Torn Labrum (shoulder)

Hey everyone,
Tore my Labrum in a very benign fall on Castleton Tower the other day. One Ortho said he wants to do surgery to stabilize my shoulder as it is not prone to dislocations. Seeing a 2nd ortho today about it.
Has anyone had this injury and, if so, what did you find to be the best treatment? I have hear that some PT can make it better but I still run the risk of dislocations. However, I have heard that surgery can make it worse and the practice is not yet proven.
I am concerned about my future climbing and BASE jumping. I don't want to have my shoulder pop at an inopportune time.

Thanks!
Corey O.

Hi Corey,

I tore mine when I was a collegiate gymnast and elected to not have surgery then as it was super invasive and did the PT route. Years later, I got into climbing and wished I had had it fixed. I continued to climb and did ok, but always felt that like you, didn't want it to dislocate at an inopportune time. Plus, it always hurt and I held back from really cranking on it. Surgery revealed that there were 2 additional tears that the MRI missed that were post initial injury and likely from climbing. Coming back from that was a mother. However, I wish I would have done it earlier and not wasted so much time contemplating.

If it is recommended that you have surgery, the biggest thing I can stress is: PT, PT, PT, PT...

Everyone is different and not all injury repair is textbook. However, procedures have become better over time and less invasive. I'm glad I had mine done.

Best wishes for a positive outcome - no matter your choice!
kar

One problem is that your shoulder MAY become prone to dislocating and that sucks..big time.

You also may start to favor it or compensate for a weakness..this makes things much worse over time.

If you had an MRI to confirm the tear, get the surgery, it will continue to come out, and each time makes it worse

I injured my shoulder in a ski fall that became chronic from climbing and bouldering. I tried RICE, PT, cortisone... with no improvement. Finally had an MRI and was diagnosed with a SLAP tear. I had arthroscopic surgery for "cleaning" and reattachment in 2008. One month in an immobilizing sling then extended PT. I was climbing again 5 months later. It took a while to regain full strength and my range of motion isn't the same but I attribute that more to age (54). I don't know that I would have the surgery again if I had the same injury now but I am happy I did it.
Michael

Corey,

Sorry to hear about the bad news. I'm certainly in no place to give medical advice but I've been through the routine. Here's a rough outline.

1-fall 2010. Hyper-extended my shoulder( search "Guy does 90ft cliff jump @ Hippie Hole near Rapid City, SD" posted by tommie roux on youtube. not me in the video but i stupidly followed the flock and jumped short after the guy in the video)
2-fall 2010. 1st dislocation (layback 5.8 climb)(sublux? it came out and within the minute popped back in by itself)
3-winter 2010/2011. 2nd dislocation. bouldering in the gym.
4-spring 2011. 3rd dislocation. bouldering in the gym.

I went to PT for the full time between each one of those injuries, 3 days a week or more. All times I was cleared by the PT and felt fine myself and was careful not to push it too hard. Obviously that didn't work.

Spring of 2011 I saw a ortho and had the surgery done soon after (maybe april?) my labrum was tore about "75% off" to quote the Dr. It was a very long recovery but by January of 2012 I was back to 100% and stronger than ever. That's actually when I consider the starting point of my serious climbing.

I do feel like I may have compensated the whole time with mu opposite shoulder (it was the same shoulder getting injured every time) but since then I've felt great. My shoulder will bother me once in a blue moon and on the slightest scale. Not anymore than another part of my body being sore.

Best wishes and good luck with the recovery. The only advice I could offer is follow what the professionals tell you and then some. Sorry I didn't address "surgery could make it worse" and "isn't proven" but for me I really don't think there was another option if I wanted to keep climbing...

I waited about 2 years after tearing the labrum (landed hard on my shoulder while playing ultimate frisbee) before getting surgery (this past October). In those 2 years I rested, did PT, and then got back to climbing frequently and as hard as I could. I had a good solid year of wonderful pain-free climbing in that time. But the pain (and clicking) eventually came back strong from climbing too much and I chose surgery. I don't regret waiting to see if the non-surgical route would work, but it didn't, not for me.

When you say "the practice is not yet proven" as far as surgery, it seems to me (from my very limited medical understanding but lots of research and discussions with docs & PTs on this particular injury) that labral repairs were done a certain way with sutures for many years with varying results in overhead athletes, and there is some movement among surgeons towards doing it differently. I ended up with what's called a biceps tenodesis instead of a labral repair, which has long been done for OTHER injuries to the shoulder but is now also being done for isolated SLAP tears of a certain location and type. Despite all the research I did, I never fully came to understand if my surgeon is on the "fringe" or completely in the norm about this. I wish I could tell you what my data point looks like but I'm just 5 months out from surgery and beginning to climb easy. Actually started some VERY easy climbing at about 3 months. Good luck with your choices.

Tore my labrum on one shoulder and had severe impingement on the other shoulder. Ended up doing two separate surgeries (labral repair on one, acromioplasty on the other) separated by about a year. That was 12 years ago.

Aside from a slight reduction in range of motion for external rotation, my shoulders are amazing now. 100% recovery, if not better since the reduction in motion keeps them more stable for weird chimney mantle bullshit. My only functional issue is that doing front squats or cleans, I don't have a ton of external rotation to get the bar to rest well on my shoulders, but lots of people have this problem.

Now the downside: the recovery process from the labral repair was hell. It pretty much took a year before I was back to normal, maybe longer, although you can probably start climbing after 6 months.

I dislocated my shoulder, tore my labrum and capsule back in Dec. Got surgery a month ago. Theres a lengthy thread about it here:

mountainproject.com/v/anter…

Theres tons of info and personal experiences from others in the same boat.