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That really sucks, man. You haven't told us what the sports medicine docs think. I assume you've had it looked at, right?

Shoulders are what are called "floating joints," no ball and socket or anything, just a bunch of ligaments holding everything together. Once you injure them, they stay vulnerable, pretty much permanently. Harleyguy and Mike001 are right about this. You have to (1) find some lifts that don't aggravate the injury, (2) use partial reps on some of these, as it's the experience of full load at extreme rep range (e.g., hypoextension) that can fuck you up, and (3) avoid like the plague the lifts that hurt you, even when you're feeling better, because all it takes is one bad workout and you're back to square one.

Anyway, before you start self medicating you should get a good orthopod to check you out. Get back to us and let us know how you're doing with this. Good luck, brother.

I have had the same problem, but likely not nearly as severe as you have.

Lay off the big weight for a little while, and the lifts that hurt altogether for a while.

Do some preventive excercises that strengthen the EXTERNAL ROTATION muscles (rotator cuff muscles that twist arm outward)

Check out the "Shoulder Horn". You don't need to buy one of those goofy looking things, but do excercises that mimic that motion and don't use rear delts...use external rotation rotator cuff muscles. In 3-4 weeks it works wonders.

1.) Lay off inclines for a long time. You may have to lay off them for good. Yeah, I know that sucks, but you've got a vulnerability now in your shoulders that inclines seem to aggravate. If you're wise, you'll just say a little funeral service for the incline bench, and pretend you don't even see it anyore when you walk in the gym.

2.) Go light and go partial on shoulder lifts for quite awhile. Be very careful at the extreme ranges (hypo and hyperextension). Go so light that you feel like a pussy, but do it. You'll be grateful later.

3.) You'll probably be okay with this, but you might also want to watch out when doing lifts that use shoulders as a supporting structure, like bench dips, that kind of thing. Feel your way along, but be careful.

4. Next time, LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR DOC SAYS. I can't believe that you went to see your doc about this crucial injury, and all you came away with was "I dont remember exactly what he said but,it had something to do with being badly bruised." WTF? C'mon man, this is your bod we're talking about here. Bodybuilders put extreme stress on their bodies, and have to be extremely cognizant of what's going on there at all times. Next time, FlexMex, Listen UP, bro!

Sorry to rant on you. Hope this clears up soon, but be ready for a long seige in case it doesn't. Keep us posted either way.

Rather than laying off shoulders altogether, I would just lay off the inclines no matter how much you love 'em (Yeah, you can go ahead and cry, bro, it's good for you!). Then, just feel your way along on the other shoulder lifts. It might in fact be good for you, promote healing, to be doing lifts that involve the shoulder, but that don't hit the joint in a way that inclines do. Experiment with light weights, and partial reps. In my experience, it's the hypoextension part of the range of motion (e.g., elbows below the shoulder) that fuck me up most when doing shoulders. Other guys, it's just the opposite, they're okay so long as they keep their elbows low, and blow their shoulders out when they go high on the rep. That's why you have to feel along for yourself.

Anyway, you seem to have gotten the message. It does suck but, hey, I've screwed myself out of half a dozen lifts that I really like. Just move on, bro. Move on down the road.

Hope you feel better soon.

Bjaarki

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"'Til the weard of the world, stands, unforgotten,
high under Heaven, the hero's name." - Hrolf Krakki's Saga (Iceland)

You might try one of those vertical fly machines. Some models you can adjust them, or you can scoot your ass back and forth to get a kind of "incline" angle to it. Be careful though, bro. Go light, and really watch that range of motion thing I was telling you about. Let us know how it goes.