How to Fix Shoulder Pain & Impingement (FOREVER)

If you have shoulder pain when you lift weights or simply lift your arms up over your head, then you’ll want to watch this video. Here I’m going to show you how to fix shoulder pain and impingement forever by attacking the issue at the root cause and giving you the right rotator cuff exercises and progressions to do to get this to go away once and for all.

As always, it starts with a look into the anatomy of the shoulder. First, the source of many problems when it comes to shoulder pain is the supraspinatus tendon. The supraspinatus muscle is one of the muscles of the rotator cuff. It originates on the upper surface of the scapula and feeds through a small space in the shoulder joint to attach to the upper humerus.

Given the limited room inside the joint already because of ligaments, bursa and an already tight shoulder capsule from limited shoulder mobility, the supraspinatus tendon can become pinched when the arm is lifted overhead. This is sometimes the direct cause of the inflammation that one gets and the shoulder tendonitis that one experiences that keeps them from performing upper body exercises without pain.

There is a second important cause of this pain however, that left untreated, will continue to cause a recurrence of the pain without ever getting to the bottom of the real issue. This is the fact that the supraspinatus tendon in the shoulder (as well as the biceps tendon for that matter) have an orientation that leads to them bending around the bone they attach to when the arm is moved into certain positions.

This cause a compression stress on the underside of the tendon. When this occurs, the breakdown of the tendon and resulting inflammation is being caused directly by the inability of the tendon to accommodate to the normal stresses of the joint. Sure, the joint itself becomes even more crowded and unable to safely house the tendon as additional inflammation and swelling mount up. Just doing things to strengthen the rotator cuff in this case to try and open up more room in the joint by positioning the humerus in a more biomechanically safe position isn’t enough.

Your training and rotator cuff exercises have to introduce an element of accommodating the shoulder joint to the stresses that the tendon is ill equipped to handle at this point. The way to do that is pretty simple. You need to use the right exercises, and more importantly, the right progression of exercises to push just as much as the tendon is capable of handling at this point.

We use a banded external rotation exercise and something we call a sword raise to address this.

First thing you want to do with either movement is aim to perform isometric sets. Simply hold the arm in the midrange position and aim to do so for 10 seconds for 5-10 reps. 3-5 sets is enough to get the job done. Ideally, you would save 3-5 days a week to perform this quick but effective routine.

From there, you would increase to a concentric external rotation exercise as able. Same rules apply to the number of sets and days per week that you’d be doing this. Reps could be in the 12-15 range per set.

Continue to work your way up to the stress that you are able to handle without pain.

From there you would introduce a small eccentric stress by adding a step away action. Gradually increase this stress by taking a larger step away and then finally, get to a ballistic or plyometric stress on the tendon by incorporating a small jump out. Increasingly, the tendon will accommodate to the compression stress it incurs, and needs to be able to handle, but only as your body is capable of handling it. Instead of rushing into this and risking further aggravation of symptoms. Do it at this gradual pace and you will be able to fix your shoulder pain once and for all.

For more videos on how to fix shoulder pain and impingement while getting the best rotator cuff exercises to do, be sure to subscribe to our channel at the link below and remember to turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

[gregorypismiris]

This guy seriously deserve an award, like how many people with no hope for there shoulders have you helped.. THANK YOU!

[austingowin]

I love Jeff’s comment section, it’s always so positive

[chalupaman]

Bro thanks so much, this literally made me cry. This pain has been bothering me ever since ive been working out. I couldn't even put my arm down at times and it pinched almost all the time. I've been doing this for 2 weeks and the pain is almost completely gone. I honestly can't thank this dude enough.

[dvirgo]

I rarely leave comments because, just like now, no one cares what I think. In this case I want to say God bless you for this video. I struggled for over a year with a bad shoulder that prevented me from working out in any meaningful way. After watching your video tho, and adjusting my grip, I’m back working out almost pain free. I hope you know the information you provide people really does improve the quality of many people’s lives. Thank you again my friend.

[theRNIN]

Banded external rotation exercise:
3:30 Isometric
3:55 Concentric
5:15 Eccentric
6:00 Plyometric

Sword raise exercise:
6:55 Isometric
7:10 Concentric
7:38 Eccentric
7:42 Heightened eccentric
7:55 Ballistic

[atlanii]

It's been three weeks since I'm doing this exercise (the first variation) and I can notice the difference. I have more arm movement than before, the pain begins much later than before. You have no idea how much you've helped me. Thank you so, so much for your advice 🙏

P.S. Today I was able to do pain-free military push-ups for the first time in months. To put it into perspective for your readers: the pain started in March and I couldn't do push-ups anymore. It's August 31st. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

As of 11/15/2023: For the first time since March, I'm not thinking about my shoulder pain anymore. I'm not pain free, but I have a lot of pain-free mobility. So much so, I'm finally forgetting the pain. Again: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (PS. I started lifting weights. Yay.)

