The TRUTH About Shoulder Impingement 

Thank you so much for watching! Be sure to check out the blog for references: e3rehab.com/blog/the-truth-about-shoulder-impingement/

This is the BEST video I've ever seen on shoulder impingement. E3 Rehab is #1!!!

Jeff Cavaliere punching the air rn

Always making the good point. You are a real gem in YT. Thanks you!

Thank you for taking the time to make this incredible video.

I can't believe how good this video is. Thank you a million times !

The depth and the angle you provided was awesome. Thank you.

Fantastic in depth video. I'm currently doing my dissertation in the area of shoulder pathologies and this has really helped, thanks!

This will quickly become a highly shared video with all my students. Great content as always!

Thanks for this video. As a provider I really enjoy your videos and recommend them to my patients. Keep it up!

Revolutionary, hopefully this reaches many people

One of the most useful sources online!❤ keep up the great work

Really good video and very well explained the concept of Shoulder Impingement! Thank you!!

Always so impressed with the content! Been following Eric and Nicole for 2 years, and it's made me such a better clinician!

As a PTA, I love watching your content. I have learned so much (and unlearned so much) about how best to help my patients. I will be sharing this with my colleagues. Thank you guys

Incredibly well researched and presented

That was an excellent video, thanks for this content!

Another great video as usual. Congratulations!

Brilliant. Can’t thank you enough for this video. 🙏

Such a well researched and well presented, informative video that is underlined with a deep layer of empathy for the patient. Cheers!

Absolutely phenomenal video. Your use of research to back your claims while giving relevant history behind the condition is great teaching. Thank you for this!

Great video, thanks. As PT it is important to keep up the knowledge with the times

Bald Omni Man in the video?! The E3 Rehab team are fellow Renaissance Periodization enjoyers

Wow, thank you for making this video. So informative.

I remember listening to your podcast with Jared Powell about a year ago on this topic. And now this marvelous, comprehensive presentation. Awesome! Well deserved appreciation and respect!👏 👍

Good investigative work and open mind explanation. Well done

You're videos deserve more attention, such high effort, thanks for sharing the knowledge :)

Fabulous. Such high quality content

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the level of research you have done and present.

Awesome channel. Best production on YT for physiotherapy.

What a great video. So well done in every way

As a PT myself, this was one of my favorite videos you have presented. I have been waiting for a follow up to your upright row video which completely changed my thinking back then and this was excellent. I also appreciated Sam’s demonstrations as well. I knew the source materials immediately and it frustrates me for those uniformed viewers. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the info it is appreciated.

Thank you!!This channel helps me a lot to understand better what rehab means.

Thank you very much for putting together so much information about this subject. I have been suffering from this for the last almost one year and tried so many different treatments but to no help. Now I understand very clearly how to deal with this.

Always good stuff - Thank you

Best video I’ve seen on this topic so far!

Always great content!

You guys are awesome! The best physical therapy channel on RU-vid in my eyes! I am always growing as a PT watching your content, applying it to my evaluation and treatment skills, and seeing the research you review for my own sake. Nobody comes close, in my opinion, to what you keep doing.

wow, great content! Not sure whether I have impingement, but it has definitely been clicking and burning more in the past year.

Thank you. Very informative and educational

Excellent perspectives, thanks!

BigUprightRow™ here, can confirm this man isn't on our payroll

Great video. Thank you!

As an NMT Physical Therapist, I'm enjoying your videos!

I love these videos so much. As a young dpt I feel very little identity commitment to some of the diagnoses and treatments taught during school; I hope I can remain open minded and constantly looking to research into the future. Appreciate your reference list as always!

As I pt thad does a masters on this subject I have to say that this video is amazing. And the evidence is in high standard! Thanks so much.

Mind blown and quite possibly life changed 💛 I've been replacing my normal upper body routine by mostly rotator cuff and scap mobilization work for more than a year now because of a shoulder niggle. Can't wait to slowly reintroduce pull-ups and dips 🤘

This video is so great and I feel like it should be taught in school. Thank you so much for making things simple for us.

Current upright row 140lbs for 11. A couple of set done after benching and over head pressing. I won't stop because it also makes my shoulders feel better and they have become stronger.

