Rock Climber has Biceps Pain on Shoulder Dislocates

[frederickson]

Hi all,

 

First post here, but I've been lurking for a while. I'm mainly a rock climber (indoor bouldering), but a couple months ago I started attempting basic static gymnastics. It was at first to even out some muscle imbalances from climbing, but I've started to really enjoy it. I've been working into it slowly because my tendons get enough abuse from climbing, and right now I do handstands against a wall, planche lean, and L-sit on floor each day for a few ~75% effort sets. I take days off if I feel like I need them.

 

I've had tendinitis in elbows (near lower biceps) and shoulder (biceps origin tendon I believe) off and on for the past year, which I've been treating mainly by active release technique. It's quite a bit better than it used to be, and is only a dull ache when I climb, if at all.

 

In addition to the above 3 statics, about 2 weeks ago I started to do 2 sets of shoulder dislocates and usually some scapular wall slides each day, because I have pretty bad shoulder flexibility - I get some sharp pain sometimes in my right shoulder even when holding handstands, which goes away after a few attempts.

 

When I do shoulder dislocates, I get a lot of pain in my right lower biceps when my arm moves behind my head. I do them with a towel, which tilts my wrist inwards, if that matters. Sometimes my lower right biceps also 'snap', which feels like a nerve pain, when I bend my arm and my hand is almost at my shoulder. Any idea what this could be? Am I doing what I should be doing here overall?

[frederickson]

Hi all, just a friendly bump. I've been attempting to integrate stretches into my routine that stretch the front of the shoulder during scapular retraction. For example, while standing I'll place the back of my hand against the small of my back, and retract my shoulder hard. This creates quite a stretch in the front of my shoulder.

[Joshua Naterman]

If you are not doing so, it's very important that you also perform posterior capsule stretches. The prone version shows the best results in research, better than the sleeper stretch.

 

I can't say if this will help you with your biceps tendinopathy, but it helps quite a bit with my sensitivity to bursa impingement.

[frederickson]

Thanks, Joshua. Do you have a description of the posterior capsule stretch?

 

I've been trying to follow the stretches in the 'fixing your shoulder pain: part 1' video that you have on youtube. I'm finding it very difficult to get into a position where I feel a stretch in the front of my shoulder, I usually just feel pain in my biceps or pressure in the top/back of my shoulder. Is it important that the arm stays straight? Would the stretch I described (arm bent, back of hand on small of back, retract shoulder hard) function the same way and stretch the same muscles?

 

Thanks again.

[Joshua Naterman]

Posterior capsule stretch:

 

I suggest PNF-style stretching with this, pushing through the elbow, and slowly hollowing the hips so that your weight is more and more on the arm.

 

You can play with a lower arm angle, and can raise it to where your bicep is in your throat. That is where I currently spend most of my time in this stretch. A few weeks ago I couldn't do this without pain, so don't be afraid to start with your lower chest on your bicep.

 

The inner elbow should be pointing straight up. You should not allow the arm to externally rotate.

 

As for the other stretches, it is important that the arm stays straight. If it hurts, don't do it. What you are doing is very different.

[frederickson]

Awesome, thanks so much! If so many people have bad posture characterized by too much anterior movement of the humerus (shoulders hunched and forward), wouldn't stretching the posterior shoulder capsule make this issue worse? The anterior capsule is tight and short, while the posterior capsule is already lengthened, which is I thought why your 'fixing shoulder pain' video focused on anterior capsule stretching.

[Joshua Naterman]

No.

 

The shoulder pain video is focused on pec minor, more than anything else, but also pec major and anterior delts.

 

You are confusing protraction with humeral translation. They are not related.

 

A tight posterior capsule will limit internal rotation, and force the humeral head to slide forward more than it should, particularly during shoulder abduction and flexion movements.

[Joshua Naterman]

You should consider working on your scapular upwards rotation as well, in my opinion, and anterior tilt.

[frederickson]

Thanks a lot for the clarifications - I'm still trying to wrap my head around the finer points of mobility!

[frederickson]

Joshua, quick question - where exactly did you feel pain when initially performing this stretch? I get it near my anterior delts if I rotate too much. To really feel a stretch in the back of my shoulder, I have to pull my chest off the ground a bit.

 

Also, I've been searching for mobility work for scapular rotation - would handstands work where I actively push my shoulders up as hard as I can?