12/14/2023: Pain is barely there. Thank you once more. For your readers: I exercise according to this video every other day (3x week). With the pain, weight training was not possible so I just did HIIT for months, then I tried to lift weight with a lot of modifications. I've incorporated several of your exercises from other videos to my routine.

12/26/23: I'm able to swim pain-free again. Front Crawl is painless. Butterfly style is still difficult for me. Thank you so, so much.

03/16/24: One year after the pain (and lack of mobility) started I'm going to the gym, lifting weights and swimming 99% painfree with 99% mobility back. Thank you so much!!!

[rubalg]

Following him for 8 years, this guy always helped me in recovering from my injuries. There is always a video posted for every injury I had gone through. Keep up the good work.

[victorsiron]

Thanks Jeff, I’ve been performing this exercise for the last 8 weeks and the improvement has helped me to go heavy on my bench again.

[warrenmays]

Almost 25 years ago I was facing rotator cuff surgery as recommended by a "traditional" Orthopedic Doctor I'd been referred to. Facing the loss of pay in being unable to work during recovery I went to another, more "sports oriented, " Orthopedic for a 2nd opinion that was recommended by some contacts I had in professional baseball. He told me, yeah you can do surgery, or you can try this exercise routine that is very close to what you describe in this video. That is the option I chose and I never looked back. This is great information and the fact that at 64 I can work my shoulders without the pain I dealt with at 40 is proof that these activities can be an opition for some! Thanks!

[timmccann]

This worked incredibly well for my shoulder. I’m closing in on 60 years of age and I thought my bench pressing days might be over due to shoulder pain but this got me back on the bench. Thanks

[driftx]

I had shoulder injury and stopped working out for 7 years. Thanks to your videos I started weight lifting again with better technique and I can say I'm pain free 95% if the time!

[Greengrunt]

Just wanted to share my own shoulder pain experience, I had been lifting heavy shoulder press dumbells for a couple years and then suddenly I had alot of pain and had to drop the weight by over 50% due to high pain, the pain wouldnt go away and lasted weeks, so I started looking for solutions, I started doing band exercises like the ones in the video, and also decreased the bench incline by 1 notch (It might of been to steep for my large frame, putting more strain on shoulder) and after doing these things, I noticed a rapid improvement over the next few weeks, and eventually the pain was completely gone, and I came back even stronger reaching new PRs, still no pain 8 months later, and I still do some bands because I believe they really help your shoulders.

[ricoF]

THANK YOU!!!

I have this shoulder pain for about a couple of years I got when I trained Boxing, exactly as you described...I immediately tried the moves you showed, albeit without the rubber band and it eased the pains in my right shoulder IMMEDIATELY! Although I know I need to this more and in a proper setup to fully heal my shoulders. I can't thank you enough!

Now I can train and spar again without worrying about my injury so much. Thank you again!

[jmpike]

Been having pain in my AC joint for the past 4 months and it never seems like it's never gonna go away. Just started doing these exercises and I can immediately feel the relief. You're the man Jeff!

[brownstyles]

This is the first time I ever experienced this kind of pain, and your video offered instant relief.. can’t thank you enough.

[johnsmith-olfm]

I started training to gain muscle like a year ago and I reach a point in my training where I felt confident in my flat bench and incline bench press. Last week I started to feel this pain in my shoulder and I thought I would never be able to train as hard as I could before. Thank you so much for this tip! It’s help me a lot.

[andreashort]

I've seen comments like "Jeff is reading my mind" for years, but seriously. I've been researching this subject for the past two days. What the hell, Jeff? Where's the camera?!

[trueTF]

I love you, Jeff. Man, I swear I do.
I was with this pain since february. No improvement even stopping my activity with the exercise. A sonography did not show any injury, and I started to think I was turning crazy.
Well, I started this Jeff stuff last month and I'm really amazed with my progress. I'm not healed completely, but definitely I feel better.
So, people... it works.
Thank you, Jeff.

[CP-lobh]

Over time I had both AC joints cut and rotator cuff sewn, I learned the hard way the importance of what you are saying here.

[Buck_T]

Ok so you can see my last post is 10 days ago. this is what my ultrasound said.... supraspinatus tendinopathy and subcromial bursopathy with impingement. I was in so much pain for nearly 6 months, couldnt lay on my right shoulder or do much of anything with it. Now alothough my shoulder is still a bit week and i get a slight pain when lifting a weight at near full extension above my head, I can say that my impingement is gone, i can lay on the shoulder and im pain free using light weights as i rebuild the strength. absolutely blown away and wanted to let everyone know and thank Jeff bless ya mate miracle worker