which muscle groups are used?

laurenc42

There are two jobs I commonly do where I work. One seems to aggervate my shoulder (I dislocated my collar bone a few years ago and it's never been the same) the other seems to help. They are very similar jobs and i want to see if i can isolate the ones that help vs hurt. One involves pulling boxes from a pallet and putting them on a conveyor, slightly lower then my waist. The other involves picking boxes of a line and palletizing them, and them moving them and loading them on a truck. For some reason if i am taking boxes from a pallet to put on the line, it hurts much less then if I am putting boxes on a pallet. They are often stacked at or above head level. If anyone has any input on which muscles would be used differently it would be really helpful. This might seem silly. I want to start going to the gym and weight training. Figuring this out would help me decide what exactly I need to be doing. Thank you-

ChrisLindsay9

Am I right in understanding that taking something from head level and bringing it down is fine, but taking something that's down low and lifting it up to head level is what's causing the discomfort?

I can't help but feel it's a rotator cuff issue. Perhaps it's got some inflammation (tendonitis) or calcification. I have it in my right shoulder. I can't still work out with it at my top weight, but it took a couple of months to get there. Doing front and side lateral raises with 5-8 lb. dumbbells and military presses should help strengthen that area up. And after work or working out, you may want to ice that area down on a regular basis.

I'm not a doctor here, so this is a guess. You may want to get it x-rayed so you can be certain.

scottdeeby

You might want to google "scapular mobility". The key to healthy shoulders is mobility of the shoulder blades. Learn some exercises that get your scapulae moving in concert with your shoulders. Face pulls is a good one, for example.