Shoulder Impingement Exercises to AVOID
Shoulder impingement is a painful rotator cuff related condition, where the tendons or the bursa in your shoulder become impinged, inflamed, and painful.
The rotator cuff tendons in your shoulder sit in a small space between the top of your arm and your shoulder blade, called the subacromial space.
And depending on the position or the movement of your shoulder, this space can shrink, and cause the tendons in your shoulder to become impinged.
Now the position where your shoulder is most likely to become impinged is out the side, or out in front, between around 90-110 degrees. This is known as a painful arc movement - when your shoulder feels OK below 90 degrees, between 90-110 degrees it becomes painful, and then as you move further overhead the pain actually reduces - this is a classic impingement sign.
This position, in combination with internal rotation of your shoulder can cause some big issues when it comes to shoulder impingement.
The first exercise you may want to avoid when it comes to shoulder impingement is…
lateral flys
This is what's called a long lever position which places a lot of load on your rotator cuff whilst moving through the painful arc range of motion.
The second exercise is…
The upright row
Again, this movement involves bringing your shoulder into the painful arc range, in combination with an internally rotated shoulder position, resulting in a reduction in the subacromial space, and increasing the chase of impingement.
And the third and final exercise you may need to avoid is…
The standard bench press
Again, you’ll notice that the arm is positioned in the 90 degree position throughout this entire movement. But don’t worry - there is an easy way to modify the bench press that we’ll cover in a second so that you don't have to keep missing out on chest day.
(Make sure to watch the video for the complete demo on how to perform these exercises.)
Now you know what exercises to avoid in the gym you’re probably thinking “Is there anything I can do at the gym - do I need to stop training my upper body altogether?”
So the three exercises that you may need to avoid if you're experiencing shoulder impingement are the lateral fly, the upright row, and the bench press. You may notice that all of these exercises have something in common - they all involve moving through that painful arc position between 90-110 degrees of elevation or moving into an internally rotated position.
…..
Now you know what exercises to avoid in the gym you’re probably thinking “Is there anything I can do at the gym - do I need to stop training my upper body altogether?”
Well of course you should be able to continue to train even with a shoulder impingement - you might just need to modify these positions a little bit - and here’s how.
A great way to modify the lateral raise is by performing short lever lateral raises with your elbow bent, whilst staying below 90 degrees of shoulder elevation
You can modify the bench press by performing a close grip bench press - this will move your shoulder out of the painful arc position
And why not try the “Chest pull” with a band or cable machine - this will strengthen your shoulder external rotators and the muscles around your shoulder blade to help keep you out of the impingement position.
Ball release posterior capsule
So there we have it - what shoulder impingement exercises to avoid, and how to easily modify your training if you have a shoulder impingement.
