Name that pain!

Whats this pain?
Only during an incline Barbell Press. Left shoulder, front of joint,deep, and only when the bar is close to my chest.

Its not bad at all when I use dumbbells, and there is NO pain when I do military press, or any other shoulder/chest movement....well maybe a little with flies, but I mean a little!

I have had it for..... oh about a year...hurt it during drunk'n arm wrestling.
Its not really affecting my training with the exception of barbell incline press's

Any ideas? Besides go to a saw bones? I save all my medical dollars for my back

i would stop doing incline barbell press and stick with dumbells and start working, if your not already, your rotator cuffs...

Drats....I thought so. Sometimes if I sleep on it wrong it gets real mad at me.
Any rotator cuff therapy come to mind? I have no idea

oh yeah...I am a BIG fan of the don't do it if it hurts school, So your advice of Not doing incline Press's has a good home here with me.
Besides, I think they have been a marginal exercise for me over the years. Actually a waste of time, but you know....gotta do stupid stuff from time to time

Pressure on the nerve from the thoracic vertebrae ?

no way.....you know i got the bad back like you but I am all down in the L's, but you know it could be. I have degenerative joint disease, and I was reading over my MRI yesterday and I have got some disc compression throughout the spine.
I am gonna believe its the rotator cuff....but why ONLY WITH THE BARBELL INCLINE????

Erik said:

no way.....you know i got the bad back like you but I am all down in the L's, but you know it could be. I have degenerative joint disease, and I was reading over my MRI yesterday and I have got some disc compression throughout the spine.
I am gonna believe its the rotator cuff....but why ONLY WITH THE BARBELL INCLINE????

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Possibly the angle.. I know we are just guessing, and it probably isn't the thoracic, but I had a burn in the left shoulder when I did the incline, and later fully herniated the thoracic doing seated presses. Just be careful.

sucks....don't it?

Erik said:

sucks....don't it?

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Like a M F.

I have the same issue - but flat press instead of an incline press. I have been wrestling with it since April. My orthopedic doctor has said it is NOT a rotator cuff tear but an impingement. I have been taking NSAIDs and had a cortisone shot a two weeks ago. Also, I have stopped all pressing movements for the time being. It seems to be working, it is feeling almost normal now. Not being able to do any presses does suck.

I'd agree with rotator cuff. I tore mine when I was 19 and if I don't use a really close grip on inclines, it flares up like a summabitch. It was already recommended, but I'll reiterate, do prehab work on those rotators! I spend the first 10 minutes of every day in the gym doing prehab work on my sore spots, especially my rotator cuffs. TwinPeak will agree, I'm sure, that the pain and slow recovery from a torn rotator cuff is unlike anything a male will ever experience.

Being kicked in the nuts is the exception, obviously.

Good luck and stay injury-free.

I'm with Rule62.

Sounds like impingement to me. I had my shoulder scoped in '97 because of impingement. I was back in business doing pushups within 6 weeks and back to benching 225 for reps in three months. Nothing (so far) compares to ripping your achilles tendon. That took me almost 5 months to jog and 7 months to run.

Definately warmup the rotator before any upper body exercise. Try your own PT before you go under the knife. Hopefully yours is minor.

Sounds like an impingement-bursitis caused by a repetitive motion that is traumatic to the joint. Consider it a warning, stop the offending exercise and consider that in future that you're susceptible to trauma from it and find another exercise altogether. Not as good is to stay with the same exercise, and use lesser weight and higher reps in future. In either case, warm up the shoulder thoroughly with light sets from now on.

Cortisone will definitely address the problem, but it only buys you time to address the cause, which will return unless adjustments are made. If you do the same thing over and over it'll recur and the cortisone will have diminishing effect in future. After a shot, take it slow working back in, avoid that exercise or try using dumbells instead, stay with med. or high reps and warm up well.

I've had the same problem and found that flat and incline flyes, done after good unhurried warmups, are actually more effective and are much less traumatic on the shoulders.

what kind of exercises are their for the rotator cuff's?
the other day i was doing power cleans, and when i lowered the weight to the ground from my shoulders, the downwards "tug" kind of made something in both my shoulders hurt, and they have been hurting for the past couple days, especially when i'm holding something like a DB and my arm is straight down (its kind of hard to explain).
anyways, i thought it might be something to do with the rotator cuffs.
any links to sites with descriptions or videos would be great, thanks.

Could be rotator problem or bursitis. In either case, it's basically a warning to stop doing what you're doing. Do other exercises, or use less weight, do more reps, warmup well and don't subject your shoulders to the severe pounding you're describing.