For a long time (as long as I can remember) I had been having a great deal of trouble with locking out a kettlebell overhead on my right side, despite being very right hand dominant and generally a lot stronger on my right side. I could only hold overhead lockout on the right for 75% of the time I could hold it on the left - not good! I was finding that my anterior deltoid on the right was fatiguing really quickly and my right arm would then start drifting laterally.
I put it down to weak upper and mid traps and rhomboids on the right side due to an old whiplash injury that was mismanaged and resulted in some long term weakness and a decent amount of scar tissue throughout the right side of my neck and upper back.
These muscle groups undoubtedly contributed, but no amount of massage, dry needling or rehab exercises made significant or long term improvements in my overhead lockout. My anterior delt was still taking the brunt of the overhead lifting, which is far from ideal.
A couple of weeks ago the problems with my right overhead lockout got quite bad - not good when you spend most of your time doing jerks and snatches! I figured it was time to get another massage to try to relieve the problem, at least temporarily, so that I could continue to train.
I told the massage therapist that I thought perhaps pec minor was the main culprit this time. She had a poke around and said it didn't feel that bad. She did a few diagnostic tests and then shoved her fingers between the base of my neck and collarbone. The feeling was sickening. She continued to dig her fingers in while getting me to turn my head back and forth. She then got me to lift my arm into the overhead lockout position (which even unweighted had previously caused burning in my anterior delt and had seemed jammed up). No burning. No discomfort. No feeling of having a jammed up shoulder.
So, it was the scalenes that had been causing me the most problems. When I went back to training with the bells lockout was comfortable and I could actually lean my chest through in overhead lockout so I could stay there comfortably. And, it's been good ever since.
I'm not sure if it was the training that caused my incredible scalene tightness, or if it was the old injuries, or sitting in front of a computer every day, or a combination of all these. However, now that I know about it, and the potent effect it had the all-important overhead lockout, I'll be able to keep it in check.
Tight scalenes are pretty common. They can cause tingling or numbness down the forearms and hands, tension headaches and referred pain in the upper back, chest and shoulder.
Click here for more information on scalene trigger points and stretches and check out the video below.