Well done sir. Had some pinching, stop me in my tracks shoulder pain, start around fall of last year. Orthopedist said I seems to be an overused bicep tension. I’m a mechanic, mountain bike a lot, and play darts. Just being mindful of what movements made it hurt and in the beginning, a little bit of band work, I now have been feeling it less and less. Still there, but I would rather keep it moving, make sure when carrying or moving any weight during work or elsewhere, to engage any muscles around that can aid in the work to do so. Usually helps much like a brace of the forearm for tendinitis. Ortho didn’t recommend surgery and we just keep an eye on it for some time. This video was great and I agree with a lot of what you said. Thank you

Excellent video 👏

Thank you for this

Thanks for a wonderful video... 🙏🏻

Really, really solid video!!

Thanks for the video… very interesting and informative. I have been struggling with shoulder pain for the last 18 months or so that was diagnosed as SIS. I am an active 58 year old male who loves weight training. Through the help of PT that targeted scapular mobility problems, core strength and postural strength I was able to return to and progress with manageable symptoms. About 6 months ago I had a setback. I had to stop all upper body loading for a while and returned only by stopping all pressing movements as they seriously flared up pain. Over time I have been slowly able to add limited pressing movements back-currently dumbbell incline presses and recently seated overhead dumbbell presses. I have limited discomfort with these movements. I am very conservative of load, volume and frequency. I have not pain in pulling movements. My biggest complaint is pain during sleep. Every night the pain flares up regardless of sleep position and/shoulder support. The pain is generally in the 6-7 of 10 range and either wakes me or makes it difficult to fall back to sleep. I had an MRI done this week and they report “mild to moderate hypertrophic changes in left AC joint causing mild to moderate compression” of the supraspinatus-“there is mild lateral downsloping acromion process”. No tear is seen. I’m at a loss. I’m fine with my progress in the gym. Overtime I am gaining functionality with not increase in symptoms. But, the plain at night is intolerable. Is getting a steroid injection a good next step? Am I foolish to keep pressing given my nighttime pain? What about surgery that doesn’t remove bone, but just burrs down the “spur”? You only talked about the extreme version of decompression surgery. Thanks for any thoughts you have.

Good work. Need to be shared because so many people swear about shoulder impingement now, exactly like during many years people thought spinach was a very important source of iron just because a researcher made a typo about iron proportion in spinach!

Brilliant video!

“Big up right row” lol!! That was funny! Great video as always!!!

This video is amazing! I wish every patient could understand all of this! I like to rehab shoulders based on: Stiff & painful Weak & painful Unstable Acute traumatic etc But at the end of the day, the rehab is nearly the same for all!

thank you so much for such a thorough EVIDENCE BASED video on shoulder pain. can you tell me what exercises I can do to help with non-traumatic shoulder pain?? thanks!

Me encanta vuestro trabajo. Entre todos corregiremos los errores de la juventud de la evidencia. Cualquier error reconocido siempre supondrá un avance.

Great video. I have been working on a push heavy muscular program while having a poor lean-forward dayly posture. I believe I even press my shoulders forward think it improved my posture… wrong wrong wrong. I will work on my posture and reduce the pushing loads. Thank you for this video!

thanks for the video, very interesting to watch, but still have a question, if impingement doesnt exist, how do i cure my pain which has been diagnosed as inpingement and bursitis (and doesnt want to go away)?

Really interesting video. I developed quite bad pain in my right shoulder and was diagnosed with shoulder impingement... I suspect it was being caused by very poor posture... I did all the pysio work that was recommended by my Physiotherapist and added a bunch of additional exercises to work on my posture and over time it all went away. The reason i found out posture was likely the cause is that i was still able to train my shoulders (with some pain) but it hurt a hell of a lot less when i was strict with putting my shoulders back... it was then i realised how useful a mirror is when you're training!!

Great video

And this piece of art video has only 14k views 🤯🤯🤯 Many thanks for this ❤❤❤, very educational, informative, clear. Warm hugs from Ukraine 🇺🇦 🤗. It's hard to find here quality qualified PT help, so this video and your channel are very important for a guyz like me.

