Do Pull-ups Damage Your Shoulders?

Pullups, performed properly, strengthen the back of your shoulders while also building the strength of your back, arms and grip. Performing pullups improperly can result in SLAP tears, biceps tendon ruptures, torn skin and additional muscle and joint strain. Like all other exercises, never sacrifice good technique for additional repetitions -- train your body, not your ego. Consult a health-care practitioner before beginning any exercise program or if you suspect an injury.

Technique

Injury prevention starts -- and ends -- with good technique. While you should always train through a full range of motion, never drop into the bottom of a pullup. Dropping results in a great deal of strain on your shoulders and elbows, and you are trying to strain your muscle tissue, not your connective tissue. Do not use momentum to get yourself over the bar -- never kip or leg-kick. This can allow you to go past the point of fatigue and result in a loss of control on your descent.

SLAP Tears

Your shoulder is a ball joint, and can be fairly easily injured. Your humerus, the bone of your upper arm -- is contained in the ball socket of your shoulder by a small band of cartilage known as the glenoid labrum. A sudden descent into the bottom of a pullup can strain this cartilage. A severe enough strain, or continued strain over time, can result in a SLAP tear, or "Superior Labral tear from Anterior to Posterior." This requires surgery to correct.

Biceps Tendons

Your biceps are strong muscles, and they narrow into tendons that connect your biceps to your forearms. If you drop into the bottom of a pullup, your biceps relax instead of remaining contracted, so your tendons take more of the strain. Your goal should be working your muscles, so lower yourself under control. Your grip also has an effect on the recruitment of your biceps, and doing pullups with a palms-up grip strengthens your biceps more effectively than a palms-down grip, according to a 2010 study published in the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research."

External Rotations

A little extra work to strengthen your shoulders can improve your ability to do pullups and possibly, to prevent injury. Extra work for the small muscles that help your upper arm rotate out and back -- your external rotators -- builds the strength of your rotator cuff. Sit with your arm straight out to one side and your upper arm resting on a bench. Hold a dumbbell in your hand and bend your arm 90-degrees at the elbow. Lower your hand until the dumbbell nearly touches the bench, then rotate your arm back up. Perform three to five sets of 15 to 20 repetitions of external rotations for each shoulder, but never perform them before pullups.