Anterior shoulder dislocation recovery process

Last night I had the pleasure of anterior dislocating my shoulder bouldering in the gym. Turns out a thumbs down full extension overhead gaston movement is an extremely unstable shoulder orientation! The feeling of your humerus lodged in your armpit is pretty horrifying. After an ambulance ride, an ER visit and a bit of morphine its back in the socket, but very sore and generally pretty fucked.

Im going through the whole sports medicine/consult/MRI process but am curious to hear more about recovery timeline and strength outlook from other climbers who have endured a dislocation. How long did you rehab before climbing again? How stable is the shoulder post rehab? Any particular climbing specific strengthening techniques? If you ultimately went the surgery route, what led to that decision?

Ive been climbing on and off for 6 years and have hovered around max v7/5.12 sport for a looong time. I would like to get back to this level and continue to climb harder in the future.

I too am very interested in the replies here. 2 days ago I was climbing 4 pitches up and felt and heard my shoulder pop out while pulling down on one arm with poor feet. I had to rap and walk the approach in the dark with a dislocated shoulder. I couldn't get it reduced until in the ER and on ketamine, 4 hours later. WORST 4 hours ever!

I'm very afraid that this will eventually lead to surgery, which I'm not too stoked about since I'm just coming back from a 9 month knee recovery (likely the reason for my dislocation.) If you are out there, for those of you who didn't need surgery, what were your injury and rehab experiences like? I have a feeling mine was not on the simpler side of dislocations.

I had a brief anterior dislocation several years ago. Did it playing Ultimate. I skipped surgery and did a few months of rehab/PT. At the time of the injury I was bouldering about V8. I got back there and more, but I have to be much more careful about avoiding certain moves/problems to protect the shoulder.

I'd say that, assuming you don't have an especially bad tear as a result of your dislocation, you will be able to get back to full strength. Key is to put in the work and try to keep up with the long-term maintenance as well. That's where I fail, and I've had a few minor tweaks since my initial injury.

Oh, and I've always had crap shoulders, so if you don't have any other joint issues, all the better.

I have dislocated both of my shoulders several times in years past. Usually I was able to get it to go back in the socket without much trouble. Though one year I wrecked snowboarding and couldn't get it to go back. I had to go to the hospital where they were able to get my shoulder back in place without putting me under, but by that time it had been dislocated for many hours. I must have had a little nerve damage because I lost feeling along my tricep. I did pt for three months and it helped a ton. They taught me a bunch of exercises that help to tighten up the muscles, and used electric stimulation to help get the feeling in my arm back.

The key to pt, in my opinion, is to do everything that is asked of you. The exercises can we very uncomfortable but if you stick with it you should have a better outcome. I still do my shoulder exercises with light weight weekly to keep everything tight, and I climb a few times a week with minimal issues. I do try to avoid gastons if at all possible, because they don't feel great. Anyway, more than ten years after my crash, I am still climbing a lot and pushing myself within reason.

Best of luck to you on your recovery.

Recurring for about 1.5 years..the Doc said "your not doing therapy" I said "you don't understand"

Therapy bands ..the only thing that ever worked..no dislocations in 30 years

BUT-- I have a big , arthritic mass on my shoulder now..I guess since it felt better...?

The biggest problem you could face with a shoulder dislocation is a torn labrum. Once the labrum is torn it will not heal without surgical reattachment. PT can help shoulder strength after a labrum tear but there will be chronic instability until it is repaired. I tore my anterior labrum as a result of dislocation and opted for surgery. It was the correct decision and now I'm back climbing like nothing ever happened. The recovery period is 6 months but well worth it for a strong, functioning shoulder that I don't have to worry about. Good luck.

A lot of people have torn labrums and no problems. Sometimes when the tear is large and/or poorly located then it becomes a problem and surgery might improve the outcome. Like always, it depends.

I'm so glad people are responding! I don't have an appointment with the ortho until wednesday, so I still don't know how bad the damage is. I'm glad to hear that surgery isn't always necessary, but I really don't want to be lead down a downward spiral of recurring dislocations. My knee surgeries have worked wonders, so I know surgeries can help too, just more time upfront.

Lanky--how did you know you had nerve damage? Mine was out of the socket actually for 5 hours, during which I had to rap and hike with. My hand has been lightly tingling until today. The arm is still in a sling and weak, so I haven't really tested it.

Yeah, I really appreciate the responses. I got an initial consult which basically boiled down to three weeks sling-time, MRI and then a decision on op or not. The ortho said that the only way to truly trust the joint is surgery, especially when doing overhead sports. Everything I have read tends to agree with that assessment.

