Performance Sport Care - Douglas F. Cancel, DC

Bench press soreness is common. A torn pec is not.

Most shoulder discomfort after pressing responds to adjustments in grip width, tempo, load, and recovery time.

But three signs mean stop and get checked this week:
• A sudden pop at the bottom of a heavy rep with immediate weakness
• Bruising that appears in the chest, arm, or armpit within a day or two
• A visible change in chest contour

Early diagnosis matters. Delayed evaluation of a pectoralis major tear can limit strength and cosmetic outcomes.

Diagnosis-first evaluation and supervised strength rehabilitation are available at Performance Sport Care in Walnut Creek.

Read the full guide: performancesportcare.com/bench-press-shoulder-pain/

One of the most common knee surgeries in the world may be doing more harm than good — a 10-year study just confirmed it. If you've been told your meniscus is the reason your knee still hurts, this is worth reading.

One of the Most Common Knee Surgeries May Be Doing More Harm Than Good A 10-year study found a common knee surgery doesn't help degenerative meniscus tears — and may make them worse. Here's what's often behind the pain instead.

Most peak bone mass is built by age 18 — and a teenage athlete can miss essential bone development "deposits" even if his/her performance seems unaffected... and even if the performance seems to be getting better.

Our latest article covers Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S): what happens when dietary fueling is exceeded by the energy demands of training or sports. Nothing shows up on an X-ray. Often the only early sign is an injury that won't stay fixed.

At Performance Sport Care, this is part of what we look for in teenage athletes whose pain is not getting better.

Read the full article: performancesportcare.com/red-s-relative-energy-deficiency-in-sport/
Schedule your evaluation at Performance Sport Care: performancesportcare.com/request-an-appointment/

4 Factors That Decide If the Bench Press Hurts Your Shoulders

The bench press itself isn’t the problem. These four training variables usually are:

Form & ex*****on (grip width + scapular position)
Load, volume & progression speed
Range of motion — especially the bottom position
How you respond when strain shows up

When these are managed well, most lifters keep pressing without shoulder issues. When they’re not, the damage builds over weeks and months.

Lasting results come from accurate diagnosis and expert-guided progressive loading — not just resting and hoping it goes away.

Schedule your evaluation at Performance Sport Care in Walnut Creek.
👉 performancesportcare.com/bench-press-shoulder-pain

Rest and ice don't fix shin splints. They just quiet things down until the next flare-up.

Medial tibial stress syndrome — the clinical name for shin splints — sits on a spectrum of bone stress. Push through it, and that same load can progress toward a tibial stress fracture. It also affects female athletes at meaningfully higher rates.

Usually several factors stack up at once: training spikes, hard surfaces, overpronation, tight calves, weak hips, worn shoes, and gaps in vitamin D, calcium, or protein. Lasting relief comes from treating the load and the mechanics together — not just resting and hoping it goes away.

Schedule your evaluation at Performance Sport Care: performancesportcare.com/request-an-appointment/

The bench press is associated with four specific conditions — and they feel different.

This graphic breaks down:
• Rotator cuff tendinopathy (most common)
• Weightlifter’s shoulder
• Pectoralis major tear (the one that needs prompt attention)
• Glenohumeral osteoarthritis

Where the pain is located and whether it came on gradually or suddenly are your biggest practical clues as to what is going on.

If your shoulders have been hurting during or after bench pressing, an accurate diagnosis is the difference between months of guessing and a clear path forward.

Read the full article: performancesportcare.com/bench-press-shoulder-pain

Performance Sport Care | Walnut Creek

Rest can quiet the pain of jumper’s knee — but it doesn’t rebuild the tendon’s capacity to handle jumping, landing, and cutting.

That’s why so many athletes get stuck in the same cycle:
pain → complete rest → temporary relief → return to full training → pain returns.

A better approach focuses on the right load, not less of it:
• Modify irritating training volume
• Restore hip and ankle mechanics
• Progressively load the tendon
• Rebuild full-body strength
• Gradually return to jumping

This is the staged method we use at Performance Sport Care to help athletes break the cycle and return to training with confidence.

If inferior kneecap pain is limiting your sport, request an assessment.
Full article: performancesportcare.com/patellar-tendinopathy-jumpers-knee-walnut-creek/

Shoulder pain from bench pressing is one of the most common complaints we hear from serious lifters — and one of the most frequently misdiagnosed.

The bench press itself is not the problem. How it is loaded, programmed, and executed over time often is. Distal clavicular osteolysis ("weightlifter's shoulder"), pectoralis major tears, progressive joint wear, and overlapping soft-tissue issues each feel different and require different management. Treating them all as "rotator cuff" is why many shoulders never get better.

We just published a detailed breakdown of the four main problems that develop from heavy benching, the training factors that drive them, and what actually changes the outcome:

→ https://performancesportcare.com/bench-press-shoulder-pain/

If you've been adjusting grip, dropping weight, or taking deloads for months without lasting relief, this is worth reading.

The Bench Press Doesn't Wreck Shoulders. Four Things Do. Bench press shoulder pain isn't one problem — it's four. A Walnut Creek sports chiropractor breaks down the real causes and what actually fixes them.

It's not overtraining.

Restrictive eating. A training load that exceeds your nutritional energy fueling. Low carb availability. All three lead to the same place: Low Energy Availability (LEA), the mechanism behind Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S).

RED-S rarely looks dramatic at first. It looks like injuries that persist, stress fractures, frequent colds, missed cycles, low mood, or a training response that seems to be "stuck in the mud," -all signs incorrectly having you believe that all you have to do is just "push through it."

RED-S touches your bones, hormones, immune system, and mental health all at once. It can get to a point that's beyond what a single provider, alone, can treat, which is why our job is to catch the warning signs early and get you on a prompt path to proper diagnosis and recovery.

Save this so you know what to watch for.

Schedule your evaluation at Performance Sport Care: performancesportcare.com/request-an-appointment/

Tired of the same injury coming back no matter how carefully you rehab it?

Recurring shin splints, stress fractures, stalled strength gains, or that constant “why am I always sore and underperforming?” feeling often isn’t a local tissue problem. It’s a systemic one.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) happens when training load rises faster than energy intake. The body quietly diverts resources away from bone repair, hormone production, and recovery to keep you alive. The result? Injuries that keep returning, performance that plateaus, and athletes (especially teens) who miss the critical window for building peak bone mass.

In the latest article on the Performance Sport Care blog, Dr. Douglas Cancel explains:

• Why RED-S is far more common than most athletes and coaches realize

• The subtle signs that show up in both male and female athletes

• Why “just eat more” is incomplete advice—and what actually works

• How we evaluate and treat the root cause inside a sports chiropractic setting

If you’ve been chasing the same injury for months (or years), the problem may not be the injury itself.

Read the full article:
https://performancesportcare.com/red-s-relative-energy-deficiency-in-sport/

Ready to look past the pain and find out what’s really limiting your recovery?

Request an appointment: https://performancesportcare.com/request-an-appointment/