Exercises Shoulder Pain — 5 Ways To Get Back To Pressing

If you work in an orthopedic clinic chances are you see plenty of people with rotator cuff related shoulder pain (RCRSP). Call it impingement, tendinopathy, strain, tear, subacromial pain, whatever you want to call it – it’s a common presentation for many therapists.

For the weight training population, pressing exercises, despite being among the most popular exercises, can be provocative and sometimes difficult to return to for people with RCRSP. In this piece I outline a progression I use and have had success with in returning people with RCRSP to pressing in the weight room. As a disclaimer, to the best of my knowledge there is no research that supports or refutes my strategies.

Before starting this program I set several prerequisites that I believe are required to begin pressing:

Side note: I like the vast majority of cases to be pain-free with the above activities before starting this progression, but in some chronic cases with whom pressing is identified as a goal activity I may start this progression a bit earlier, as long as pain is at a mild level and isn’t exacerbated in the long-term by any of these activities. As with any client, this depends on individual factors.