Well said!!!!!! Thank you. I am doing acupuncture every 3 days for shoulder. Monday will be my 4th time but.I can't keep paying. I have been training at F45, doing bandwork at home. Its getting better. I want to do strong glute bridges to buildup the shoulder. What are your thoughts on acupuncture for shoulder mobility?

I've taught philosophy, and formal logic and reason specifically, for decades, so I am qualified to say, 'You, Sir, make 'good' sense!', as opposed to the more 'common' variety' (a very low bar) touted and practiced by those driven by the prevailing winds of a 'shiftless' paradigm. You've validated my problem with modern 'old-school' physiotherapists, regardless of age, who hide behind a Latin narrative to propose greater expertise for themselves than their actual knowledge warrants and greater respect than they've a right to claim due to their lack of success in rehabilitating their clients; though for that lack of success they are parasitically good at generating perpetual clients.

I can't imagine my quality of life improving by having a section of my shoulder removed. I've recently discovered the light on going easy with my shoulders due to pain while lifting, and incorporating more rotator cuff strengthening/stability exercises.

i have pain at the back of my shoulder ( more like above the tricep ). It started when i was dumbell shoulder pressing, and its been the same pain for a few days. Any tips for recovery?

"I'm not getting paid by Big Uprightrow" - this is when I have smashed the like button and knew that I LOVE this channel. 🤣 And of course, the content is invaluable!!!!

Thank you for going against Big Upright Row, brother! Preach! In all seriousness, thank you for this.

I've been dealing with impingement in my right shoulder since I tore a rotator cuff 11 years ago. It's been limiting my exercise selections greatly ever since. I can't do pullups, pushups or dips without a bad flare up. And lateral shoulder raises is out of the question too. Planks are iffy, especially right side planks. And as a martial artist, over head blocks and internal parry, hooks, uppercuts and backfists are significantly limited and painful. As i get older, it only gets worse and I'm finding myself cutting out entire movement patterns. This is true for other chronic injuries I'm dealing with. I try to train around them, but am running out of parts i can train around with.

I am starting a new chapter in researching shoulder impingement

Never had any problems with my shoulder in my life, even when I was benching +300lb. Then did a 150lb warmup rep on the bench and something twinged very subtly. That was 6 months ago and my shoulder has gradually become super painful.

I love critical thinkers, people who question things and don't believe something just because an authority figure or "expert" says it. Studies are fine but have to be examined as to who is funding it. In this case that may not be much of an issue, but in other cases (I think we all know what the last few years have made us question) it's really the only issue. I am a big fan of trying what someone recommends like exercises. If it works great, if not, well It may work better for others but not for me. Bottom line on upright rows is if they bother your shoulders, find another exercise that doesn't. Informative video and I believe you nailed it. Way too many people will just believe what a doctor tells them, they want a pill that will fix the problem & do not want to hear that it's gonna take work & lifestyle changes to get the desired result, it's human nature. I believe the more research you do the more informed an opinion you will make. Buyers remorse comes from not doing the research to know what it is you are buying, don't buy a pig in a poke as they say.

Thank you for this video. I was told I have shoulder impingement and it was recommended to go to PT. My doctor told me that I could try some stretching before going to PT which I did but it didn’t really help. So I stopped doing everything no exercising, no stretching, and within a few days it started to feel better. But I exercise regularly so I went back to exercising, and now my shoulder hurts again. I’m going to try resting again and if it doesn’t heal I will go to PT. My reluctance to PT is simply cost.

i have pain with up right row but i feel better when i do behind the neck shoulder press and it has been on and off for me for 10 years now. It really isn't that big of a deal i do what i can and i stop what heart what your saying make perfect seance,

Thanks!

Thanks

I'm a 61 year young male in above average physical condition. I have regularly attended HIIT classes and strength training classes over the years and continue to this day. I'm not into body building or pumping iron. About 3 months ago I developed pain in my left shoulder. There wasn't any "event" that happened. This may sound strange but I attribute it to trying to train myself to sleep on my side to keep from snoring so much. Everything was fine until I started that regimen. I even felt some pain in my right shoulder but that went away. I didn't have any shoulder issues previously. I took a break from the strength training the class 13 days ago and the pain has decreased. Big surprise, right? I have also avoided sleeping on my left side. 3 1/2 weeks ago I saw my ortho and he gave me a cortisone shot. He's a specialist who focuses from the shoulder down. I've seen him over the past 10 years for various arm issues and trust him. The shot didn't seem to do anything. The pain i've been experiencing is a pinching pain. It's not a constant pain. Certain movements catch and pinch. At its worst I had constant pain going up my shoulder to my neck. My follow up is February 9th. Any feedback or suggestions would be much appreciated! Thank You!

