Odd pull-up injury

[brikis98]

For the last ~3 weeks, I have had a very odd injury that only bothers me when doing pull-ups (or any very similar motion):

* It's only on my right side, just below the back of the shoulder and down under the shoulder blade. For example, if you look at this diagram, I'd say the pain is approximately just under the deltoid, in the areas labeled as Teres minor and Teres major on the right side of the picture.

* It's a very odd type of pain - a strange kind of pull/stretching sensation as if my muscles are twisted up - and different than other muscle strains I've had.

* I took 2+ weeks off from pull-ups to let it heal (hard to do while doing Crossfit!). When I tried a light pull-up today, I found it was still hurting just as much if not more! Rest has not helped at all.

Obviously, the simple solution is a doctor, but in the meantime, I figured I'd get some advice. Has anyone experienced something like this? What kind of muscle injury makes 0 progress in healing after 2 weeks?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: brikis98
For the last ~3 weeks, I have had a very odd injury that only bothers me when doing pull-ups (or any very similar motion):

* It's only on my right side, just below the back of the shoulder and down under the shoulder blade. For example, if you look at this diagram, I'd say the pain is approximately just under the deltoid, in the areas labeled as Teres minor and Teres major on the right side of the picture.

* It's a very odd type of pain - a strange kind of pull/stretching sensation as if my muscles are twisted up - and different than other muscle strains I've had.

* I took 2+ weeks off from pull-ups to let it heal (hard to do while doing Crossfit!). When I tried a light pull-up today, I found it was still hurting just as much if not more! Rest has not helped at all.

Obviously, the simple solution is a doctor, but in the meantime, I figured I'd get some advice. Has anyone experienced something like this? What kind of muscle injury makes 0 progress in healing after 2 weeks?

sounds to me like you pulled/tore a muscle. best to stop training and see a doctor.

 

[Deeko]

Some injuries are very slow. I injured my rotator cuff in college, it took two YEARS before it was really healed. That injury was in my shoulder, but I felt the pain down my entire arm - so if your pain is just below your shoulder, I wouldn't rule out a shoulder injury. They're tricky bastards. Go see a trainer or a doctor.

 

[ManBearPig]

rotator cuffffffffffffff

it took mine like 2 years to heal.

 

[brikis98]

If it is the rotator cuff, is there anything that can be done? Can you not do any pull-ups in the meantime? How likely is it that I would be doing more damage if I work through the pain?

Edit --> also, forgot to mention. the pain seems lower than where I'd expect a rotator cuff injury to hurt. When I say it's "under" the deltoid, I mean that it is lower down in my back. The shoulder itself has no actual pain...

 

[Deeko]

If it is a rotator cuff, extended periods of rest is really all you can do. Working through it won't make it much worse per se, but it will hurt, and it won't get better. The trainer at my college hooked me up to this machine that sent shocks through the muscle and had me ice it regularly, and that caused the swelling to go down (mine was pretty bad), but the injury itself just needed an extended amount of time to heal.

Mine didn't really hurt in my shoulder, either. It started at the base of my deltoid and radiated down to my elbow. It's possible yours is a different part of the rotator cuff that goes down the back. Hopefully it isn't, they're a pain in the ass.

 

[brikis98]

One thing I noticed while at the gym today was that as I warm up, the pain goes away almost completely. Of course, I worry I'd be doing more damage if I actually kept working it, but at least from a pain perspective, I could get through it...

 

[ManBearPig]

technically you are supposed to do small rotator cuff warm ups before each workout. its also a hugely underworked muscle.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: brikis98
One thing I noticed while at the gym today was that as I warm up, the pain goes away almost completely. Of course, I worry I'd be doing more damage if I actually kept working it, but at least from a pain perspective, I could get through it...

It is definitely your rotator cuff and your description describes it as something wrong with the teres major or minor. You need to do some rotator cuff strengthening workouts. Did you ever see that video crt posted in his journal? It's a great program/warmup for you to do. Always go extremely light. On top of that, you probably want to do internal/external rotations. If you PM me, I can try to find you some official physical therapy diagrams or take pictures of myself doing them. That's all you can do. Be careful with pullups though from now on. If it doesn't hurt, then that's good, but you need to strengthen the rotator cuff for sure.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: brikis98
One thing I noticed while at the gym today was that as I warm up, the pain goes away almost completely. Of course, I worry I'd be doing more damage if I actually kept working it, but at least from a pain perspective, I could get through it...

That's how mine was. Mine was in the front - the exercise that caused me the most pain was bench. If I did a long, slow, light warmup, I could bench without too much pain, for awhile anyway.

I could give you the exercises I was given for mine, but they might not help since they were for a different part of the shoulder. Rest is going to be your biggest help.

 

[brikis98]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll add rotator cuff exercises to my warm-up from now on. I know a few of the basic rotator cuff exercises, but any links to good tutorials are appreciated

 

[brikis98]

Update:

I did some rotator cuff exercises today before my workout and then tried some pull-ups. To my surprise, it definitely seemed to help. There was still a bit of a dull pain, but MUCH less than yesterday. I'm going to keep doing them everyday and will update with my progress. Thanks again everyone.

