Pull-ups are one of the most popular (and most effective) exercises you can do because they will strengthen your arms, shoulders and back, whilst also engaging your core abdominal muscles as well.
However it is also one of those exercises that can easily lead to injury. This is particularly true when you don’t perform this exercise correctly, but it can also happen even if you use correct form.
So in this article I want to briefly discuss some of the most common pull-up injuries that you are likely to experience:
Shoulder Injuries
Pull-ups can be classified as a high intensity exercise, and you will find that it is your shoulders that seem to take a great deal of strain.
Subsequently shoulder injuries, particularly rotator cuff injuries, are very common when performing pull-ups, and are one of the reasons why many people are forced to stop doing pull-ups at some point.
Of course if you can do quite a lot of pull-ups without any problems and use perfect technique, then you are far less likely to suffer any shoulder injuries, but if you are pushing yourself to do 5-10 reps, for example, and find this exercise to be really difficult, you are far more likely to do some damage.
Elbow Injuries
As well as experiencing some shoulder pain, it is also very common to experience some elbow pain at some point if you do pull-ups on a regular basis.
Once again, this is far more likely if you are not performing this exercise correctly, but you will find that you can still experience elbow pain even if you use correct form.
That’s because you are placing a lot of strain on your elbows when you are lifting yourself up to the pull-up bar, particularly if you have a large, muscular physique because you are obviously lifting your whole body up with every rep.
Bicep And Tricep Injuries
In my experience it is the shoulders and elbows that are most likely to get injured during or after pull-ups, but it is not uncommon to experience pain in either your biceps or your triceps.
That’s because these muscle groups are both worked pretty hard during this exercise. Therefore it is really easy to overwork them and to do some damage if you are not careful.
These injuries are generally not as serious and will clear up fairly quickly with rest, but it is still something to bear in mind.
Neck Injuries
Neck injuries are actually quite rare when doing pull-ups, but if your head is not aligned with your spine, then it can be very easy to strain your neck and cause a minor injury.
This is particularly true if you are in the gym, for example, because it is very easy to become distracted by other people, and subsequently to find yourself looking to your left or right when pulling your body upwards.
It may only take one single rep where your head is turned slightly to the left or the right to put your neck out and cause some severe pain and discomfort. So once again, correct form is essential with every rep.
Final Comments
If you do experience any of these injuries, the worst thing you can do is to ignore the pain and continue to do your pull-ups as usual. This will only exacerbate the pain and do even more damage in the long run.
The important thing is to rest and recuperate, and wait for your injuries to heal before resuming your pull-up program. You should only continue performing these exercises on a regular basis when you are completely free of injury.
If you never get to this point, then you should simply replace this exercise with other exercises because there are many different ways to work your arms, shoulders and back without placing so much strain on each of these muscle groups.
Hurt my grip in the Left hand. At first I was using a underhand grip but then read that it’s better to do an overhand grip, it’s a matter of using your fingers or using the bone under the big knuckles as one big piece. I thought this would be a better grip because the weight gets distributed more evenly and less stress on the fingers? I am a classical guitarist and that’s why I went to such detail. I love sports and pull ups is great for my surfing sessions. I have a strain in my left forearm and am going to take a week off from all the pulling exercises. I think I may have an over-use injury, although I don’t mentally feel over-use but I guess my body needs the rest now that I’m over the hill.. just turned 40. 6’2″ 205 rightTHR
Sorry to hear that. Yes giving your body a complete rest from training every so often is always a good idea because I think a lot of people are guilty of overtraining in the gym.
Hi im vik..today i hear a sound like crack on my elbow during push ups work out..if its bone fracture pain will b high.bt i feel little bit pain not that much..but if i lift a weight my elbow pains again …any idea what that injury might be..
Sorry to hear that Vik. Unfortunately I’m not qualified to offer any medical advice. The only thing I can say is that if an exercise is causing you pain, you should stop doing it.
