flare out or upward too much puts them at a strained position, so that's why you'll see videos of the really big benchers keeping those elbows in as it reduces chances of shoulder injuries.

 

Sorry I can't say much about recovery time - I've only hurt my shoulder once, had a minor nagging pain for nearly a full year before it went away, but it was never too much and when it was gone, it was gone completely. Just go light on the bench for a while, do some close-grip work (or, dumbbell bench, palms facing each other is much easier on the shoulders and will be identical to a close-grip BB bench), maybe some rotator cuff work to rehab/prehab for the future. If something hurts and doesn't feel right, then lay off the chest work for a bit, let that shoulder simmer down a while, and just focus on all the other good stuff out there until it starts to get better!

[xbillyx]

Thanks for the response Ryan.

 

I'm not sure what I did. On the bench, my arms were positioned just wider than shoulder width. The usual position is to go quite wide, correct? I usually do about shoulder width but went a little wider yesterday.

[vege]

I'm sorry to hear you injured yourself, xbillyx. Something similar happened to me last week (only doing squats and with lower back muscles). I've been lifting weights for very short time, about 3 months, and I've never thought about possibility of injury, until it recently It sucks when you're injured and can't follow your workout plan! The good news is that when it happened I couldn't move, and now, few days later, I already fell like squatting again (but I am wiser now and will not do it for at least one week)

I wish you also a very fast recovery! Just don't do anything with injured part of your body and take good rest.

 

And VeganEssentials , thank you for your advice about the positioning of elbows while doing the bench.

I will have that in mind next time, in order to avoid injury. I used to think i will never injure myself. Now I now it CAN happen!

 

Maybe it will be a good idea to form a separate thread on this forum with advices how to avoid injuries, with all the "secret" tips from more experienced lifters here!

[xbillyx]

I second that idea...we need a thread on avoiding injuries!

 

I'm still confused as to the "ideal" bench position so as to avoid injury and build muscle/definition in the chest.

[XveganX]

Whats up to billy, vegan brother from my home town! haha

 

First things first you have to go see a real doctor. Massage Therapists are a great resource, and while they are pretty adept at anatomy compared to your average Joe, they are not qualified to fully diagnose injuries like that. The shoulder is a pretty complex part of the body, and you could have injured one of many spots including something outside of the shoulder itself, The doctor will diagnose it by having you move it around and seeing what motions do and do not hurt, and they might have to get you to get an xray.

 

Does it hurt at rest? or only when you move it? and what motion makes it hurt or not hurt?

 

You probably won't want to hear this but whatever's happened will take a minimum of 4-6 weeks to heal if there is an actual muscle strain (it might feel like it's fine before this but its not, trust me, you might not be in pain but you'll be prone to reopening the injury). You'll need to lay of it for this time if you want it to get better. Sucks, I know.

 

Start stretching as frequently as possible, maybe every couple hours. DO NOT over do it. More intense is not better in this case, just do arm circles in a comfortable range, and if you can wall walk as deep as you can without feeling pain. Frequent, light stretches is the name of the game.

 

And I think your ideal bench depends on how your body is built, everyone is different. I'm a short guy but I use a pretty wide grip and it feels good to me and I've never hurt myself, but when I get into a close grip its just ruins my elbows.

[xbillyx]

Thanks for the info XveganX. And, whereabouts are you from? I've lived many places so I'm not sure to where you're referring...PEI?

[XveganX]

My pleasure man, just recently I thought I had pulled something in my shoulder but it actually turned out to be one of my neck muscles. Still took about a month to heal up but I was able to do most of my shoulder exercises throughout. I have a friend who is a doctor in physical rehabilitation and she was incredibly helpful thats why I stress going to see a doctor, she bent and twisted me a few ways and then knew exactly what was going on.

 

I'm from Charlottetown originally, lived there til I was 19 and then moved to halifax which is where I still am!

[xbillyx]

Wow, a vegan striaghtedger from Charlottetown. Amazing. I've met one other here. Not much of that here. Good decision on moving.

[boardn10]

be careful overtraining the smaller muscles and careful over using your shoulders. Your shoulders come into play on a lot of exercises. I stay away from things like tricep extensions because they get so much work on other compound exercises! Unless you have no intention of gaining more muscle or are working out light to stay in shape, I would not do much of the isolation movements. I hope your shoulder gets better man!

[MartinVegartin]

This might be of help in some shoulder injuries. I haven't tried the stretches.

 

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4966