 

[UncleWai]

I suggest not to do any pull ups unless the rotator cuff is fully healed. You will most likely compensate by pulling harder with the side without pain.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Glad to hear it is doing better. Careful you don't do anything to aggravate it further though. Otherwise, that "nagging" injury, can turn into a problem requiring surgery

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
I suggest not to do any pull ups unless the rotator cuff is fully healed. You will most likely compensate by pulling harder with the side without pain.

This was my first impression, but that may take upwards of 4-6 weeks to heal and strengthen. If it doesn't cause him any pain (before or after working out), he should be ok to be perfectly honest.

 

[Deeko]

I can't say I agree with that. My rotator cuff injury didn't go away until I COMPLETELY rested it for a few months. Short periods of rest and proper stretching allowed me to work through the pain as need be, but it didn't actually heal until I just let it go.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Deeko
I can't say I agree with that. My rotator cuff injury didn't go away until I COMPLETELY rested it for a few months. Short periods of rest and proper stretching allowed me to work through the pain as need be, but it didn't actually heal until I just let it go.

Right. However, you're assuming all injuries are equal. His could have been a simple strain that could be worked through and be all the better for it. He can see if the pain goes away or not. If it does, then there's no real hitch and it was just a minor ache. If it continues to hurt or gets worse in the following weeks, then he should rest and go to a doctor to get the specifics of how to heal it.

 

[Deeko]

Sure, I'm just stating from my experience on rotator cuff injuries. As a whole they are nagging and don't go away, so if it is indeed his rotator cuff, there's a good chance it's the same way.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Sure, I'm just stating from my experience on rotator cuff injuries. As a whole they are nagging and don't go away, so if it is indeed his rotator cuff, there's a good chance it's the same way.

It really depends on the status of the person. I've been working at a physical therapy place and a younger, fitter athlete can more aggressively deal with an injury. Sometimes they can even continue their normal activity while doing therapy exercises and get better. I'm saying this from experiences with dozens of people - not just my personal experience. It could possibly be something that needs decreased activity and therapy, but it could also be fixed through normal exercise with a side of therapeutic rotator cuff exercises.

 

[Deeko]

I was 21 and a college athlete. They don't get a lot younger or fitter than that. But I digress, I'm not going to argue with you for the sake of arguing.

 

[brikis98]

One more update: I did a bunch more rotator cuff exercises and then 30 muscle-ups today in my workout. For the first few minutes, I had a mild & dull pain which went away almost completely for the rest of the workout. Overall, it feels MUCH better now, although definitely not 100%. I still can't tell if I'm doing any extra damage, but I doubt it. I think my next workout w/ pull-ups is on Sunday, so I'll keep doing the rotator cuff exercises until then and see how it goes.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Deeko
I was 21 and a college athlete. They don't get a lot younger or fitter than that. But I digress, I'm not going to argue with you for the sake of arguing.

Agreed. We were both just stating possibilities. Neither of us and yet both of us are correct. No worries though.

Glad to hear it, brikis. Again, be careful with it. If the pain, at any point, gets worse, you gotta stop what you're doing and ice it.

 

[UncleWai]

I actually hurt the same spot this summer, so I know what you are going through.
What I did to rebound was to lower my reps and extending the time for each up and down.
I think usually people hurt the rotator cuff from pull/chin up is when they try to go too fast on their downward action and strain it.
I also like to end my routines with 5-10 negative pull ups (hold onto the top position for like 20-30sec, then slowly get yourself down to stretch out those muscles).

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
I actually hurt the same spot this summer, so I know what you are going through.
What I did to rebound was to lower my reps and extending the time for each up and down.
I think usually people hurt the rotator cuff from pull/chin up is when they try to go too fast on their downward action and strain it.
I also like to end my routines with 5-10 negative pull ups (hold onto the top position for like 20-30sec, then slowly get yourself down to stretch out those muscles).

If that's the case, it would explain a lot. Crossfit workouts always include a TON of pull-ups and as they are done "for time", I'm always rushing through workouts as fast as possible. Thanks for the advice - I'll slow up a bit in the future and be especially careful during the downward portion.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: UncleWai
I actually hurt the same spot this summer, so I know what you are going through.
What I did to rebound was to lower my reps and extending the time for each up and down.
I think usually people hurt the rotator cuff from pull/chin up is when they try to go too fast on their downward action and strain it.
I also like to end my routines with 5-10 negative pull ups (hold onto the top position for like 20-30sec, then slowly get yourself down to stretch out those muscles).

If that's the case, it would explain a lot. Crossfit workouts always include a TON of pull-ups and as they are done "for time", I'm always rushing through workouts as fast as possible. Thanks for the advice - I'll slow up a bit in the future and be especially careful during the downward portion.

Isn't the pullup with kipping supposed to be a sort of rounded motion as in you push yourself away from the bar and you let yourself down in a controlled manner? You may wanna check out your form and/or just be a bit more careful. I realized that when I tried to kip I would try to push my head too far through at the bottom which gave my bicep tendons some probs. Just gotta see if there's anything you can fix