Hello, I would greatly appreciate advice
regarding my recent and reoccurring shoulder injury. I have included
quite a bit of information about my injury, but let me know if any
other information would be helpful. Injury History: I am 26. In the past 6 years, there
has been 4 occurrences of this injury, all times in the right
shoulder. The first 3 times while climbing, and the most recent
while wrestling. 1) About 5 years ago, while pulling
down with a partially extend arm. I felt an uncomfortable sensation
inside my shoulder (hard to describe), and then weakness in moving
the arm. Followed minutes latter by soreness and lack of range of
motion. 2) About a year later, almost identical
situation. 3) Just over 4 months ago, about 4
years after the previous occurrence. Similar situation, while doing
a horizontal campus move. Right arm more outstretched and not high
above the head. Injury happened while shifting my weight to the
right arm. 4) The last time while wrestling, 3
weeks ago. My right arm was outstretched on the ground while I was
supporting the weight of the person I was wrestling. Symptoms: Pain isn't an issue because there
really hasn't been very much. Little if any pain when the injury
occurs, which I was told is probably due to adrenaline. Immediately
afterwards my shoulder becomes very weak and difficult to move. A
few minutes later there is some pain I think due to inflammation, and
very restricted range of motion. Taking some Ibuprofen seems to take
care of this, and after a couple of days there is no pain if I don't
use my arm much, and little pain if I do. Range of motion is still
restricted. The only pain I notice that doesn't feel like
inflammation is under some circumstances there will be a quick sharp
pain. If I cough or sneeze sometimes I will feel a sharp pain
briefly while my shoulder muscles tense up quickly. In about a week, it starts to become
difficult to put my arm in a position that causes pain, and range of
motion is becoming closer to normal. At this point my only other
indication of injury is occasional slight pain, and a lot of
apprehension in doing quick or intense movements with my right arm.
I can't tell if the apprehension is due more to instability in my
shoulder, or fear of re-injury. Rehab: After two weeks I began physical
therapy, doing range of motion and strength exercises. At this point
I also began climbing again at the gym, climbing well below my level,
and being very careful. A week later, about 3 weeks after the most
recent injury I am starting to climb close to half my normal level
(around v5/6C range). However, there will be many routes I wont feel
comfortable doing. I tend to stay on the small holds, with small
moves, and routes that have more difficult left hand moves. I will
climb almost completely statically. If I can't do a move static, I
wont do it at all. By doing this I feel like I can maintain control
enough with my shoulder that I wont have re-injury. At this point in the past, I would
slowly increase the difficultly over the next month or so until I am
climbing just a couple grades below my normal level. Then
approximately another month (about 3 months since the injury) until I
feel 100% or close to it, and begin higher impact training, such as
campusing. MRI Results: Scan was done almost two weeks after,
and I received the discouraging results today. Caution: Report not yet finalized and
possibly incomplete! PROCEDURE: MRI OF THE RIGHT SHOULDER WITHOUT CONTRAST TECHNIQUE: Multiplanar, multi-sequence
images of the right shoulder were obtained. Exam performed at the
UNI CVMS Clinic. INDICATIONS: Right shoulder pain FINDINGS: There is Hill-Sachs deformity
with bone bruise of the superior posterior and medial aspect of the
humeral head. There is anterior glenoid labral tear
extending to the most anterior aspect of the superior glenoid labrum
which could be related to SLAP II. There is also edema of the long
head of the biceps tendon which could be partially torn. Edema is
also noted involving the most superior aspect of the subscapularis
adjacent to the tendon. Partial tear of the superior aspect of
subscapularis at its insertion onto the humeral head is suspected. Thickening of the inferiorly
glenohumeral ligament. AC joint is preserved. Type I acromion. Subscapularis, infraspinatus and teres
minors appear intact. IMPRESSION: Anterior glenoid labral
signal abnormality compatible with tear with possible SLAP II lesion
of the anterior aspect of the superior glenoid labrum. There is
suspicion for a tear of the long head of the biceps tendon. Biceps
tendon however is in its biceps grove. Hill-Sachs deformity with
edema of the humeral head. Partial tear superior aspect of the
subscapularis. AC joint is preserved. No encroachment. Type I
acromion. Biceps tendon is in its grove. Options: According to my orthopedic specialist,
I have 3 options. 1) No surgery, and stay away from
activities that could cause the injury. This is NOT an option. 2) No surgery, and take my chances.
Probably just a matter of time until I before a relapse. Possibly
making the shoulder worse and more prone to injury each time it
happens. 3) Have surgery. No guarantee it wont
happen again. Probably reduce the chances of re occurrence. He
mentioned that my shoulders both feel a little loose (or something
like this) which might make them more prone to this type of injury. He wasn't particularly confident in
giving me advice due to lack of experience with the kind of stress
that rock climbing has on the shouldering. I am sure if I mentioned
what is involved in high impact actives like dynoing, and campus
training, he would have been less than enthusiastic about me
continuing to climb. This is why I am going to this forum for help,
and also to get more opinions on how I should proceed. I have no intention of giving up
climbing or backing off of difficult climbing. My advice so far
points to surgery as a better option. However, timing is
particularly bad right now since I am graduating from college and was
planning to climb extensively during the next year before likely
returning to school. I am considering the risks of having surgery or
not, as well as the length of recovery time I can expect giving the
two options. I would greatly appreciate any advice on these matters,
as well as advice relating to rehabilitation and future injury
prevention. Thanks again, Paul Nadler
Hi Paul
This is a big one to tackle!
First of all you most likely have too loose rotatorcuff function ( 5 five muscles that keep your upper arm in/on its socket) - they are most likely to weak and doesn't work in true syncrony.
The best thing would be to learn rotator cuff training from a sports medicine specialized physiotherapist.
The slap II /Bankhard lesion operated on with endoscopial method by a true specialist would proably give a much better chance of a continuing climbing future
but there is a chance that a good rehab program as mentioned above and combined with general strengthening of shoulder and back muscles will also get you there
Best of luck and Remember - most important - I can only make an educated guess and you should always consult a sport medicine specialised MD with experience of this kind of problems to avoid loosing valuable healing time and meassures
Björn
Björn
maybe this doesn't apply to you since you already have a detailed diagnosis of the injury.
anyway, i had a friend of mine reporting very similar symptoms (especially the hard-to-describe pain inside the back parts of the shoulder spreading out into the arm, along with inflammation of tendons and in the joints). He consulted doctors who didn't find much other than symptoms, no definite diagnosis.
A chiropractor then found out he had a muscular disbalance in his upper body due to quick progression. His back was way stronger than his front, which caused him to be in a bad posture constantly. That caused some nerves to get in the way of things (sry, can't remember details) and thus triggered various counter-reactions on the affected body parts. Kinda like a chain reaction.
Strengthening his frontal body, pectoral muscles and abs helped a great deal.
Again, i ido not know if that is of any help for you, but i thought i'd mention it since the symptoms overlap a lot here...
Re-occuring shoulder injury.