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Relax, this may not be the end of the world.  Follow these steps for pain relief.

Don’t necessarily rely on your doctor for sports-specific injury help

My friends often ask me why I go to a physical therapist or a sports massage therapist rather than taking advantage of the NHS, which is free (I live in the UK)?  Why not go to a doctor instead?

Well, in the NHS, the local doctors are usually referred to as GP’s or General Practitioners, which means they know a little bit about a huge range of diseases, disorders and other ailments.  This is a good thing if you happen to go down with a bizarre tropical disease after flying back home from Mexico.  But it’s a bad thing if you need help with a bad knee.  What’s the point?  They aren’t specialists.

In the UK, GP’s are basically triage experts.  They see everything from people with Oh-my-God-you-have-5-minutes-to-live diseases to people who have I-have-a-bit-of-a-cold-doctor-but-all-I-really-need-is-some-sympathy-and-a-nice-cup-of-tea disorders.  If you walk into the surgery and ask about a bum shoulder the GP is going to say “rest it and come back in 6 weeks if it’s still a problem”.  You might get a prescription for some pain relievers but frankly you can get those cheaper in the supermarket anyway.

And if you think I’m being unkind about the medical profession, then take a look at the prevailing view on doctors at T-Nation for a no-holds barred approach…

Find a skilled sports massage therapist instead

In contrast, I have found the sports massage therapists I have used to be excellent.  I now recommend the London School of Sports Massage graduates to anyone who will listen.  Every LSSM practitioner I have worked with has understood that I am still going to train whatever they say and has worked with me on that basis.  They know that if they said “don’t do anything for 6 weeks” then I am going to go elsewhere in a hurry.

The London School of Sports Massage also has a feature on its website that allows you to search for practioners close to you.

Tips on how to work with your sports massage therapist

I have found the following approach to pay dividends when working with a sports massage therapist:

• Tell them what hurts and answer their questions honestly
• Ask the therapist what exercises you can do and do them
• Ask the therapist what exercises you can’t do and don’t do them
• Ask the therapist for corrective exercises if appropriate.  If they give you any, make sure that you do them

Speed your recovery

There are a few other things that I have done that have helped speed my recovery from shoulder pain:

• Drink plenty of water before and after massages
• Stretch after massages
• Use hot and cold contrast pads or showers on the affected areas

Balance your pressing and pulling

Once you’re back hitting the gym hard, it’s worth making sure that you aren’t setting yourself up for injury again because of an unbalanced programme.  About a year ago, my pull-up progression stalled.  I reviewed my programme and I found that (unlike most people) I was doing much more pulling than pressing.  To correct things, I introduced dips, which I hadn’t really been doing before.  My dips performance improved incredibly quickly, until it reached a similar level to my pull ups.  After that, they both moved upwards together.  Coincidence?  Probably not. 

A good rule of thumb is that your pull up strength should be similar to your bench press.  So if you weigh 75kg (165lbs) and bench 95kg (210lbs) then you should be adding 20kg (45lbs) to your belt when you do pull ups.  If you’re not then you shouldn’t be surprised if your shoulders hurt, really…

Improve your movement patterns and mobility

Many shoulder problems can be caused by inadequate shoulder movement patterns or mobility.  There have been lots of great articles written on this subject.  I found Eric Cressey’s article series Shoulder Savers to be the most helpful when I had my last injury.  I found the following hints made the most difference for me:

• Thoracic extensions on a foam roller
• More soft tissue work on a foam roller
• More targeted soft tissue work with a tennis ball
• Doing more horizontal rowing
• Sorting out my bench press technique

If your bench press technique isn’t at least as good as mine, you may be at risk of injuring your shoulders…

So that’s how I approach any injuries I get when lifting.  I hate getting injured as much as anyone so I like to have a game plan ready for when I do.  Fortunately, by following my own advice, I’ve been twinge-free for at least 6 months now and hoping it will stay that way!

This is the second article in a 5-part series about pull ups.  The first was a general introduction to pull ups and chins.

For a list of my key articles by category, please check out this index.

Tags:   bench · bench press · injury · pull up · pull ups · Shoulder Injury · Shoulder Pain6 Comments