Shoulder Injury

Earlier today I was sport climbing with a group of friends. I had just finished gathering my beta for a climb I had been working for the day. I went for my redpoint attempt and while I was on the second to last move I locked off on my right shoulder and reached for the last hold and heard a pop from my right shoulder. I immediately dropped off the route. As soon as I was on the ground I noticed how much my shoulder hurt. I stopped climbing for the day and it is now really sore. I don't know if maybe this will help but I have been climbing for a year and a half, I climb regularly and consistently climb hard 5.11. I am hoping I could get some advice from people as to what might have happened structurally or what injury I might have, as well as ways I can treat it.

Cheers

You should be icing it. I found a effective ice pack at Kaiser's pharmacy made out of a plastic clay.

Sound like something I did climbing at my limit and POP goes my shoulder!.
Any way try heating you shoulder, Ice only prolongs the healing process, and is used to help with pain management ( I have 1 DR. two surgeons and 4 PTs to back this up).
Give you shoulder a week or better to recover possibly more and then and IF it is feeling good see how it does climbing.
If you are still having issues and/or the shoulder is weak/popping out I would suggest talking to a DR. or two about a and X-Ray and MRI just to be sure there is no serious damage. If there is then do your homework and talk to several doctors and find the best coarse of action, dont be afraid to get two or three opinions.

Form me it was three screws in my shoulder and a year of intense PT and now I am climbing better than before I ripped out my rototor cuff and hyper stretched the ligaments.

+1 for icing.

Do not apply heat within the first few days or you will have an increase in swelling which in the shoulder (not a lot of space in the joint capsule for extra fluid) will mean a big increase in pain - heat might feel good while it is on, but you will pay for it later.

Ice does not delay healing when you have an acute (or even a subacute) injury - I would like to see that literature. It is also an excellent pain reliever which can help decrease the use of pain meds.

Ice, when used in the first few days after acute injury, does not prolong the healing process. Much of the swelling following acute injury is from rupture of the capillaries which then leak blood and serum. Ice will decrease the amount of leakage and, therefore, decrease swelling and pain.
Heat is great after the initial few days.

Does anyone have any experience using kinesiology tape? I have had surgery on my rotator cuff and was wondering if it was worth looking into for extra stability.

Williams S, Whatman C, Hume PA, Sheerin K (2012). "Kinesio taping in treatment and prevention of sports injuries: a meta-analysis of the evidence for its effectiveness". Sports Med 42 (2): 153–64.

"In conclusion, there was little quality evidence to support the use of KT over other types of elastic taping in the management or prevention of sports injuries. KT may have a small beneficial role in improving strength, range of motion in certain injured cohorts and force sense error compared with other tapes, but further studies are needed to confirm these findings. The amount of case study and anecdotal support for KT warrants well designed experimental research"

Jeremy Riesberg wrote:Does anyone have any experience using kinesiology tape? I have had surgery on my rotator cuff and was wondering if it was worth looking into for extra stability.

I can second that this tape is not designed for stability. It is nothing like traditional athletic tape and the methods in which it is applied are also nothing like traditional taping.

That said, I use it and have had good results in two ways: post-injury recovery and later as an aid during performance for prevention of re-injury.

It is not well understood/studied how kinesiotape works. But I think it is clear both anecdotally and in some literature that it definitely has an effect.

Try some. You can usually get a roll for $12-20. Some brands have online tutorials for taping methods. If it doesn't do much for you then you aren't out much money (and you can send your roll to me:)).

I notice not many posters are venturing a diagnosis ... probably a good thing, still I reckon I've experienced just about every shoulder injury there is so I thought I'd give my impressions ...

In order of best- to worst-case scenario:

1. Simple shoulder dislocation & prompt relocation ... if it had stayed dislocated you would know it ... your arm would hang about two inches lower, namely

2. A/C separation - doubtful given your description ... usually it takes a blow to the acromion (shoulder blade) to push the clavicle (collar bone) out of whack ... yes, these are technical terms ;)

3. Rotator cuff tear - possible, but once again, due to MOI (mechanism of injury), i.e. not external or traumatic, doubtful

Actually the best case scenario was mentioned by Ben: shoulder strain. Overstretching of tendons causes inflammation. Should clear up mostly ... two points though:

a) The best icing I know of is a bag of frozen peas ... you can even eat them later in a stir fry.

b) Whatever it turns out to be (as in, see your primary if you have any doubts) you will need to baby that shoulder from now on. The shoulder is such a complicated joint & so hard used - especially when climbing - that any of the above injuries are apt to recur. Some training with free weights will help - consult your physical therapist but my regimen was relatively low impact, as in dangle a few pounds at the end of the arm & shrug ... shrugging reminds you you're only human ... Take care!

Mark