anterior labrum tear recovery

I tore my left shoulder anterior labrum in March 2013 after a dislocation. Surgery was performed in May 2013 and was a success. Now 15 months later I have full range of motion, full strength and I am back to climbing without issue. I've noticed one thing though. I get acute pain in that shoulder when doing pushing type exercises. Think bench press and pushups etc. This is the only motion that causes any kind of pain in that shoulder. Has anyone else with this injury experienced something similar? Any recommendations for better warmup or conditioning? Thanks.

I tore my labrum at Vedauwoo (gotta love voo) a few years ago. I never knew I had a labrum, I thought that was something the ladies had..

I had the same thing. Basically a weakness in the shoulder that made it feel like a very light sharp pain in the shoulder when extending it out (like push ups). Mine recovered faster than yours.

Did you do a good amount of PT right after surgery?
How old are you (makes a pretty big difference.. ugh)?

My advice, don't worry about it. Just keep doing things to strengthen your body and it will go away.

Ray

I have a full-thickness, partial-width tear of the distal supraspinatus tendon. I have full range of motion, no weak spots. But I get that zing with the pushing movement too. That, and a significant arthritic ache that sets in in the evening.
I have a very hard time committing myself to a year of recovery.
Does anyone have experience with Regenexx/stem cell/platelet therapy?

No labrum tear, but I have had rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders.
Work on your push ups. when in the position, rotate your elbows in.
This will allow your triceps to do more work, much safer too.
Only go down part way till you get stronger

John, I have long noticed sharp pain during push-ups while I've had this SLAP tear (about 2 years) and I just eventually stopped doing them. But I'm not post-recovery yet---I've only just decided in the past week to go ahead with surgery.

John (and anyone else reading this who's had surgery to repair a SLAP tear), was your surgery a "SLAP repair" with sutures or a "biceps tenodesis"? My surgeon wants to do the biceps tenodesis but it seems like, anecdotally, plenty of climbers have had good to excellent results with the SLAP repair, so I wonder why the biceps tenodesis would be better. However, I'm not well versed at all in the different types of labrum tears, so I don't even know if mine is the same type of SLAP tear as yours ("anterior" labrum). All I know is it's a SLAP tear and it's where the biceps tendon meets the labrum which is why moving the biceps attachment ("biceps tenodesis" surgery) is supposed to fix the problem. Seems so weird to me, the thought of not actually repairing the problem but just cutting and moving a perfectly healthy tendon. Eeek.

I'm really curious to hear which of the 2 types of surgery you had because this might be the first slightly negative outcome I've heard of from a SLAP surgery. (Except for a friend who says he still has "stiffness" in the shoulder 3 years post surgery.) Thanks.

Amy

My labrum tear was not a SLAP tear but was an anterior labrum tear. Very different from the SLAP tear. SLAP tears involve the biceps tendon but anterior tears involve the shoulder capsule cartilage and result primarily from dislocations. I did have 3 sutures put in as part of the repair and my shoulder feels like nothing ever happened to it most of the time. Overall the surgery was a huge success and I'm back to normal with all athletics related activities. The only real pain I ever feel anymore is from the pushing related motions that I described above. I was just curious if anyone with the same injury had a similar problem and could give some advice.

Ahhh, see, like I said, I don't know much about shoulder anatomy. I just saw "labrum tear" and thought it might be the same thing.

Glad to hear the recovery is *almost* perfect for you.

Cheers
Amy

So I'm ~2.5 months post shoulder surgery for a grade 3 AC shoulder tear and a broken scaphoid. For you cats who are back at it, how long from surgery till you were pulling you old grades? For reference I am (was?!... tear.... tear....) a valley 11 climber. This season is shot. Any hope for next to get back on my old projects?

Also, what do you do when you can't climb cycle run or play guitar?

Do you:
a) work more
b) make a friend
c) develop a drug habit
d) learn a useless language (french comes to mind)
e) meditate on a distal portion of a scaphoid achieving union with is long lost proximal portion

if i am doing pushups (and my other shoulder exercises) on a regular basis it doesn't seem to bother me. if i haven't done them in a while, then i have some pain when i do pushups or similar motions.

In May of 2012 two tears were repaired in mine. I am climbing better than ever today.

Post climbing I have a "ritual." I do the external and internal rotation exercises, like in this article:

ukclimbing.com/articles/pag…

I also hold an elbow plank for 1 minute, knees to elbows for 1 minute while in the elbow plank, 30 seconds of push ups, and then rest for 30 seconds. This gets repeated 3 - 5 times. I then finish off with a few sets of ring rows and some other leg, core, or hangboarding exercises thrown in depending on my mood.

On non-climbing days, I do archer ring rows, similar to this, but I hold the lock off longer.

workoutgenerator.net/view-e…

I also add in a kettlebell workout doing swings, shoulder presses, snatches, and a "modified" halo where I don't bring the kettlebell behind my head. Basically 30 seconds of swings, 30 seconds of presses on one shoulder, 30 second of swings, 30 second of presses on the other shoulder, 30 seconds of swings, snatches on one side, etc.

When I was in physical therapy, they told me doing the internal / external rotation, elbow planks, and rows were the best things to keep a strong and stable shoulder. Staying true and disciplined to that post climbing pretty much keeps my shoulder pain free and feeling good.

Everyone is going to be different, finding what works for you might take time. I am not a fan of the bench press. I avoid it since it causes me shoulder discomfort. You can strengthen your chest with other exercises that are less stressful on the shoulder.

John...

Added :

I had my injury in Feb of 2012 and stopped climbing. The surgery was in the middle of May. I started climbing near the end of October. I took my physical therapy very seriously and was there 2 - 3 times week for 8 weeks. Sometime in January I was climbing stronger than before the injury. I was spending 3 - 5 days a week at the climbing gym training, not just social climbing.

Evan Riley wrote:So I'm ~2.5 months post shoulder surgery for a grade 3 AC shoulder tear and a broken scaphoid. For you cats who are back at it, how long from surgery till you were pulling you old grades? For reference I am (was?!... tear.... tear....) a valley 11 climber. This season is shot. Any hope for next to get back on my old projects? Also, what do you do when you can't climb cycle run or play guitar? Do you: a) work more b) make a friend c) develop a drug habit d) learn a useless language (french comes to mind) e) meditate on a distal portion of a scaphoid achieving union with is long lost proximal portion

Make a friend? So your shoulder is jacked but things downstairs are in working order, I assume? Is this the type of friend you're referring to?

You're young, recover, rest, and keep in mind that your climbing career isn't over... Maybe focus less on the grades you climb and just healing and recovering. Luckily you still have all your limbs!