Weight training exercises to avoid with past RC issues.

This past winter and spring I kept climbing on a nagging shoulder soreness, and developed tendonitis of the supraspinatus. (Dumb) After seeing a PT and six weeks off, and following her recommended rehab exercises the injury has healed. During that time I lost a lot of upper body strength. Anxious to get back to where I was I have resumed my upper body strength training. I've incorporated flat bench dumbbell presses as a general upper body strength training exercise. This morning after upping the weight, I could feel a tiny tweak in my shoulder. I finished the set and didn't lift any more. A cursory review online indicates that lots of people have RC issues doing flat bench exercises. For those of you who have had past RC issues, are there any other exercises you avoid or approach carefully? Had I known this earlier I would have done a different exercise instead.

Here's an idea. Correct me if I'm wrong but it appears that you did the exercises, then thought it was healed, then started going for it again. If so, then 2 things. {Don't be pissed off at me I'm not a Dr nor do I play one on the internet}.

1st) I'd suggest that you won't know if it was healed without an MRI. Nor will your physical therapist. Even if she has her Phd.

2nd) Go to a Doctor, get an MRI. I'd suggest that you might need to continue doing the exercises that the PT gave you as well, but back off till the MRI occurs. It you have a torn tendon and choose to ignore it, it can and usually will eventually atrophy and become "unfixable" and they won't do surgery no matter how much you whine or yell.

So instead of looking for excercise's to or avoid via the internet, change your game plan up and get back into the Dr. for the MRI. THEN, if the Dr says "it's a minor thing, take 6 weeks off" - get another PT referal or head back to the same one and follow the Physical Therapys exercises and let them know this question you asked above.

The internet idiot has spoken and that's all I have:-) Good luck!

You definitely need to consider your arm and shoulder position on flat bench. It is easier to control with a bar than with dumbbells especially when lifting heavy. You should be squeezing your shoulder blades together tightly and downward to open your shoulders and provide a solid stable base, then make sure your elbows are not chicken winging out to the side. They should be probably around a 45 degree angle out from your body. That will keep your shoulders in a good position and will avoid injury

Based on these articles I'm fairly certain My form was likely poor. I think I may have chicken winged by elbow and lowered the dumbbell too low also.

With respect to the MRI, I currently have no pain and a full range of motion. I would also pass those resistance tests, where they push on your arms when articulated to see where pain is or if something is torn. In my own experience, you'll have to have pain or fail one of these tests before they think about ordering an MRI. I will ask, however, and see what he says.

I've had infraspinatus problems for about two decades, and other general RC problems. Last year, at the insistence of my trainer, I went to a surgeon who specializes in RC injuries (lots of photos of pro ball players on his walls). He did an x-ray but told me that an MRI was only necessary to determine if I was a surgical candidate. Surgery would not be 100% effective, and should only be considered if I had a lot of shoulder pain.

As for what exercises to avoid, my rule of thumb is that if it hurts, I don't do it. So, I never campus board. Other exercises I play by ear, and just stop doing them when I develop pain, and rest a bit. I used to take a bit of Advil, but in light of the recent NYT article, I may taper that off.

NB: it took several months to get back to where my shoulder was in good enough shape to train hard. I found that doing lots of ARC training was quite helpful.

In my experience, no one's RC issue will manifest the same way when doing upper extremity pushing exercises which elicit pain. Therefore, jonathan's advice is very good: "As for what exercises to avoid, my rule of thumb is that if it hurts, I don't do it."

Sometimes lowering the weight will allow you to do an exercise which otherwise causes pain. Sometimes changing the angle of the joint will (like close-grip/ elbows in vs wide grip/elbows out). Sometimes nothing works for a while and you need to avoid certain exercises (there was a period of years where I never did overhead pressing lifts due RC problems). But good form should always be a must.

My personal feeling is that paying a buttload of money for an MRI isn't really required. For one thing, health professionals rarely diagnose off films alone. And an MRI isn't necessarily fundamental to your diagnosis and treatment regardless, and may not reveal anything to boot (I've had that happen).

Also, you may need to continue doing your rehab exercises "forever"...more or less.

Aerili wrote:Also, you may need to continue doing your rehab exercises "forever"...more or less.

MRI, in cases such as meniscus tears, has been shown to have lesser predictive value than ultrasound...and it costs about 3x-4x as much. Not sure if that's the case with RC issues, but might be worth investigating if you're going down the imaging route. I know my insurance coverage has me spending about $100 out of pocket for ultra, $400 for MRI.

What I would avoid: Bench press, incline press, dumbbell flies, pushups, dips (dips are very hard on the AC joints too), military press, behind the neck press, lat pulldowns behind the neck. I think climbers put way too much emphasis on these pressing exercises in an attempt at "balance" for the pulling muscles. Climbing steep stuff involves a lot of pecs. And you can train triceps in ways that aren't as hard on the RC as those pressing movements (cable pressdowns, lying tri extensions with single dumbbell or curl bar).

I've found dumbell pressing exercises to be very beneficial to keeping my shoulders in decent shape, and in my case we are speaking of 58 years of climbing and all kinds of silly heavy training (eg, at one point now many years ago, regularly doing as many as seven one-arm pullups on each arm).

The one type of press I've never done is the flat-bench variety, since I was looking for exercise angles that replicated the kinds of pulling angles usually encountered climbing. My routine for many years has been anywhere from 8 to 12 dumbell presses, done at the middle three inclines on a five-position bench, just a single set at each incline setting.

I've never gone for any kind maximal performance with these presses. if it is getting too easy at 12 reps, I'll up the weight and drop down to 8 reps, but I try to stay away from exertions close to momentary muscular failure.

I'm just one person, and there is no way to know if my shoulders would have survived just as well without the dumbell press conditioning, but I can say that I have a lot of friends who didn't do this type of training who have been sidelined by shoulder problems.