I'm very familiar with it. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer back in 1998. I had to have my right ovary removed and underwent radiation treatment and chemotherapy. I still have my left ovary but I do not produce enough testosterone nor progesterone so I am on HRT. I started lifting not long after my chemo treatments to help lose bodyfat and try to uplift my emotional state. I have two children - a daughter 14 years of age and a son 12 years of age. My diagnosis of ovarian cancer was made when I was 4 months pregnant with my son. I chose to keep my child and wait for treatment after giving birth. Because my two pregnancies were so close and I was mostly on bedrest because of risk from 2 miscarriages prior to my children, I gained a LOT of weight. So when I weighed 260lbs and needed a more positive change in life, I started powerlifting. I had a hard time losing bodyfat, very fatigued, depressed, and struggled to get into the gym to train overall. I kept at it and managed to drop about 40lbs in one year. My benchpress was decent for a girl at the time but certainly nothing to grab attention - 135lbs. I'm 5'4" and when I weighed 220lbs, 135lbs benchpress was a big feat for me. Of course, this was before I was put on HRT. Considering how the benchpress is the most popular lift in determining strength for most folks, I beat myself up to increase it. At the time, I didn't have anyone to coach me properly on how to CORRECTLY perform the lift to help protect the shoulders. So like most newbies and uneducated lifters, I flat-benched and touched high at my nipple-line when performing the lift. Little did I know that benching in that fashion damages the shoulders.
I experienced pain in my right shoulder that grew over time and a clicking that just wouldn't go away when I did certain movements. I had a hard time sleeping in certain positions and it depressed me terribly that I couldn't bench some evenings because the pain got so bad. After enough "bitching" to my physicians, my oncologist referred me to a very kind endocrinologist who put me on the HRT that I have been on since late 1999. My shoulder pain was diagnosed osteolysis of the distal clavicle through x-rays and bone scans. I was then referred to an orthopedic surgeon who unlike most surgeons, he took into consideration my medical history and recommended a good friend of his who is a well known powerlifter, but not someone I knew of at the time or familiar with since I was still new to the sport and drug-free at that point. He made this recommendation over doing surgery to resect my clavicle or shave off any acromion.
My coach taught me how to benchpress "correctly", my HRT helped to increase my bone mineral density that I had lost due to high estrogen levels and low testosterone/progesterone levels from the lack of working ovaries, bone loss that I had incurred due to radiation and chemo treatments, and I managed to avoid surgery and recover quite nicely in my shoulder. My best competition benchpress is 405 lbs. I regularly handle 225lbs for reps raw before I get in my bench shirt and jump to the mid 300lbs range for volume sets each week. My weight is 175-180lbs and I compete in the 181lbs weight class.
Although I have had a setback in the last couple years due to genetic polycystic kidney disease where the slow degradation of my kidneys at this age is quite common, I still lift as regularly as possible, manage to keep my bodyweight in the 175-180 range, bodyfat is around 15-18% depending on time of year, and my bench is still in the 350-400lbs range depending on how much I can bloat into my shirt. LOL!!! The good thing is, I am still in remission, my shoulders feel fine, I can still lift heavy and enjoy life regardless of the condition of my kidneys. My nephrologist, urologist, and oncologist are all in agreement that my gear use has provided me with more benefits and quality of life than without and that I probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for it.
Sorry for the long dissertation, but my suggestion would be to give the shoulder a break for about a month or so. Take a look at the range of motion you have put the shoulder through to cause any wear and tear in the AC joint (i.e. shoulder presses, overhead presses, benchpresses, throwing movements, etc) and isolate those that cause the most pain. Reevaluate how you perform those movements and find ways to still get the work done without forcing so much stress on the AC joint. Like in my case, I was benching incorrectly - flat benching lowering the bar to the upper chest with elbows flared out is what cause the most damage to mine. I learned how to bench with an arch, isolate my shoulders so that they don't rotate forward, and use more muscle groups to perform the movement correctly. As far gear use? It should help increase bone mineral density, especially during recovery and repair.
