Pain in the shoulder
I have pain in my right shoulder when I do side laterals, but not when I do them on a seated lat raise machine where your elbows press against pads. I notice that when I do lateral raises my right trap contracts very early as I raise my arm and pulls my shoulder joint backwards. My left trap stays put and only contracts when my arm passes above parallel to the floor. Never any pain on the left side unlike the right, yet on the seated lat machine no pain on either side. 53 yrs old and lots of abuse on the shoulder joints over the years. What is your opinion of the seated lat raise machine and why no pain?
Could be a tear in a ligament that straps the rotator in place. My shoulder/trap action is similar and I have a separated supraspinatus (along the ridge of trap muscle and its ligament straps over the shoulder cuff for stability and movement). I didn’t catch mine in time and it retreated to mid-back and deteriorated. Goodbye nearly 15 years ago; open operation by a top guy didn’t fix it. Big training compromise; pressing is the pits, but I manage to stimulate, burn and pump for muscle retention.
I do one-arm laterals while holding on to a rack with the free hand and leaning outward for position advantage - lateral can be done from the front of body or from behind. Two-hand laterals are funky — left works, right doesn’t.
I don’t like the machine you refer to, hurts the forearms.
Might be worth considering trigger point therapy also. Sometimes the muscle refuses to move over an area with inflammation, aka adhesion.
Another thing, if not a tear, it might be muscle lost memory of action, a neural transmission problem, and you need application of Feldenkrais procedures — reminds muscle of its pattern and initiates re-firing — not voodoo.
I’m not the alternative medicine type, but this stuff works where needed.
Gotta go… DD
Dave Draper - Dave Draper Posted on June 11th, 2008 in Shoulder Issues by Dave Draper