Lisa, I have some skin numbness on the exterior of my deltoid. The ortho said this sort of nerve damage is common after a dislocation, and that feeling is almost always restored as the nerves heal over time after the injury. I hope your injury turns out to be not that bad! IDK if I couldve endured having my shoulder dislocated for 4 hours, I think mine was only out for ~1 hour and IT BLEW. Major props for the self rescue.

I definitely would like to hear more stories from others with dislocation experiences.

It's not that you could have a torn labrum, it's that you do. Bankart lesion. Happens with every anterior dislocation. But I'm living with it, as are many, many others.

Lisa - I didn't have any nerve damage at all. It was only dislocated for a few seconds. I was lucky.

I dislocated my shoulder about 10 times skateboarding and snowboarding before I got into climbing. After the first dislocation I went into PT and it helped quite a bit with stability. I was competing at the time in both sports so I just kept pushing and hurting it more. I rode like that for two seasons but then it came out too easily and I couldn't push anymore so I got surgery. The recovery time is about 6 months with PT continuing after that. Unfortunately, about two years after the first surgery I dislocated it again while playing soccer. That time I also broke part of the bone off so I had to have surgery again. I was living in Germany at the time and the PT was less intense over there but I think the surgery went better. Now it's been four years and I've been climbing for the last 1.5 years and it's been super strong.

Long story short. If you keep dislocating it get surgery. No matter what happens you should do PT religiously because it will make your shoulder stronger and less prone to injury. Also I was lucky and could get mine back in pretty easily by myself. If you can'g get it back in yourself and you are in a remote area (like when I popped mine out back county riding) it can get pretty epic pretty fast. There are some good youtube videos I watched on how to reduce a shoulder so I was prepared when I happened.

Ive had both shoulders reconstructed due to chronic dislocations. Ive had a shoulder pop out on lead and had to pop it back in. It would happen so frequently that I became used to the pain and could just rotate my arm back in place. Eventually surgery was the only way to go for me. Had to get the labrum reconstructed/bankhart procedure. Recovery isn't too bad if you do the PT. You get out what you put into it. This is also what got me into yoga. I am a firm believer the yoga has been key to my recovery and prevention of further injuries. There is a lot of upper body strength that comes with inversions, arm balances, chaturangas, and holding static postures. Flexibility is a major concern as far as recovery. The capsule will be super tight and it is key to follow PT guidelines to regain your flexibility. Your best friend will become a broomstick. You will lay on your back and hold the stick with both hands while raising your hands above your head. Goal is to eventually have the back of your hands on the ground. It lakes a long time. Thats just one of the exercises I remember fondly. I did the PT and will practice yoga daily for the foreseeable future. Both shoulders are stronger than ever before and I don't even think about it anymore. My recovery time was from 6-9 months each time, which is not bad. I've had my ACLs done many times as well and that can be 9 months to a year. My recommendation would be, as others have stated, get the surgery now, do the PT, and you wont have to worry about it. Dr Sean Grey at OCR in Fort Collins, CO is a shoulder specialist and one of the best.

I joined this website because of this topic. I want to find other climbers who did the surgery and how the return was.

I had a subluxation in 2003, got the MRI and the labrum was torn (Bankart lesion). However, my shoulder was stable and after 4-5 months, I had no pain: the surgeon told me if I were a thrower (baseball player), the operation had to be done. We gave the conservative treatment a try, A LOT of theraband (I was using the golden one with a black one), swimming daily for 2 years and climbing. I did my best sport climbing during the period of 2005-2007, hit my only 8a ever (sorry for the european grading) and was walking on 7a's. So, yes, even with a busted labrum climbing is doable. But I could not throw a pebble onto a lake without having a sore shoulder for a few days!

I had a sedentary period between 2008-20011, and got back doing mostly mountains, trad and ice.
In september, climbing a trad route, the same shoulder moved funny: didn't dislocate, but felt like moving out of place when I was going to place a protection (external rotation and abduction), and it just felt like it ripped all soft tissue around.

Clinical examination shows a stable shoulder, but painful after 4 months of conservative therapy. Got the MRI, the Bankart lesion is bigger and the supraspinatus tendon is strained. Doctor thinks it's best to fix it. I already said goodbye to the ice-season and will wait for the surgery.

Anyone did the surgery? How long to go back to climbing (easy stuff, ice, etc)?

Awesome to hear these replies, I would love to keep this thread going with updates on progress, rehab regimens and eventual sendage.

Im waiting on MRI results, but the overwhelming advice from climbers and sports medicine guys over the last week has been "do the surgery, get it done with." As much as I loathed the idea initially the (likely) prospect of chronic shoulder problems and distrust in the joint is rapidly seeming like the shittier option.

Spencer, Im in NY but ill look into Dr. Grey. Do you guys know any overhead specialists, either doctors or PTs? I definitely want to tailor my rehab to climbing and want a like minded PT.

