Experiencing pain in right shoulder when performing pull-up's.

[Blaze]

For quite a while now I can't seem to do pull-up's or lat pull-down's with a pronated grip, without experiencing a nerve wrecking pain in my right shoulder.

Once I stop the movement i stop feeling the pain, but as soon as i hop back on the lat-pulldown machine, or the pull-up bar, this awful pain kicks right back in.

I stopped doing pull-ups and lat-pulldowns for about 2 months to see if the pain would disappear (In this period I did variations of rowing movements mostly). But when I tried some pronated pull-up's again, the pain kicked back in, almost instantly.

I went to my doc, and told her about this issue. She took a look and noticed my right shoulder was just a slight bit higher then my left shoulder (which I nor anyone else had ever noticed before in my life) but did not conclude this was the cause of my problem. She redirected me to a physiotherapist.


So I went to my first appointment with this physiotherapist and he told me I have a little tension on my right upper-trapezius&shoulder muscles, but did not conclude this was the cause of my problem. He did these movements with my arm and asked if it hurt. After about 10 minutes of moving around my arm in different angles, pressing on my shoulder and that kind of stuff, he told me that he couldn't figure out what the problem was. So I had to make a second appointment - he wanted to make an echo just to make sure..

At my second appointment we made an echo, and there was "nothing out of the ordinary" according to the physiotherapist.

Now I don't expect any miracles from a thread on a forum, but bodybuilding is my life, and this problem is withholding me from an optimal back development. I figured it's worth a try.

So:

1. Has anyone experienced the same, or know someone who has? If so, your help is very much appreciated.

2. Is my physiotherapist an idiot? (Am I talking to the wrong person?)

[Eric3237]

Do you take a wide grip on the pullups or lat pulldowns?

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Eric3237

Do you take a wide grip on the pullups or lat pulldowns?

Not necessarily. This problem occurs regardless of grip-width as far as I remember. :-(

[iron_worker]

Is pronated palms in or palms out? I can't remember.

[Cradler]

Palms out. The opposite is supinated.

[Sleazy]

Its possible that you could have a shoulder impingement which is very common amongst bodybuilders. I had one myself and had shooting pain just like your describing whenever I did exercises involving the shoulder. Mine was more on pushing movements instead of pulling but it can run both ways.

Of course we can't really be sure what it is but it sounds like something is being pinched or rubbing which would indicate an impingement to me. Might want to try an impingement test yourself and see if you can self diagnose it.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Sleazy

Its possible that you could have a shoulder impingement which is very common amongst bodybuilders. I had one myself and had shooting pain just like your describing whenever I did exercises involving the shoulder. Mine was more on pushing movements instead of pulling but it can run both ways.

Of course we can't really be sure what it is but it sounds like something is being pinched or rubbing which would indicate an impingement to me. Might want to try an impingement test yourself and see if you can self diagnose it.

I ran a quick self-test i found on youtube, and i found the movements I made with my right arm, slightly irritated. They did not specifically hurt, i did not feel pain, but I did feel irritation. When I did the same test with my left arm I felt no irritation at all.

I'm seeing my doc in 2.30 hours, i'll post results later.

[MONSTAFACE]

just a thought, but i go to massage school and there are a lot of times when people have some type of musclular pain that doctors cant expalin. when it gets like that the last resort is a message therapist and a lot of the time it works.


look into getting a msaage by an experienced massage therapist whom knows about the muscles. there is a difference from a regualr swedish massage and getting actual work done in problem areas. find a massage therapist whom knows what they are doing and schedule a session. it may not dissapear in one outing but after the first session some of your pain should dissapear. and if it does an dyou feel liek it helped get it worked on again.

its totally up to you whether you want to try it but i def recommend it.

[Blaze]

I just got back from my doctor;

After explaining everything to her, she redirected me to a specialist in the hospital this time, for another echo.

I hope this time I can find out what's wrong..

Originally Posted by MONSTAFACE

just a thought, but i go to massage school and there are a lot of times when people have some type of musclular pain that doctors cant expalin. when it gets like that the last resort is a message therapist and a lot of the time it works.


look into getting a msaage by an experienced massage therapist whom knows about the muscles. there is a difference from a regualr swedish massage and getting actual work done in problem areas. find a massage therapist whom knows what they are doing and schedule a session. it may not dissapear in one outing but after the first session some of your pain should dissapear. and if it does an dyou feel liek it helped get it worked on again.

its totally up to you whether you want to try it but i def recommend it.

First of all thank you for your advise.

I was thinking about alternative options, and this just might be worth a try. I'm gonna see what my next echo tells us about my shoulder problem, but if it turns out "fine" again I'm going to look further into this muscle-massage thing. Thanks again for the info!

[MONSTAFACE]

not a problem. just make sure they know their stuff. because you dont want them spending 5 minutes on yoru shoulders when they shoul dbe spending 15.