Damn, just when I was climbing hard again...I was fully extended left to right with my right hand on a crimp and my left on a sloper when I heard what I would call a slight "crunch" I knew something happened but I had heard this sound before with no pain later and so I topped out. It starting hurting a few minutes later and now in the second day I can move my arm around but putting it horizontal would hurt too much to do. The pain doesn't come from a direct spot (which I've heard in rotator cuff injuries) but from the general area in the back of the shoulder.
I did some online reading but I couldn't get a clear answer. Maybe someone out there has had a similar experience?

I can't say I have any idea what it could be, sorry. I am sure you know exactly what I will say, but having gone through several injuries myself, stop climbing immediately and go see a doctor. Get X-rays at least and if you can an MRI. I am not claiming to know much medically, but just get it checked out!

Good luck recovering and I sincerely hope it turns out to not be serious.

Yikes! Sounds like a serious tear of the pussification muscle. I'd suggest rubbing some dirt on it and taking a few magic beans followed with Whiskey--you know the Wisconsin remedy.

Nice lead, dude! I'm back in town for this week so if it feels better let's climb. Otherwise I'll see you at the gym.

Oh man, I hate you Huston. Party at the gym tonight! It would be a tear of the pussification muscle but I ruled that out after I topped out way over two tiny astro-nuts.
No, it's not going to feel climbable anytime soon. Unfortunately it isn't fitting the profile of any thing I've read about yet.

I agree with Joseph, get it checked out. I just had anterior shoulder reconstruction on Wednesday to repair a climbing injury. Mine popped twice and was out of the socket for over an hour. Dr. Parker at Rose Medical Clinic in Denver has been awesome.
Good Luck Healing Nick

I actually have another party that I said I'd go to tonight (in Milwaukee) with the woman. So I won't be there tonight, but I'll stop in another night. What nights are you working now?

Good luck figuring out what's up and heal fast, there are more routes that need to be led!

I'm currently recovering from the surgical repair of a torn rotator cuff, labrum, and bicep tendon re-anchor as a result of a fall while skiing.

X-rays will show any structural (bone) deficiencies while an MRI and arthrogram (contrast injected into the joint space) will show any soft tissue injury. If left untreated, some soft tissue injuries will heal on their own but others will not, or provide a lifetime of aggravation and limit your range of motion. It depends on what your expectations are (and available time and money) for your shoulder during the rest of your life.

Many docs will try to prescribe PT first. But I'd recommend that go see the best ortho doc/shoulder specialist for an eval before anything else.

Good luck!

Any names of orthopedic or sports medicine docs in SL you've had good experiences with?

I'd actually call this a torn capsule ligament.
If you're in SLC, look up Dr. Andrew Cooper at Salt Lake Regional: 801 533 2002.
He's a good guy, understands climbing, and was team doc to a bunch of teams.

Hmmm.....Definitely not a dislocation, I think that would be noticeable when it went back in.
Better range of motion today, two days after injury. We shall see....I'll look into torn capsule ligament.
I've had mostly bad luck with doctors, perhaps I've never found a good one, but they can never seem to help much with anything but infectious diseases.

Actually, I think the best shoulder specialist in SLC (and all of Utah) is Michael Metcalf. Not only did he study under the doctor who pioneered arthroscopic shoulder surgery at the University of Washington, his father developed the tool to do it. He's based out of TOSH. When shopping for a doc, especially being a climber with a shoulder injury, there's a huge difference between "good" and "best."

His website:
http://www.rcmclinic.com/doctors/metcalf.php

You may also be interested in this shoulder-specific forum:
http://www.shoulder1.com/forum/index.cfm?forumid=4

I injured my shoulder 3 weeks ago during an aggressive workout (crossed arm cable rows). It is not not site specific, the pain mostly occurs when elevating my elbow above my shoulder. It is kind of a burning feeling. The real telltale symptom is joint popping as I rotate my arm. Hurt mostly the 1st 2-3 days, since then the pain moderated down a few notches but has not diminished noticeably from that. I'll be interested to see if you develop the same condition.

It could be a labrum tear. I tore mine about a year ago, this sounds similar. I had the surgery to repair it but its still not the same, much better than before though and I'm still climbing so I'm happy

I tore a couple muscles/tendons that stabilized my scapula (back of shoulder). Very Similar symptoms. I had Eric Mc Carthy in Boulder do surgery after 5 years. He is the best I found in the Boulder/ Denver area. After 5 years I have been to several docs. I am sure if you look into soon he can help you avoid surgery. I on the other hand climbed cracks since certain motions worked- wasn't the best choice I have ever made. Good luck getting back on the rock.

Sounds similar to an injury I'm just coming back from. What hurt me the worst was putting my arm behind my back like when tucking my shirt in the back of my pants and posterior roatation from the 90-90 position (upper arm straight out to the side with elbow bent 90 degree upward). Trying to rotate the hand/upper arm backward from this position caused a weird deep-in-the-shoulder cramping/almost nauseating pain for a minute or two. No localized pain but when I tried to point to it or massage it, the closest I could get to the source was the back of the shoulder. I went straignt to a PT at the Bouler Center for Sports Medicine and did 6 wks of PT which has me back at about 98% of pre-injury climbing (difficulty, endurance has a ways to go yet). The diagnosis was biceps tendonitis of the longer bicep where it originates in the shoulder secondary to some impingement (interal impingement, I think). About halfway through therapy, the PT had some suspiscion of a small cuff tear due to limited range of motion (when doing lateral shoulder raises my entire shoulder would elevate rather than rotate and the same happened with my scapula when trying rear deltoid flys). This improved substantially shortly thereafter however so either it wasn't a tear or it was small enough to heal w/o surgery. Since I'm mostly better, I didn't get any imaging done, but the PT says that's the next step if I don't continue to improve or start getting worse again. I recommend a) stop climbing for a few weeks b) get to a doc or good sports therapist c) do about a week of anti-inflammatory meds (Advil or whatever) d) don't take medical advice from web forums ;^D

Thanks to my wonderful wife and her nurse "connections" I went to Sports Med yesterday and they said it was a sprain of the scalpular (but isn't that a bone?) or "lateral epicondihles" (sp? couldn't read the doc's handwritting....sigh...) Anyway, we did range of motion tests and determined this wasn't a major tear at least. I also had x-rays to look for arthritis which is apparently determined if a person has very little space between joint and socket. Learned something new.....
I was recommend for P.T. which I couldn't get into until 11/5 (sigh....)
But today I went and saw my massage therapist (become a triathlete and you will also need your own massage therapist) and he improved it greatly with an hour session. He pretty much did the same tests for diagnosis but then dug in and relieved the compensating tense muscles.
The plan is to come back next week for another massage and when the arm feels better (Two weeks I estimate) start with stretching and thera-band exercises. Maybe four weeks to easy climbing if I'm lucky.
What I learned in a nut shell:
-The shoulder is a complicated joint with layers of muscle and tendons that can all go to hell. The only way for problems to be diagnosed is by someone grabbing you and doing tests.
-Sports Med is ok to start with, but I feel like I got more from my massage therapist in terms of diagnosis and relief. I think people who have direct athletic knowledge (the massage therapist was a body builder) know the crazy quirks athletes experience and all the schoolin' in the world can't prepare you for reality. It's probably more an issue with the way general medicine is done these days, rushed people giving rushed exams.
-Caveat: Sports Med was covered, massage is $60/hour.

Also, Thank you for your input, it convinced me to at least to do something about it instead of just bitching.

Oh, I've found that "lateral epicondylitis" is tennis elbow. I think all climbers have that.