Shoulder impingement and hangboarding?

Can I do some mild hangboard sets while taking time off for shoulder impingement? Nothing crazy, just something to retain finger strength.

The impingement occurs with overhead activities so anything overhead is probably not a good idea.

Do you have any kind of free-hanging device like rock rings or the like? You could attach weights to them and hold them with your arms at your sides - working your fingers but not aggravating your shoulders. This is especially good for pinches, I think.

Alternately, mount a chair such that you can hang from your board with your feet up and your body held horizontal instead of vertical. This may make it easier on your shoulders.

Tony Monbetsu wrote:Do you have any kind of free-hanging device like rock rings or the like? You could attach weights to them and hold them with your arms at your sides - working your fingers but not aggravating your shoulders. This is especially good for pinches, I think. Alternately, mount a chair such that you can hang from your board with your feet up and your body held horizontal instead of vertical. This may make it easier on your shoulders.

Don't do it! I hate to sound harsh, but I've been there and done that, and six months after surgery I'm still working on correcting the shoulder/arm imbalance from training through an injury.

I've been dealing with the same issue for about a year now. It's not worth the risk to continue training. Stop training until it heals completely, then do whatever exercises are needed to stabilize the shoulder so it won't happen again.