Front shoulder pain

[tunturun]

Hi everybody.

I think I hurt myself on the shoulder while trying XR dips. On the same day I also did Pushups XR Bulgarian, Pseudo planche pushups on rings and Jackknifes on rings. But the XR dips were the only exercise I hadn't tried before. It didn't hurt that day, it started hurting on my next workout when I tried to perform Pushups XR.

I thought it was shoulder tendonitis, but I think it's probably just a small muscle because:

• I have no pain during a normal day

• I have full mobility of the shoulder, no pain at all

• I can do pulling exercises (pullups, rows) with no pain

• I can do pressing exercises without rings (pushups, handstands) with a little discomfort, but no pain

But as soon as I try something like pushups on rings, I get a sharp pain on the front of the shoulder.

Any ideas what may I have hurt? Should I completely halt my training while this problem remains or is it ok to perform exercises that don't hurt? I tried stopping any press exercise for 4 days but it didn't help much. Maybe I should have waited longer.

Thanks for your help.

[Gregor]

Probably a minor muscle tear. Work on those things where you don't feel any pain and rest on those where you feel it or feel discomfort.

[tunturun]

Thanks, that doesn't sounds very dangerous. Any ideas how many days may it take to heal?

[Joshua Naterman]

A few weeks. 3-4 usually for minor stuff, but it could be up to 6 weeks. Use this time to focus on lower and mid trap work, hollow holds, arch holds, and very high rep sets with absolutely perfect form with regular XR push ups. You may even need to be on your knees, with the knees on something that is elevated to the same height as the bottom of the rings. Books, a bench, a chair, mats, something. In fact I would start out there for the first week. We're talking about 30-50 reps if possible. Hollow hips and body just like in a plank or arch hold, and scaps retract at the bottom and protract some as you go up, but stay depressed the whole time. That will take practice, which is why you need an easy position to start off in. The high reps will help make the position an instinctual place to be much quicker.