My Shoulder Hurts When I Go Overhead — Should I Stop or Push Through It?
- Made 2 Move Team
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
About the Author: Hannah Breal, PT, DPT is the co-owner of Made 2 Move Physical Therapy in Charleston and Charlotte. She helps athletes and active adults rebuild strength, mobility, and confidence so they can move pain-free for life.
One of the most common questions I get as a physical therapist:
“When is pain okay during a workout, and when should I stop?”
Someone walked up to me in the gym the other day asking if she should keep working out because her shoulder was hurting.
And I’m not a betting woman, but I’d bet you’ve asked that question before too.
Most people think the answer is one of two extremes:
Ignore it and push through it
OR
Stop the movement completely.
But here’s the truth:
I almost never tell patients to do either of those things.
Because pushing through pain or completely stopping often makes symptoms worse or makes them last longer.
So what are you supposed to do?
I answer this question with a question - classic physical therapist behavior - and it comes down to three things:
1. Is the Pain Tolerable?
This is not me asking whether you can “push through it” or “stop being a wimp.”It’s about understanding the intensity and quality of the discomfort.
It is generally okay to keep moving if the symptoms are:
Less than 3–4 out of 10
More like a sensation, awareness, or mild discomfort
Not sharp, threatening, or scary
Not distracting or making you nervous
If your symptoms do not meet those criteria, then we need to modify the movement.
Not stop.
Modify.
And before you ask:
No, pain isn’t automatically bad.
No, pain does not always mean you should stop exercising.
Pain is a signal - not a danger alarm.
Working through tolerable discomfort can help desensitize the area, retrain your nervous system, and stimulate tissue adaptation.
That is how you get stronger, reduce long-term pain, and build resilience.
If a heavy deadlift hurts, I’m not telling you to go home.
I’m asking you to adjust the weight, the range of motion, or the variation so you can keep training safely.
2. Is the Pain Temporary?
This is where people get clarity.
If the pain gets worse and goes beyond “tolerable” during the movement OR you’re significantly more flared up afterward,
then the current version of that movement is too much for now.
Example:
You have shoulder pain. You try overhead press.
It increases a little, but stays tolerable.
When you stop pressing, the discomfort goes back to baseline.
Great - that movement is allowed at that weight and intensity.
But if your shoulder blows up afterward, or the pain jumps past tolerable mid-set, you need to modify.
Overhead pressing isn’t the problem.
The load, range, or tempo is.
3. Is the Pain Recoverable?
Let’s say you work with us in PT for your shoulder.
Your pain stays tolerable throughout the session. Great!
But before I tell you to repeat that workout later, I’m going to ask:
“How did your shoulder feel the next day? And the day after that?”
This tells me:
How well your tissues handled the stress
Whether the workload was appropriate
What dosage to adjust
Whether we need to scale up or down
Recoverability is a huge part of smart training.
Working With Athletes in Daniel Island & Mount Pleasant
Overhead shoulder pain is something we see every single week in our clinics in Daniel Island and Mount Pleasant - especially among active adults, CrossFitters, lifters, tennis players, and pickleball players.
Most people assume they need to avoid all overhead movements.But once we look at what is tolerable, temporary, and recoverable, they realize they can almost always keep training with a smart modification strategy.
Learning how to work with your pain instead of around it is exactly why so many of our patients recover faster and return to lifting overhead with more confidence than before.
TL;DR
The answer is rarely “stop doing that movement forever,” and it’s rarely “push through it no matter what.”
Most of the time, the solution is simple:
Modify the movement, don’t abandon it.
And don’t try to be a hero by pushing through high-intensity pain.
Pain isn’t something you need to avoid completely or force your way through.
Finding the middle ground helps you retrain your tissues, calm your nervous system, and build long-term capacity.
If you’re dealing with shoulder pain during overhead movements, remember the three rules:
Tolerable.
Temporary.
Recoverable.
That’s the framework we use with our patients across Daniel Island and Mount Pleasant to keep them training, progressing, and feeling confident in the gym.
At Made 2 Move Physical Therapy, we help active adults, pickleball players, and recreational athletes in Daniel Island and Mount Pleasant stay strong, healthy, and injury-free so they can keep playing for years.
We have three convenient locations:
Our team of DPTs can help you move, play, and live without limitations.
Want to learn how to move better, stay pain-free, and actually understand your body?
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Written by Hannah Breal, PT, DPT, Co-Owner of Made 2 Move Physical Therapy, helping Charleston and Charlotte move pain-free for life.
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