bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
So, I'm sure some of you know that I like to blab on and on about the shoulder. It's because my shoulders have sort of been through the wringer. I realize this post is massive, but I wanted to include as much info as possible to see if anyone with a lot of experience has any thoughts.
After dealing with a right shoulder injury and subsequent surgery (labral debridement, removal of bone spur under right acromion process, clean up of AC joint tissue) as well as a right hand (dominant hand) movement disorder, I had to rely on my left arm and hand for about 5 years, while being a right handed person.
Long story short, I believe this led to some of the left side dysfunction. My right arm is fine with pretty much any strength training now, but the left has had the sort of issue you see below for a long while now. I am convinced it is a prime factor in my stagnation with training; I just can't load it much without it doing what you'll see below.
YES, I HAVE SEEN A PHYSIO, and she has helped me tremendously. I would like to work with her more, but I am a poor, poor college student, and I just can't afford to see her that often. The only reason I am putting this on the forum is to see if anyone by chance has dealt with something similar, or if any instructors here have seen this and been able to correct it.
There's no pain, but the obvious asymmetry going on with the left side causes a lot of tight neck and upper back issues,and those can lead to neck pain and headaches. From a purely muscle perspective, the scap doesn't upwardly rotate well; my left levator is under a lot of tension (I think) and that, I think, is messing with my neck. Upward rotation movements (overhead-ish positions) seem to help. From a PRI/DNS perspective, we think my posterior upper ribs are collapsed, creating less space for the scap to glide. PRI-style breathing drills help a lot to bring relief, but they don't seem to make progress that sticks. I think there is a neuromuscular component; that is, something is not coordinating correctly. If it's at all like the issue I had with my hand, I need to somehow feel the correct motion and practice it so my nervous system can re-learn the movement.
Since it is an upward rotation issue, I can do some overhead pressing without much issue, and inclined pressing (such as landmines). It's when I have to push horizontally that the scapula misbehaves. It also misbehaves when I do other closed chain pushing/pulling such as pike pushups and sometimes even pullups/rows.
The first clip is late September, the second was a week or two ago (and for some reason it was better?!), the third clip is today, where it seems worse again. In some of the clips, you may be able to see how my left ribs seem to "drop" towards the floor compared to my right ribs, making it look like the left scapula is sort of winging. The attached photo is a still shot from the first clip, where I have highlighted the medial borders of my scapulae, so you can see just how much the left downwardly rotates compared to the right.
Huge thanks if anyone takes the time to read and look through all that! I would love very much to just be able to do pushups (I love pushup variations of all kinds) without the penalty of neck aches and pains.
After dealing with a right shoulder injury and subsequent surgery (labral debridement, removal of bone spur under right acromion process, clean up of AC joint tissue) as well as a right hand (dominant hand) movement disorder, I had to rely on my left arm and hand for about 5 years, while being a right handed person.
Long story short, I believe this led to some of the left side dysfunction. My right arm is fine with pretty much any strength training now, but the left has had the sort of issue you see below for a long while now. I am convinced it is a prime factor in my stagnation with training; I just can't load it much without it doing what you'll see below.
YES, I HAVE SEEN A PHYSIO, and she has helped me tremendously. I would like to work with her more, but I am a poor, poor college student, and I just can't afford to see her that often. The only reason I am putting this on the forum is to see if anyone by chance has dealt with something similar, or if any instructors here have seen this and been able to correct it.
There's no pain, but the obvious asymmetry going on with the left side causes a lot of tight neck and upper back issues,and those can lead to neck pain and headaches. From a purely muscle perspective, the scap doesn't upwardly rotate well; my left levator is under a lot of tension (I think) and that, I think, is messing with my neck. Upward rotation movements (overhead-ish positions) seem to help. From a PRI/DNS perspective, we think my posterior upper ribs are collapsed, creating less space for the scap to glide. PRI-style breathing drills help a lot to bring relief, but they don't seem to make progress that sticks. I think there is a neuromuscular component; that is, something is not coordinating correctly. If it's at all like the issue I had with my hand, I need to somehow feel the correct motion and practice it so my nervous system can re-learn the movement.
Since it is an upward rotation issue, I can do some overhead pressing without much issue, and inclined pressing (such as landmines). It's when I have to push horizontally that the scapula misbehaves. It also misbehaves when I do other closed chain pushing/pulling such as pike pushups and sometimes even pullups/rows.
The first clip is late September, the second was a week or two ago (and for some reason it was better?!), the third clip is today, where it seems worse again. In some of the clips, you may be able to see how my left ribs seem to "drop" towards the floor compared to my right ribs, making it look like the left scapula is sort of winging. The attached photo is a still shot from the first clip, where I have highlighted the medial borders of my scapulae, so you can see just how much the left downwardly rotates compared to the right.
Huge thanks if anyone takes the time to read and look through all that! I would love very much to just be able to do pushups (I love pushup variations of all kinds) without the penalty of neck aches and pains.