Anterior Shoulder Pain - When Pressing/Pushing

One of the most common complaints we get from regular gym goers is pain in the front (anterior) shoulder, typically when performing heavy pushes and presses such as bench press or military press. In the next couple of posts we will teach you how to fix this for good!! But first, some background info.

WHY IT HAPPENS?

Too many workout programs are heavily comprised of bench presses, overhead presses and chest fly exercises. This leads to a muscle strength / muscle length imbalance we call “anterior dominance”. The pecs, anterior deltoids and anterior components of the rotator cuff become much stronger (and usually much tighter) than their antagonist muscles, the rhomboids, traps, posterior deltoids and cuff. This alters the glenohumeral (shoulder joint) mechanics and leads to problems such as impingement, rotator cuff tendinopathies/tears and AC joint osteolysis (as discussed in our post last week).

THE SOLUTION IS TWO-FOLD

STEP 1: stretch out and loosen those dominant anterioranterior muscles to restore normal shoulder alignment.

STEP 2: activate and strengthen the posterior muscle groups to create better balance and strength around the shoulder.

In our upcoming posts we will show you some great exercises you can add to your program to achieve this!

Meanwhile, if you need help, reach out to our caring and friendly team at our Chatswood or North Sydney Physiotherapy Clinic. You’ll be glad you did.