Hanging from a bar several times / day with no warmup --> dangerous for shoulder health?

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

In order to improve grip strength I started hanging from my staircase many times a day. So when walking around the house I would just reach up on the tip of my toes and hang from one of the stairs for say, 20-30 seconds at a time. Not doing any chin-ups but just holding still or mildly swinging my body back and forth. I started to do that a few months ago.

Now, a couple of months ago, this mild pain in my right shoulder, which seems to be (somewhere between the AC joint and rotator cuff) started to creep in and got worse, so I stopped hanging.
I feel like it is getting better but very slowly. I also have a history with that shoulder messing it up grappling.

So my question: what's the conventional wisdom on dead-hangs? Can you just do them with no warm-up like I did or did I go full darwin-award?

 

[dissectingaorticaneurysm]

In order to improve grip strength I started hanging from my staircase many times a day. So when walking around the house I would just reach up on the tip of my toes and hang from one of the stairs for say, 20-30 seconds at a time. Not doing any chin-ups but just holding still or mildly swinging my body back and forth. I started to do that a few months ago.

Now, a couple of months ago, this mild pain in my right shoulder, which seems to be (somewhere between the AC joint and rotator cuff) started to creep in and got worse, so I stopped hanging.
I feel like it is getting better but very slowly. I also have a history with that shoulder messing it up grappling.

So my question: what's the conventional wisdom on dead-hangs? Can you just do them with no warm-up like I did or did I go full darwin-award?

Dead hangs themselves are used for warmups so I can't think of how you'd warm up to it anyway. But try doing active hangs/scapular hangs instead.

They take some of the load off the joints and unto your muscles.

And if you're doing this for grip, try hanging from towels instead. Not only will it work the grip harder, but the neutral grip and narrower placement might be beneficial for your shoulder issues.

 

[vision1]

Hanging from a dead hang causes me shoulder pain as well.
Try hanging with your elbows bent (flexed arm hang) and modify the grip to make more difficult. Towel like suggested above works well. Or fold a towel a put on the ledge to make it thicker.
You can also reduce number of fingers on one hand at a time and work towards holding with a single hand.

 

[thugpoet]

Pain and discomfort is more likely a mobility issue. The best advice is to go see a doc to make sure there are no ligament tears/damage. If not then the nest step is to get more mobile.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

You must stop immediately or amputation will be inevitable.

 

[Badger67]

Dead hangs themselves are used for warmups so I can't think of how you'd warm up to it anyway. But try doing active hangs/scapular hangs instead.

They take some of the load off the joints and unto your muscles.

And if you're doing this for grip, try hanging from towels instead. Not only will it work the grip harder, but the neutral grip and narrower placement might be beneficial for your shoulder issues.

This is the correct answer.

 

[WARinsertname]

If hanging hurts just do static holds with a trapbar or farmers handles. Do those timed and try to beat your time every week and move up the weight gradually. Not everyone's shoulders are the same, issues that occur with your shoulders might not occur for someone else.

I've got a bad left shoulder, so I just do static holds or farmer's walks with heavy load.

 

[TerryMCLOOPS]

This is not to time to impress you with good ideas. If you are telling the truth, the hanging isnt a problem. It is highlighting a weakness you have developed due to your lifestyle. If you are young and healthy, you need to look at how much time you're sitting, using your phone, how youre sleeping position is, if youre spending time on a computer, your posture, etc. If youre old or out of shape, you need to choose to spend more time building and maintaining strength and mobility. In either case, you need to change something about your lifestyle.

This healthy thing you started doing, light stretching, is letting you know you have unhealthy habits that are fucking your shoulder. Dont stop the healthy thing, identify and change your unhealthy habits.

 

[vision1]

This is not to time to impress you with good ideas. If you are telling the truth, the hanging isnt a problem. It is highlighting a weakness you have developed due to your lifestyle. If you are young and healthy, you need to look at how much time you're sitting, using your phone, how youre sleeping position is, if youre spending time on a computer, your posture, etc. If youre old or out of shape, you need to choose to spend more time building and maintaining strength and mobility. In either case, you need to change something about your lifestyle.

This healthy thing you started doing, light stretching, is letting you know you have unhealthy habits that are fucking your shoulder. Dont stop the healthy thing, identify and change your unhealthy habits.

You were able to determine quite a lot with the little information you had.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Dead hangs themselves are used for warmups so I can't think of how you'd warm up to it anyway. But try doing active hangs/scapular hangs instead.

They take some of the load off the joints and unto your muscles.

And if you're doing this for grip, try hanging from towels instead. Not only will it work the grip harder, but the neutral grip and narrower placement might be beneficial for your shoulder issues.

Thanks. I will give a shot to this scapular exercise.
As far as the warming up is concerned, push-ups are also used for warming up but it is recommended to get the blood going first by running a few mn, skipping rope, etc.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Hanging from a dead hang causes me shoulder pain as well.
Try hanging with your elbows bent (flexed arm hang) and modify the grip to make more difficult. Towel like suggested above works well. Or fold a towel a put on the ledge to make it thicker.
You can also reduce number of fingers on one hand at a time and work towards holding with a single hand.

I already do a difficult grip: I don't use the thumb and since the surface of the stair is kind of slippery it's a difficult exercise on the hand / forearms.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Pain and discomfort is more likely a mobility issue. The best advice is to go see a doc to make sure there are no ligament tears/damage. If not then the nest step is to get more mobile.

My shoulder has been a bit messed up for a few years from a judo injury (which did not permanently damage ligaments).
Interestingly, it started hurting when I stopped judo due to the lockdown and I can't think of anything (outside of the deadhangs) which could cause the pain.
How weird is that.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

This is not to time to impress you with good ideas. If you are telling the truth, the hanging isnt a problem. It is highlighting a weakness you have developed due to your lifestyle. If you are young and healthy, you need to look at how much time you're sitting, using your phone, how youre sleeping position is, if youre spending time on a computer, your posture, etc. If youre old or out of shape, you need to choose to spend more time building and maintaining strength and mobility. In either case, you need to change something about your lifestyle.

This healthy thing you started doing, light stretching, is letting you know you have unhealthy habits that are fucking your shoulder. Dont stop the healthy thing, identify and change your unhealthy habits.

That's an interesting post. A little while ago I had some impingment on that shoulder which also appeared for no reason. What I did to cure this was simply to change the mouse hand on the computer (I have a desk job so I spend hours every day using the mouse.

Other than that I exercise regularly, have a rather healthy lifestyle and don't spend much too much time sitting down or on the computer or watching TV.
The only other imbalance I could think of is that I was carrying my daughter systematically on the side that hurts, and as my daugther weighs like 12 Kg now it's the kind of thing that adds up (I lift her up countless times every day). But I switched my carrying side yet the pain remains.

Something that could also be a cause is that I installed a heavy bag since the beginning of the confinement but I have been punching bags since more than 20 years with no problems ever.

Or maybe I am just getting old (40)...:-(