Shoulder impingement

Im getting some shoulder impingement symptoms when in the thoracic bridge, especially when I push my shoulders well past my wrist. My assumption is to just back off and dont push as hard over my hands till I develop some more strength in this position. But didnt know if there were any recommendations on how to go about working around this, and if this is normal at first. 

I will grab a video of me doing a bridge next time im in the gym and post on here for visual as well. 

Hi Ryan,

sorry to hear about the shoulder impingement symptoms. I would recommend to back off for a bit until the symptoms are gone. Sometimes it can be a sign that your shoulders are not conditioned for this progression yet or that you are pushing too hard. 

It would definitely be helpful if you could submit a video of these.

Hi Ryan,

Yes back off a bit and have your upper back checked with a physio. From experience, I experience shoulder impingement when the back muscles gets tight. I hope this helps.

Hey Ryan IF you can push the shoulder over the wrists the impingement should already occur. If not it is the anterior shoulder capsule. once it is released through the cat stretch then you will have no more problems.

@Alessandro Mainente I get impingement during inverted and regular cat stretch as well. Same sensation as when im in the bridge (all in the anterior capsule)  if this helps at all. I see my physio next week and will be sure to bring it up and get her opinion on it.  

here is my current bridge. I go back and forth between feeling the impingement (signaled by me lifting my foot at 26s) and not. 

when I back off I feel much more stable in the shoulder girdle than I do when I push hard away with my feet. 

Recommendations on what do from here? my assumption is l it would just be wise to not push as hard and work on developing some strength in this position first. 

When doing the cat position probably you should put one hand on the floor in order to reduce the intensity. can you film your cat stretch from the back and from the ceiling? i'm curious to see something.

@Alessandro Mainente

IN this position how much weight do you feel on the shoulder? if you use one arm to assist the position on the floor do you have the same sensation?

10 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

IN this position how much weight do you feel on the shoulder? if you use one arm to assist the position on the floor do you have the same sensation?

I feel most of the weight in my shoulder when in this position, using one hand for support doesnt seem to help. Brining the knees towards the chest more seems to help 

OK , i'll give you a reasonable idea. try to follow me.

When we are tight in the spine extension + shoulder flexion that means the bridge position we need to maximize 2 things:

-the flexibility of the upper arms muscles insertions

-the flexibility of the deep strong tissue which leads to the spine to flex instead of extending.

The problem occurs when we are tooooooooo tight in the spine. we have no chances to develop a good flexion of the shoulder. And this is your case when you try the cat position and the bridge you cannot extend to much the spine and you finish to compensate on the shoulder girdle. this is what is happening in the cat position for you. 

The solution is to develop the spine extension while there are not chances to compensate on the shoulder. in this case, you have to choose the inverted cat position where:

-the support must be directly under the armpit;

-the hand and the shoulder should be always at the same height.

-if they are always there, you have no possibilities to compensate on the shoulders and the spine it is the major target.

I think you have to spend much more time on the inverted cat position.

@Alessandro Mainente this all makes sense to me. I will post a form check of my inverted cat set up shortly. 

Would you say preform multiple sets of it on Thoracic bridge days? get after it several times a week? 

Also is bridge work still safe to work on provided I dont push as hard as I was? 

Thank you for your help

Hi Ryan , I suggest ONLY the inverted cat variation if you can some minutes every day after a bit of warmup. for the bridge work on free pain range of motion.

On 10/13/2017 at 5:51 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hi Ryan , I suggest ONLY the inverted cat variation if you can some minutes every day after a bit of warmup. for the bridge work on free pain range of motion.

I apologize on my delay, 

the only thing I have at home that could somewhat simulate a inverted cat position would be a foam roller. I could lay on that in thoracic extension for an allotment of time. This would allow for the greatest consistency throughout the week. Other wise I have to go to the gym in order to work this position. 

You can also hang off the back of the couch, if its round! Add some pillows and hang off the end of the bed frame, you can hold light dumbells in your hands instead of grabbing onto the rail. Creative thinking Ryan!

On 23.10.2017 at 8:25 PM, Ryan Segervall said:

I apologize on my delay, 

 

the only thing I have at home that could somewhat simulate a inverted cat position would be a foam roller. I could lay on that in thoracic extension for an allotment of time. This would allow for the greatest consistency throughout the week. Other wise I have to go to the gym in order to work this position. 

15 hours ago, Tanya Hill said:

You can also hang off the back of the couch, if its round! Add some pillows and hang off the end of the bed frame, you can hold light dumbells in your hands instead of grabbing onto the rail. Create thinking Ryan!

Ryan,
for ages I have been trying to find or create a setup at my gym that would allow me to do the Inverted Cat properly. So far, the combination of a foam roller with some light weights has given the best stretch and is the easiest to recreate without fiddling around for the proper setup forever (for example, I have been using the foam roller on top of a box in front of stall bars to simulate the swiss ball but that is just brutal on my t-spine/upper back with (in relation) minimal stretch in the shoulders and takes forever to adjust properly)

@Ryan Segervall, you could buy yourself the "yoga wheel" (they also call it dharma wheel sometimes) on Amazon… you can get one 15" diameter (you are tall, I am too) and lay on that thing and stretch your upper back according to Alessandro's instructions. I even do the inverted cats on it, it works great. You can do it at home, anytime you have a moment.  :-) 

All this is very helpful for me too. Thanks for the thread and all the tips!

this is a modification I found to be pretty effective and also challenged some shoulder stability as well. 

Hi Ryan,

Looking good. I would say try a bit wider grip and let your shoulders open even more. Make it closer as your form gets better in the wider arms apart. I hope this helps.

Ryan, genius!!

Speaking of gym workarounds for TB stretches: has anybody found a good way to do the prone/supine band stretches without stall bars?

2 hours ago, Christopher Denzer said:

Speaking of gym workarounds for TB stretches: has anybody found a good way to do the prone/supine band stretches without stall bars?

I use the pulley system with weights.

However, be prepared to get the akward looks from the "tricep extension crowd". 

For the cat stretch, I've sat on the floor and arched back over a medicine ball with a PVC or weighted bar in hand when stall bars aren't available. For the band pulls, you could wrap that band around any stable object really. The downfall you may not be able to hook your toes as easily, but I can't hook my toes on our stall bar anyway because the first bar is too high. It's a good ab workout that way!