Pullups - Shoulder stress

[Wrobo]

My shoulders have always bothered me from time to time. My orthopedic took x-rays and felt is was arthritis. I received a cortisone shot in December, and was pain free for the most part for 5 months. I have always been active with sports but I'm only 26, so I was surprised when he said arthritis.

Regardless, since December, I stopped doing barbell bench presses, now only doing dumbbell bench presses on occasion. I never do any movements behind my neck, nor do I do upright rows. I have also cut back on the amount of dips I do.

I do a lot pull-ups and chin-ups. Chin-ups and pull-ups with my hands closer together feel great. However, the wider grip pull-ups feel as though more stress is being placed on shoulders.

My question is, do wide grip pull-ups place a lot of undue stress on the shoulders (rotator cuff)? Are there any exercises I should do to strengthen my shoulders? I do no direct shoulder work, except frequent work with bands to strengthen my rotator cuffs.

My routine is pretty simple. Full body three times a week:

Squats or Deadlift
Pull-up or Chin-ups
Bent-over barbell rows or Seated cable rows
Dips or Dumbbell bench press

Thanks,
Wrobo

[John Izzo]

I like the workout. Very basic, yet hits alot of muscles and movements. I think people tend to use to "wide" of a grip on pull-up, chins, adn lat-downs becasue of the old-age bodybuilder's theory that "wider grip-wider back". And it simply isn't true. The wide grip takes alot of the "power" away form the lats and places more strain on the shoulder girdle.

During the lat pulldown (or chin) the ideal scapulohumeral rhythm is not achieved because the scapulae are left in an elevated, upward rotated (sometimes protracted) position as the bar is pulled down. This decreases the amount of shortening that occurs in the lats--taking away from the muscle group and focuses on faulty scapular motion.

Ideally, go shoudler-width apart (comfortably) adn not WIDER.