@ Paul - Super impressive that you could climb those hard grades with a torn labrum. When I tore my anterior labrum (disclocation, see above) I could barely grab a beer out of the fridge without my shoulder falling out. My injury was on March 1, 2013 and was repaired on May 1, 2013. I was in a bolster sling for 6 weeks and then gradually worked up to active range of motion exercises by week 10 post surgery. PT is the key to success! I slowly got my strength back and at 6 months post surgery I was cleared to climb once per week on very easy grades. At 10 months post surgery I was near the level I was climbing when I had the injury and today my shoulder is perfect as if nothing ever happened to it. Surgery is a serious decision but it was absolutely the correct decision for me. I hope everything works out.

@ Nate - Fingers crossed on the MRI results. I'm in Boston and my surgery was done by Brandon Earp at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Her work was superb. It may be a haul from NY but I can't recommend her enough if you can get an appointment. She ONLY does shoulders and upper extremities so she's a real specialist and not a general orthopedist. Hope it all works out.

Again, I'm stoked this thread is going and I'll make sure to update what and how I do.

Nate-I'm pretty sure we both tore out our shoulders on the same night, just on different coasts. I'm under the same impression as you, that surgery is the less bad choice.

I meet with the ortho tomorrow and will probably get the MRI and results later this week.

My medical insurance is with Kaiser, so I don't really have the same freedom to choose top shoulder surgeons from all around the country. Kaiser also doesn't have bad surgeons and many of them specialize. The surgery to fix a dislocated shoulder I'm assuming is pretty routine, right, and therefore less likely to be botched?

lisa.r wrote:Again, I'm stoked this thread is going and I'll make sure to update what and how I do. Nate-I'm pretty sure we both tore out our shoulders on the same night, just on different coasts. I'm under the same impression as you, that surgery is the less bad choice. I meet with the ortho tomorrow and will probably get the MRI and results later this week. My medical insurance is with Kaiser, so I don't really have the same freedom to choose top shoulder surgeons from all around the country. Kaiser also doesn't have bad surgeons and many of them specialize. The surgery to fix a dislocated shoulder I'm assuming is pretty routine, right, and therefore less likely to be botched?

The real problem with Kaiser is horrible physical therapy. Like, you never meet with the same therapist twice. At least, that's how it was in CO a couple years ago. You can probably change your insurance until Dec. 31st.

GOLLY GEE, ambulances and ketamine! Sack up and just have a friend or you self reduce it! Ok, I can under stand if you have a Hill-Sachs deformity (just pull harder:). Best advice is to take a WFR or watch a YouTube video.

@John Annand
Oh, thank you for the information. I had imagined a good 6 months away. I forgot to mention I was in my teens when I was climbing "hard", and I was obsessed with sport climbing. I'm over that phase now, I love ice more than anything. But when I had the lesion, the doctor explained to me that there was a tear, but I had very little laxity: for all purposes, the shoulder was stable. If I only climbed with my arms in front of me (imagine a plane passing through our body, as long as my arm was in front of that plane, I was really fine). I could also swim a lot, which the doctor said would help the shoulder.

But like I said, I could not throw. I loved to toss rocks on lakes for the ricochet, and I could no longer do that! It'd hurt a lot more than any climbing. I tried playing handball with friends once, and my shoulder was sore for a whole week. But climbing was really fine.

After this second injury, and entering my 30s, it's no longer the case. It really hurts, from the MRI the labrum tear is bigger and the supraspinatus tendon is sprained (apparently the main source of pain).

I'll lose the winter this year. But I'm trying to think of it as an investment for the next 15 years of good happy climbing.

After 1 year, would you say you were comfortable to lead at your limit?

lisa.r wrote:The surgery to fix a dislocated shoulder I'm assuming is pretty routine, right, and therefore less likely to be botched?

The surgery is "routine" but different doctors have different styles I think. I've had the surgery twice and the first doctor basically told me that the shoulder capsule could be tightened in addition to labrum repair. He recommended keeping it "looser" so I would not get horrible arthritis when I was older. I ended up re-injuring it and before the second surgery the doctor (a different one in Germany) said that arthritis should not be an issue and tightened it right up. My external rotation range of motion is less than after the first surgery for sure but it does not bother me for climbing at all. I'll put up another post when I'm 70 and let you know how the arthritis goes.

Well got MRI results back and had an appointment with a surgeon today. The results were bad but expected given the severity of the dislocation. Im not sure what I did not tear:

SLAP tear
bankart lesion
hill sachs deformity
haghl lesion

Because of the severity and extent of the tearing of the capsule from both the scapula and humerus theres no question that I need surgery. Apparently its too complex to be done arthroscopically, so there will be added trauma and recovery time from open surgery. I'm probably going to seek a second consult but it feels like the answer will be more or less the same.

For those who have had surgery, was it open or arthroscopic?