Climbing after shoulder dislocation

Dislocated my shoulder yesterday surfing. Doctor told me 3-4 months until I’m back to climbing. Im having a hard time imagining that I can get back to climbing without a surgery due to all the overhead pulling.

Im wondering if anyone has recovered from a shoulder dislocation and gotten back into climbing, especially without surgery? What was your timeline like?

Providing the nature of the dislocation might help get answers. I know this subject pops up every year or two, searching might yield a decent response in one of the older threads.

I dislocated my shoulder last January from a dumb injury at the gym, and had limited mobility for 2 week. Got an MRI and didn't get surgery since the doctor just suggested PT. 

Went back to the gym doing VB climbs after 3 weeks (didn't raise my busted arm past by my chest).

I was able to climb outdoor again after a month, doing low grades, no dynamic moves and avoiding any straining moves on the bad arm. 

Went back to lead climbing after a month and a half (again really easy grades). After 3 months started doing longer moderate multipitch climbs.

At this point I've been climbing back to normal, but still avoid any dynamic or potentially aggravating moves to not injure it again. The shoulder still feels "looser" after all this time though.

Not saying to ignore your doctor, but things may not be as bad as it seem.

Been there 10 years ago (yup, bodysurfing). Fully dislocated and needed a 1.5 hour trip to hospital. Really swollen by then, was anaesthetized to reset it. Rapidly developed into frozen shoulder while in a sling (bad advice).

Shoulder specialist advised that a rebuild has considerable risk and rehab and I would be out far longer, try physio first. Supraspinatus torn, bicep head torn, other minor tears. I was referred to a good physio. 

2 months of physio later, 3 months after the injury I was allowed gentle easy climbing to work on movement. It took about 6 more months of physio and climbing to fully heal but is now the stronger shoulder.

YMMV.

Like others have said here it depends on how you dislocated it and what if anything was torn, I’ve had quite a few dislocations and chose to get surgery after the first 4 times I messed up my shoulder. Since then I just take it easy for a month, go to pt, and then slowly get back into climbing and generally avoid dynamic moves along with high tension moves that lead to my body being stretched out a ton. 

I had an anterior dislocation that was out for about 1.5 hours. Radiology report says possible hills-Sachs lesion in the humeral head. That’s about as far as I know about it, no MRI, just told to immobilize for 4 weeks to let the joint tighten back up. I really want to avoid surgery anyways so I’m okay following conservative measures unless it keeps popping out.

Seems like I can expect a few months recovery if I want to take it conservatively though. Glad to hear that climbing is still in the books!

I was told to immobilize by the hospital and that led to frozen shoulder. See if you can talk to a specialist or physio early if you haven't already, they may not recommend prolonged immobilization.

Dislocated climbing, out for 3 very painful hours (awkward heli rescue) before relocation under sedation. I rested in a sling until the pain settled a bit but started mobilising after a couple of days and did my physiotherapy exercises religiously. Took 3 months to get back to climbing. Six years on I’m trying as hard as ever and having no major shoulder issues. Not climbing quite as hard but mainly because I’m getting older. Still do the rehab./strength and conditioning.

My rehab. experience. 

Overall, risk of re-dislocation is very roughly 20%. It’s greater - can be much greater - if you’re young, male, hyperflexible, had a Hill–Sachs or Bankart lesion, or do a contact sport. Climbing is not a contact sport but surfing is.

John Pitcairn wrote:

I was told to immobilize by the hospital and that led to frozen shoulder. See if you can talk to a specialist or physio early if you haven't already, they may not recommend prolonged immobilization.

how old were you when this happened? Doctor told me that for younger patients it’s better to immobilize and for older (>40) that it’s better to keep moving to prevent frozen shoulder. Just curious if that’s the discrepancy.

The doctor I’m referring to was in sports medicine orthopedics so I do trust him to a certain extent. It seems in general that treatment for dislocations varies a lot.

I had a shoulder subluxation a couple years ago from a powerfully awkward stem. Hurt like the dickens. I went to the doc and they prescribed PT. I kept up with it fairly well - about a half hour of bands and such several times a week. 

Two months later I was ice climbing, but still kind of babying it. It never felt fully back in, but I started babying it less and less.

Then about a year after the original injury, it subluxed again from an aggressive move in a water polo game.

I skipped the doc, but went back to doing PT. Again, it was about two months before I climbed again (ice climbing again).

It still feels a little loose, and I really baby it in water polo, but in climbing I’ve just come to learn which moves aggravate it and to avoid those moves. 

Tristan Sayre wrote:

how old were you when this happened? Doctor told me that for younger patients it’s better to immobilize and for older (>40) that it’s better to keep moving to prevent frozen shoulder. Just curious if that’s the discrepancy.

Just after my 50th birthday. Hospital gave bad advice.

Tristan Sayre wrote:

I had an anterior dislocation that was out for about 1.5 hours. Radiology report says possible hills-Sachs lesion in the humeral head. That’s about as far as I know about it, no MRI, just told to immobilize for 4 weeks to let the joint tighten back up. I really want to avoid surgery anyways so I’m okay following conservative measures unless it keeps popping out.

Seems like I can expect a few months recovery if I want to take it conservatively though. Glad to hear that climbing is still in the books!

The Rads report will always say possible Hill Sachs lesion. Or “clinically correlate” and other useless crap like that. I would ignore that part. 

