Why does my shoulder hurt after I do pull ups?

There may be several causes as to why your shoulder hurts during a chest exercise including dysfunction of the rotator cuff (small muscles that help support your shoulder), other ligaments, tendons, or bursa (fluid-like sac) of the shoulder. Whenever you experience pain during an exercise, it is important to stop the exercise immediately and follow treatment guidelines outlined by your physician. Treatment should help relieve the pain and help restore normal shoulder function. Pain relief strategies may include undergoing a period of active rest (you should move your shoulder, but you shouldn't do strenuous activities like lifting heavy weights), applying ice within the first 24 hours to help reduce inflammation, and taking over the counter anti-inflammatory medicine such as ibuprofen. Once you have been given the clearance to resume exercise it will be important to incorporate some stretching and strengthening exercises for the shoulder. Some common exercises for shoulder dysfunction include foam rolling for the lats and mid back; static stretches for the chest, lats, and posterior shoulder; and strengthening exercises for the rotator cuff such as a standing cable external rotation.

If you are having shoulder pain after you do something like a pull-up you should discontinue that exercise until you can confirm that you are first correctly doing the exercise and second that you are not causing an injury or aggravating an existing injury.

 A couple of things to keep in mind while doing a pull-up; first you need to always maintain control of your body if you find yourself having to kick and swing and bounce off of the bottom of the movement you might not yet have the physical strength to perform such a demanding exercise, second when doing a pull-up make sure that your finish position is with the bar against your mid to upper chest, never behind your head. The stress at the shoulder when you do any pull up type motion and finish behind your head is extreme and can and frequently will lead to injuries of the shoulder and neck.