Poor posture, weak inactive muscles, incorrect form when exercising or overexercising are just some of the contributing factors that can lead to a shoulder injury. It’s not uncommon for people to go straight into regular or intense training regimes without first putting the foundations in place that are necessary for the healthy development of their body. No matter whether you are an experienced lifter or not, it’s crucial to have a professional assess your body’s athletic ability to determine if certain areas need attention before diving into the big exercises.
That being said, sometimes injuries still happen but the point is, they are avoidable. In this article, we will be discussing shoulder injuries and how to prevent them. There are two common shoulder injuries I hear about when people overdo it in the gym. Rotator cuff injuries and weightlifter’s shoulder.
Rotator Cuff Injury
The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles that rest along the outside of the ball of the shoulder joint which allows the shoulder to move. This injury can happen by doing too much of the same movement, in particular pushing movements like overhead presses and chest presses. The tendons can only take so much and repeating these movement patterns over and over again without complementing the pushing exercises with some pulling exercises and ignoring any pain can eventually lead to a tear in the rotator cuff.
Weightlifter’s Shoulder
The acromioclavicular (AC) joint is at the top of the shoulder blade and connects to the collarbone. Exercise like bench press, chest fly, dumbbell chest press, pull ups etc, can place stress on this joint and bone. The early signs that tell us if a client is putting this area under stress is if we can see a lack of stability in the shoulder when a client is performing these exercises. An example of this looks like someone doing a bench press and as they lower the bar down to their chest, their shoulders roll forward. This can cause small tears or fractures and eventually inflammation of the joint.
How to avoid these injuries
“Prevention is the cure” is always the approach I like to take with these issues. So if you’re unlucky enough to experience any of these two injuries, please understand that just doing the rehab work to the point of no longer being in pain and then going back to a training routine with no change, will give you the same result of being injured sooner or later.
We touched on how doing too much pushing can cause a rotator cuff injury, this is also the case when going too heavy too quickly. It’s crucial that you’re complimenting your pushing work with some pulling movements and exercises that will target your upper back and the smaller muscles around your shoulders, such as:
Cable Shoulder External Rotations
A simple way to prevent weight lifter’s shoulder while doing exercises like dumbbell chest press, is to reduce your range of motion so that when you lower the dumbbells, your shoulders are not rounding forward. However, this is only a short-term fix and not a solution to the underlying problem. We do not recommend ignoring signs of shoulder injuries, but instead that you aim to be able to increase your range of movement to what is appropriate for the exercise by introducing basic scapular retraction exercises.
Gradually progress this into a full plank retraction and eventually a negative push up with a focus on maintaining the scapular retraction. Still include your chest press in your plan with the appropriate range of motion but you must do these alongside the exercises recommended to improve your range as these exercises will help you maintain better control of your shoulders long-term and prevent further injuries.
If you experience a shoulder injury before being able to prevent it, it’s not game over for you. You will have to be patient, depending on how bad the injury is, your full recovery could be anything from 6 weeks to 9 months. It goes without saying that your first point of call should be to consult a qualified professional before taking any steps to rehab your shoulder.
Make sure you have taken the recommended rest, but rest does not necessarily mean keep your shoulder still. If your shoulder is not in pain, keeping it moving will still stop further stiffness. This should be done with no weight and only doing movements where there is little to no pain. Certain muscles around your shoulder like your pecs and lats may tighten up due to this injury, so doing gentle chest stretches and foam rolling your lats can help with maintaining mobility.
Once you’re able to move your arm around with little to no pain, start going back to your exercises with light weights. Don’t do any overhead pressing to begin and keep your focus more on pulling movements that target your mid and upper back and exercises like lateral raises with light weights. Hanging can also be a great way to release any tightness around the shoulder caused by the injury once the confidence has been built to do so.
You may be wondering why we haven’t mentioned icing it. Read our blog on how to manage injury pain to see why.
In summary, prevention is the cure but if you are unable to prevent it, be patient and maintain movement. Stopping training is not the answer but adapting your training sessions and choosing the right exercises to strengthen the areas of weakness will help keep you on the right path of recovery.
If you’d like more info on how to correctly prevent or rehab an injury, then be sure to get in touch.