Thank you🙏

Excellent overview of the current literature, debunking the impingement theory, and providing a positive view on movement and exercise. There are still too many beliefs about specific exercises causing specific problems, thus being "wrong", or people overly focusing on the 1 right technique and viewing others / variations as bad. After this video I'm left with a question: how can the painful arc be explained? Especially if this is not due to a decrease in the subacromial space..

I had this surgery years ago and have never noticed any benefit from it. I’d definitely recommend people do physio before considering it.

Awesome video, thank you. Still don't know how to get rid of the pain. It's chronic and has been with me for the last 9-10 years (anniversary yeeey :)) Anyways thank you for explaining I don't need surgery but probably physiotherapy ❤

I think if you are getting severe nerve pain in your arm,lats. Tendonitis in your upper arm,tight scapula, l think this would qualify for shoulder impingement.

Hey Osteopathy student here! If it is the case that shoulder impingement isnt a valid diagnosis what would the kind of pain that responds to hawking Kennedy, Neer test and so on be? You mentioned musculo skeletal. Could it be that the rotator cuff muscles arent firing correctly and keeping the head of the humerus down? Curious on your thoughts!

It's all about too much weight without being ready, poor form, no control etc. Trying to run before learning to walk

Awesome video because I had “frozen shoulder” surgery 10 years ago and it did nothing. I wish I’d not agreed to have it. I’m still frozen, but at least it doesn’t hurt anymore because I exercise regularly, including push-ups and weight lifting. I’m 63 😅

If the sub-acromial space doesn’t matter that much, why does doing long axis traction to the humerus get rid of pain for patients with sub-acromial pain syndrome?

Excellent video. Thank you. I’m 61 and still resistance train 3 times a week with strength and wellness as primary driver and hypertrophy as secondary driver. I’m am having left shoulder pain and thru process of elimination have been trying to weed out the causes. I never have pain while doing the exercises but that night and for a few days have serious pain. Difficulty crossing arm over body etc. I think I have zeroed in on pull-ups and over the head dumbell presses as the main culprits. I am now doing 4 or 5 exercises that I hope will help stabilize things so I can slowly add those two back in. I REALLY miss the pull ups (medium grip,in front of face). Do you have any specific suggestions for a an exercise that will help me with gaining this exercise back? Related exercises I can do with no problem are both dumbell and barbell bent over rows. Thank you in advance. Subscribed.

Geez. Im realizing that the more time my shoulder spends in these positions, the better it feels overall.

Awesome video. Super interesting. "Bursa, and bursas or bursae for the plural form, is an important lubricated fluid-filled thin sac located between bone and surrounding soft tissue, bones and tendons, and/or muscles around joints, and are useful to the human body by reducing tension and negative effects of wear-and-tear at points of friction and" bla bla bla HOW INTERESTING. I didn't know about these things before now.

Shout-out to Bald Omni-Man for making an appearance!

Hey E3, I have a question about healing a bad hamstring strain. I pulled it initially about 8-9 months ago and I have been resting it with light use such as playing basketball, jogging, and very light stretching. Do you have any advice on healing my hamstring? Thanks.

Can the joint be irritated by certain movements? Is that what “impingement” is? A physical state of the body? Like a dislocation? Rather than a description of pain?

I have a question: I started hitting the gym six days a week last week. Front overhead shoulder pushes (dumbbells) make a "crackling" sensation inside my shoulders, especially the right should, but I do NOT feel pain. What could help me avoid this sensation? It seems like my shoulder will eventually tear, for the sensation inside of it is like sanding a piece of wood. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks in advance.

You can just feel its wrong. Yet studies are always good to substantiate it.

Can impingement make my shoulder feel as if it's popping in and out when moving it side to side? And can just hanging on a bar help fix impingement?