Posting about this here in case this information is useful to the lifters here.
Some background
I have been lifting for 2 years. I got rotator cuff impingement a year ago, and it was bothering me in a lot of things, e.g. bench, push ups, curls, press, etc. That became less of a problem around March this year, after seeing a physiotherapist. I rehabbed using band rotations.
However, I was still experiencing a lot of shoulder issues. I get a lot of clunking and clicking especially in my left shoulder when doing lateral raises. I started benching powerlifting style and that took a lot of the pain away from my front deltoids, but my right front deltoid would still click (even today) when I bench. I would get tightness in my shoulders (front, mid and rear) the day after benching. Overhead pressing is fine though, but I get a lot of high pitch sliding and clicking sounds during the movement. No pain, however.
A month ago, I decided to see my physiotherapist again. The clicking in my left shoulder was really bothering me outside of the gym. I get clicking around my front delt area when I put on my T-shirt, when I reach over to the passenger's seat to open the door, etc. I was told that it is a tendon flicking over. My physio referred me to see a shoulder specialist, who is well renowned. Her page: https://www.lynwatsonshoulderphysio.com.au/practitioner.php?id_practitioner=22
Diagnosis
I saw Lyn 2 weeks ago and turns out I have hypermobile shoulders. This means my shoulder blades are sitting very low in my body. My shoulders are loose and unstable in the posterior. This has been there forever (if I am not mistaken, 40% of the population has this condition, to a certain extent), but it hadn't been stressed until I started lifting.
I have been advised to stay away from exercises where:
- my arms go behind me (e.g. parallel bar dips)
- my arms are extended out straight (e.g. flys, lateral raises, front raises)
- my body weight is on my arms (e.g. push ups, planks)
- I am pushing (e.g. bench)
- my arms are overhead (e.g. OHP, chin ups, skull crushers)
I have been told that I can however do machine presses with partial ROM (without extending my arms fully).
Lyn recently submitted a paper about this for her doctorate and it is undergoing review, which is why there is not much information about this on the Internet. Apparently the clinic has treated a few people with similar conditions with much success.
Rehab
Oh, so the goal is to get my shoulder blades to sit higher up my body by (I am paraphrasing here) teaching my body to activate the right shoulder muscles.
I was given the following exercise to do for a week:
1. 0.5kg dumbbell shrug with palm facing forward, and shoulder blade retracted. One arm at a time for 20 reps.
After that, I saw another physio from her clinic (as advised by her), and I have been given the following exercises which I have started doing:
1. 1kg dumbbell shrug as above.
2. 0.5kg external rotation while laying on my side (5 second hold up the top at 45 degrees, and then back down to parallel to floor).
3. Band external rotation, with a band round my shoulder and another that I hold onto. The bands join up at the same point, e.g. a door handle. I do an external rotation to a 45 degree angle, and hold for 5 seconds.
All these exercises for 10 to 20 reps.
I have been told that our aim is to get to 4kg for exercise 1 and 2 without fatigue at 20 reps.
Not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I find this intriguing because it changes the way I train so much. The rehab programme is estimated to take around 3 months. No benching and pressing until I am done with it.
Photo 2: Right shoulder shrugged.
