bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
Hi SF community,
As many of you might know, I have done extensive self-research into the shoulder. This stemmed out of an injury and subsequent surgery on my right shoulder in 2017. Fast forward and now that shoulder is perfectly fine; it is now the left one that gives me trouble.
In short, it doesn't want to stick to my back when I do horizontal movements, and it tends to overly downwardly rotate below something like 90 degrees of flexion. Overhead is better because I can push in a more aB-ducted position, but as soon as I try regular old pushups, it refuses to cooperate. Doing a plank or something where I just pin it down in full protraction seems okay; it's when I try to bend at the elbows, or even just do scapular shrugs in a plank, that it misbehaves.
What I can do without much trouble:
-Overhead work, strangely enough. If I am careful, the upward rotation in overhead work feels okay. It's not always perfect or great, but it's good enough to do some overhead pushing.
-Pullups/chin ups: chin ups feel better. Pullups feel pretty good but if I try strict hollow pullups, there is something about the angle that seems to bother the shoulder.
Symptoms are:
-tight left neck and upper traps
-occasional aches on the anterior portion of the left shoulder
-left shoulder wants to "hike" or shrug up without my asking it too
-"winging" and excessive downward rotation below about 90 degress shoulder flexion. It also seems to have a funky resting position that you might be able to see it in some of the below videos.
What I have tried:
-everything, it seems like. I have been dealing with this since 2019. It has improved tremendously, to the point where I only get the above issues if I do much horizontal pressing, or get stressed out. Stress seems to aggravate the "hiking up" issue.
Specifically, I have tried:
-lots of PRI and breathing drills, ribcage expansion, postual changes to my hips and feet. All of this stuff has helped the most, but something just isn't clicking to get it all the way there. All of this stuff, in theory, is supposed to help with the resting position, but either I've taken it as far as it will go or I am not doing the right drills.
-band work: I have done Ido Portal's routine, which helped. It feels good and helped with the acute issues, but now (as you will see below) the scapula still does it's own thing. I have tried so many different band drills. A lot feel good, but, there's a recurring theme here....
-serratus slides: these feel great and seem to alleviate the neck tension, but don't seem to carry over to pushups
-Original Strength: many rocking and crawling drills feel good, and have helped a little, but again....don't carry over to pushups.
-Turkish Get ups: I know someone will mention this. I tried them multiple times and in some cases left with a tighter neck than before.
Physical therapy: the elephant in the room. I have seen a PT many times. The trouble is that I don't have money to see one consistently. Mine got me on the track of doing PRI-type stuff. I like her, however, I have no money for it at the moment.
I am just throwing this out there (again) in the hopes that some of the PTs/physios on the forum might have some suggestions. It could be that I have tried things that will help but just haven't done them long enough. I'm willing to try most anything at this point. I would like to be able to just do regular pushups again. Every time I do sets of regular pushups, I have plenty of general strength for the movement, but I pay for it with neck tension afterwards, and occasionally anterior shoulder pain. I also am 90% sure this issue part of what is holding me back from making strength gains with pressing in general.
Pushups. You can see the left shoulder blade stick out way more than the right.
Scapular pushups and plank position
Viking Press: keeping weight back on feet/heels, keeping tension out of face/neck. These feel good and "seem" to help, but if you have a close look, you can see the scap do its thing when I am in the bottom position
Pushups from above. This was taken last year. The symptoms you see are a little better, but not by much.
Thanks for taking the time to read/watch all that, if you did. And thanks in advance for any input.
As many of you might know, I have done extensive self-research into the shoulder. This stemmed out of an injury and subsequent surgery on my right shoulder in 2017. Fast forward and now that shoulder is perfectly fine; it is now the left one that gives me trouble.
In short, it doesn't want to stick to my back when I do horizontal movements, and it tends to overly downwardly rotate below something like 90 degrees of flexion. Overhead is better because I can push in a more aB-ducted position, but as soon as I try regular old pushups, it refuses to cooperate. Doing a plank or something where I just pin it down in full protraction seems okay; it's when I try to bend at the elbows, or even just do scapular shrugs in a plank, that it misbehaves.
What I can do without much trouble:
-Overhead work, strangely enough. If I am careful, the upward rotation in overhead work feels okay. It's not always perfect or great, but it's good enough to do some overhead pushing.
-Pullups/chin ups: chin ups feel better. Pullups feel pretty good but if I try strict hollow pullups, there is something about the angle that seems to bother the shoulder.
Symptoms are:
-tight left neck and upper traps
-occasional aches on the anterior portion of the left shoulder
-left shoulder wants to "hike" or shrug up without my asking it too
-"winging" and excessive downward rotation below about 90 degress shoulder flexion. It also seems to have a funky resting position that you might be able to see it in some of the below videos.
What I have tried:
-everything, it seems like. I have been dealing with this since 2019. It has improved tremendously, to the point where I only get the above issues if I do much horizontal pressing, or get stressed out. Stress seems to aggravate the "hiking up" issue.
Specifically, I have tried:
-lots of PRI and breathing drills, ribcage expansion, postual changes to my hips and feet. All of this stuff has helped the most, but something just isn't clicking to get it all the way there. All of this stuff, in theory, is supposed to help with the resting position, but either I've taken it as far as it will go or I am not doing the right drills.
-band work: I have done Ido Portal's routine, which helped. It feels good and helped with the acute issues, but now (as you will see below) the scapula still does it's own thing. I have tried so many different band drills. A lot feel good, but, there's a recurring theme here....
-serratus slides: these feel great and seem to alleviate the neck tension, but don't seem to carry over to pushups
-Original Strength: many rocking and crawling drills feel good, and have helped a little, but again....don't carry over to pushups.
-Turkish Get ups: I know someone will mention this. I tried them multiple times and in some cases left with a tighter neck than before.
Physical therapy: the elephant in the room. I have seen a PT many times. The trouble is that I don't have money to see one consistently. Mine got me on the track of doing PRI-type stuff. I like her, however, I have no money for it at the moment.
I am just throwing this out there (again) in the hopes that some of the PTs/physios on the forum might have some suggestions. It could be that I have tried things that will help but just haven't done them long enough. I'm willing to try most anything at this point. I would like to be able to just do regular pushups again. Every time I do sets of regular pushups, I have plenty of general strength for the movement, but I pay for it with neck tension afterwards, and occasionally anterior shoulder pain. I also am 90% sure this issue part of what is holding me back from making strength gains with pressing in general.
Pushups. You can see the left shoulder blade stick out way more than the right.
Scapular pushups and plank position
Viking Press: keeping weight back on feet/heels, keeping tension out of face/neck. These feel good and "seem" to help, but if you have a close look, you can see the scap do its thing when I am in the bottom position
Pushups from above. This was taken last year. The symptoms you see are a little better, but not by much.
Thanks for taking the time to read/watch all that, if you did. And thanks in advance for any input.