Hi, my name is Mark and yesterday when I did a pull-up I was distracted by my friend I did not have correct form. I heard some kind of “clank” under my scapula. The pain was dull in the beginning and started to feel stronger the next day. I am not really sure what happened but I am having troubles turning my head and moving (like walking and sitting). I hope it will go away soon.
That sounds bad. I hope it gets better soon.
How long did it take to recover
Hi, I was playing reverse close grip Pull-up and felt a paper tear in my left shoulder at my first rep and i had stopped immediately. Every day i was checking myself i could not find any color or swelling in the shoulder area. later that days the pain was slightly less and next day when i perform chest, and biceps i did not feel any pain and today when i wanted to play Back muscle (i felt terrible pain in the Cable Pull down) and triceps Muscle (i felt pain in shoulder rear area while playing the Triceps cable push down) i have no issue with my shoulder movement or shoulder exercise. Could you advise how can i fix this.
I obviously cannot give medical advice, but I would suggest that you get it checked out by a medical professional and take a break from the gym in the meantime.
I hurt a muscle above my left elbow, is it a tear or pulled. It hurts when I extend it.
Experiencing a slight pain in the testicles region and in the grip of the right hand on applying some ointment in the region the pain in the hand also goes away for the day but starts again the next day ,please help
I heart my lats on the side of my skapula it seemes the muscle is tear. How do i fix that cant find nothing on the internet about it.
I injured my neck and right shoulder. It came back to haunt me two days later after the initial injury. It caused inflammation in my neck muscles resulting in extreme dizziness, vomiting and I was rushed to the ER. Scans showed everything in A+ so thankfully, everything was ok.
My error was jumping straight up and grabbing the bars and pulling myself up a few times. I need more practice and require stronger muscles in order to do so.
Back to square one bitches.
Happened mr today can barely move. Did it take long to heal
Probably a long time off of commenting but was over doing pull-ups and now after a couple of days recovering I can’t even do a single pull up. Any idea why?
Hi IM DAVID I DID PULL UPS 3 DAYS AGO AND I HAVE PAIN ON MY UPPER BACK AND UPPER BACK NECK COULD THAT BE THAT I PULL A MUSCLE
I believe I recently came down with the beginnings of rotator cuff damage. Some weeks ago I lifted my arms up to stretch and was instantly seized by a shoulder pain. I thought I caused the pain by stretching while my bathrobe caused some resistance during the stretch. I rested about a week till the pain went away before I started doing exercise again, which included pull ups. Then a few weeks later the pain began to reappear, so now I was wondering if I’m going pull ups wrong and saw that I am doing them wrong. I was not placing my arms straight up, but more like a v shaped hold , because the padding on the pull up bar doesn’t go all the way in, I can’t put my arms straight up. I will take a break from exercise to see if the pain will go away before I exercise again then do the pull ups correctly with my arms straight up, after I moved the padding on the bar. I can still raise my arm up, which tells me that I’m not at a point of no return in terms of full rotator cuff damage.
Great stuff covered in here, mate.
While I 100% agree that pull-ups are one of the best exercises for hypertrophy, these also tend to get riskier for the muscles and joints in the long run.
I’ve had costochondritis for a while now that I initially developed from doing weighted dips. It hurts when I do pull-ups.
I think I’ll give it some time, like you suggest.
I regularly do 10 reps of pullups in 2 to 3 sets about 2 to 3 x weekly. Recently on my 2nd set as I was performing the exercise, I felt a tear in the area of my lateral right shoulder, triceps and lats. It burned and my body shifted from the tear. Best description is when I take my left hand and grab under my right armpitarea and rub upper and lower arc, this is the area. What did I tear? It’s been 3 or 4 weeks and can’t do a rep due to pain . Resting pain is usually 0. Any pulling down motion exacerbates the burning and pain . Btw , I was compensating the left shld due to recent acute injury from diving ,so I was requiring more of my right arm to perform the pullup when it happened.