Reoccurring shoulder dislocation

[Damian Ferrari]

Hi guys,

In 2015 I dislocated my shoulder whilst falling awkwardly out of a handstand, the shoulder fell back in without too much effort although later that day I re-dislocated it which took a larger amount of effort to relocate. After the accident I was advised by an orthopaedic surgeon to work on strengthening the ligaments and muscles around the shoulder, and surgery might be avoidable. Over the past three years at times it has left unstable, but I have slowly worked on physical therapy till now where it has been feeling almost pain free and feeling stable. Since starting bouldering I’ve worked even more on strengthening my shoulders, understanding the stress they are under due to the sport. This in mind, while on a wall last Sunday I’ve had my left arm extended at 60 degrees and crimped down hard next thing I know I’m lying on the mat with my shoulder dislocated. I was able to manipulate my body against the mat as I could feel it would go back in. My question; is there any possibility of recovering from this without a shoulder stabilisation surgery and continue climbing? Does anyone have experience or understanding of this procedure are there any risks involved such as loss of mobility or re-occurring problems?  Would surgery with physio along with stretch therapy result in the best outcome? Or should it be avoided?

I’ve had my MRI I’m waiting for the report and will be seeing an orthopaedic surgeon in the next couple days. Would really appreciate your opinion on this matter @Kit_L.

Thanks for your time,

Damian Ferrari

[AshwinT]

Hi Damian,

1. What strengthening exercises have you been doing?

2. Could you please post a picture of the position your arm was in when it dislocated?  I am a rock climber myself and am very interested in the direction of pull your shoulder was undergoing when it dislocated.  

3. Have you checked for imbalances of internal versus external rotation?  Climbing should strengthen your external rotators more than normal people but if you're weak to start with then you might just put strains on the shoulder it cannot handle.

4. Rock climbing puts a tremendous stress on the shoulder joint in all directions and if you're not fully recovered and stabilised you're highly likely to reinjure it.  Having a prior dislocation makes you very susceptible for e future dislocation (as you have observed).  Best to lay off the intensity when climbing and not push the grade too hard.

5. I'm not a fan of surgery and try to avoid it if at all possible.  However, if you do have a surgery it's not the end of the world.  I dislocated my knee while ice climbing in 2014.  Took me over 18 months to rehabilitate myself after the arthroscopic surgery to clean out the joint.  Then I re-injured the knee on a hard boulder problem in Oct 2017.  Luckily it was not a re-dislocation but just a medial strain.  Since then my knee does not feel right.  I am now on the slow path to rehabilitate it and restrengthen it.  But, I will never push myself to the limit while climbing the same way again.  The positive benefit of the injury is that I am now acutely aware of my body position while I climb and seek to climb as efficiently and effortlessly as possible (which should always have been the goal  ).

Please keep us posted.

Cheers, 

Ashwin