Shoulder pain outside of lower back pain might be the most common injury especially in the strength and conditioning world. The reason the shoulder gets injured a lot is because of the amount of mobility this joint has. If you look at the ball and socket, only 1/3 of the ball is connected to the socket. The great part about this is that it allows for a lot of different moevement. For instance we can reach overhead, behind us, across us, and rotate the shoulder internally and externally. As a good comparison the hip is also a ball and socket joint and 2/3 of the ball is connected to the socket. This creates more stability and is why you dont see as many hip injuries as you do shoulder injuries. Shoulder pain can also be due to neck issues as well. I outline a good self assesment to test if your shoulders are healthy or you can use some work to correct them.
Self-Assessment
If you don’t have access to a professional who can do a movement screen on you, here are 3 self assessments you can use to see how good your shoulders are.
Shoulder Flexion Test- Thumbs up, arms extended (no elbow bend at all) raise your arms up overhead and see how far you get before A) your elbows bend or B) your back arches.
Needs work-Back arches before arms reach face
Adequate-Back arches as you get just past your face
Ideal-Elbows to ears
Shoulder Rotation Test- Bend your elbow 90 degrees and see how far you can move your hand back behind your shoulder before you run out of room or you get pain. (pain is a no go, quit the test immediately) If you have a partner, have them assist with this test.
Needs Work- Less than 90 degrees, or elbow pain
Adequate-100-110 degrees without compensation
Ideal-110-115 degrees
The Scratch Test- Reach down by your hip and then behind your back and see how high you can get it.
Needs Work- Can’t reach shoulder blade
Adequate- Touch the bottom of the shoulder blade
Ideal- Middle of the shoulder blade.
Building Strong Shoulders Without Pain
Trying to press overhead or do chin-ups or pull-ups may cause shoulder pain. Here are 5 ways to build the shoulders pain free.
- Dumbbell presses-Dumbells tend to be more shoulder friendly than a barbell because of the fact that the barbell forces your elbow and shoulders into a fixed positon. The barbell allows some wiggle room and they don’t require as much shoulder rotation.
- Landmine presses– I like these a lot due to the versatility and variance. It adds variety to your pressing and also adds a core component.
- Yoga Push-ups – I love these as a warmup and also as an exercise due to the fact that it doesnt pin down the chest. It requires the shoulders to rotate upward which is key for proper shoulder function.
- Farmers Carries– These are very shoulder friendly and also confidence boosters. People can walk with a lot of weight on these and they burn the shoulders.
- Pull-Up with a light band– Generally speaking the bottom of the pull-up position is the hardest on the shoulders. Using a light band takes some of the weight off of the shoulders at the bottom position.
One last bonus is the dumbbell floor press. This tends to feel better on the shoulders due to the limited range of motion. If you have pain while bench pressing try out this variation.
Fixing The Shoulders
How do we make the shoulder pain go away? Thats a great question, there are a multitude of factors and reasons as to why you have shoulder pain. Generally speaking, if the front of your shoulder is hurting its because of tightness in the front of your shoulder, neck, or lats. Generally if I help people clean up their upper back, neck, and chest it helps free their shoulders up. So here is my shoulder protocol.
- Upper back foam roll
- Lacrosse ball trap smash
- Lacrosse ball t spine smash
- Lacrosse ball chest smash
- Lacrosse ball neck smash
- Goal post 90/90 stretch
- Prone Scorpion stretch 2:00 hold each side
- Puppy Dog Stretch 2:00 hold
- Banded chest stretch 1:00
- Chin tucks x 10
If you feel like you have plenty of range of motion especially when you did your self assessment and as you go overhead or hang from a pull up bar you have top of the shoulder pain it may be due to a lack of rotator cuff strength. I highly recommend using the crossover symmetry system to strengthen your rotator cuff. I would use more of the negatives on this meaning you bring the cords back in slow.
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