Hi Tristan,

I'm sorry to hear about your injury and that it's keeping you off the wall. Your doctor is right that it can take a few months to get back to full function but there is a lot you can do to help yourself progress and to come back stronger than before. This article from The Climbing Doctor blog can help you get a start on what to do on your own for non-surgical management of shoulder instability. The blog is overseen by Jared Vagy who is a doctor of physical therapy in southern California. The best practice is to move as much as possible to your tolerance and gently try to increase mobility over time. As your mobility returns, it is important to gradually incorporate shoulder-strengthening exercises. If you feel like you need more guidance and support, seeking help from a doctor of physical therapy in your area would be the best place to start. There are also physical therapists around the world who offer virtual assessments if you are unable to find someone familiar with the sport locally.

https://theclimbingdoctor.com/clunk-shoulder-instability-climbing/

As an aside, I'm a doctor of physical therapy and I have also had this injury in both shoulders and have been doing well without surgery. By being consistent with exercises it took me about 6 months to feel like I can be active without modification. I was back on the wall climbing conservatively after 2 months. Every person has a different body and timeline but there is a lot of research and real-life examples that support success with conservative management.

Reach out with any questions you have! Wishing you the best in your recovery and a quick return to the wall.

The Climbing SIG wrote:

Hi Tristan,

I'm sorry to hear about your injury and that it's keeping you off the wall. Your doctor is right that it can take a few months to get back to full function but there is a lot you can do to help yourself progress and to come back stronger than before. This article from The Climbing Doctor blog can help you get a start on what to do on your own for non-surgical management of shoulder instability. The blog is overseen by Jared Vagy who is a doctor of physical therapy in southern California. The best practice is to move as much as possible to your tolerance and gently try to increase mobility over time. As your mobility returns, it is important to gradually incorporate shoulder-strengthening exercises. If you feel like you need more guidance and support, seeking help from a doctor of physical therapy in your area would be the best place to start. There are also physical therapists around the world who offer virtual assessments if you are unable to find someone familiar with the sport locally.

https://theclimbingdoctor.com/clunk-shoulder-instability-climbing/

As an aside, I'm a doctor of physical therapy and I have also had this injury in both shoulders and have been doing well without surgery. By being consistent with exercises it took me about 6 months to feel like I can be active without modification. I was back on the wall climbing conservatively after 2 months. Every person has a different body and timeline but there is a lot of research and real-life examples that support success with conservative management.

Reach out with any questions you have! Wishing you the best in your recovery and a quick return to the wall.

Fantastic reply. Super helpful and thoughtful information, especially in the linked article. Thanks for sharing! 

As above, everyone's experience is different. 

My first dislocation was about 15 years ago. I opted to go without surgery given the re-injury rates I had read). Its an anterior dislocation; currently the labrum <50% remaining on the front with some bone damage. The initial dislocation took about 3-4 months till I would climb again (was only a gym climber at this time). 

There is a range of motion my shoulder cannot do or it will come out and I have had, on average, one dislocation a month. Recently (the past five years) I know what positions are precarious for my shouldwr and avoid them leading to the dislocations being fewer and further in between. Beyond that, my quality of life is quite good (other than the odd dislocation when reaching into the back seat lol) and it doesnt hold my climbing back for the most part. It has come out climbing before but goes back in quite easily at this point. I hardly think about it anymore and climb 2-4 times a week both inside and out.  

Good luck and stay positive! No matter the situation you will adapt, the uncertainty at this point is the worst part and it will pass. 

I have a bit of a different experience. I fully dislocated my left shoulder three years ago while climbing and had it occasionally sublux in the following months. I got an MRI and opted to get surgery for two small labrum and biceps tendon tears. While in there they also tightened up my capsule. The recovery was about 5 months until I was confidentially climbing outside again.

My surgery shoulder has since never given me any issues and is actually my good shoulder now. I have zero limitations from the surgery, likely because I took PT very seriously. If you experience frequent dislocations don’t be afraid to get it repaired. My quality of life is miles better. 

Casey Hale wrote:

I have a bit of a different experience. I fully dislocated my left shoulder three years ago while climbing and had it occasionally sublux in the following months. I got an MRI and opted to get surgery for two small labrum and biceps tendon tears. While in there they also tightened up my capsule. The recovery was about 5 months until I was confidentially climbing outside again.

My surgery shoulder has since never given me any issues and is actually my good shoulder now. I have zero limitations from the surgery, likely because I took PT very seriously. If you experience frequent dislocations don’t be afraid to get it repaired. My quality of life is miles better. 

Thanks, Casey. Interesting to hear your experience as its different than other stories I had heard. Makes me re-think this a bit tbh; maybe worth considering the surgery at some point. Very stupid question but how long until you were able to type (if you have a desk job) and ski?

Kabir T wrote:

Thanks, Casey. Interesting to hear your experience as it’s different than other stories I had heard. Makes me re-think this a bit tbh; maybe worth considering the surgery at some point. Very stupid question but how long until you were able to type (if you have a desk job) and ski?

Obviously everyone is different and I’m certainly not a doctor, but I didn’t have nearly as many dislocations as you and opted to get it repaired. I think commitment to physical therapy is the most important thing post op which may be why some people don’t have as good of an outcome.

I had a desk job at the time and was able to type fully within two weeks though it wasn’t very comfortable. Surgery was in November 2020 and I was skiing with no restrictions the next winter 2021. 

The Climbing SIG wrote:

Hi Tristan,

I'm sorry to hear about your injury and that it's keeping you off the wall. Your doctor is right that it can take a few months to get back to full function but there is a lot you can do to help yourself progress and to come back stronger than before. This article from The Climbing Doctor blog can help you get a start on what to do on your own for non-surgical management of shoulder instability. The blog is overseen by Jared Vagy who is a doctor of physical therapy in southern California. The best practice is to move as much as possible to your tolerance and gently try to increase mobility over time. As your mobility returns, it is important to gradually incorporate shoulder-strengthening exercises. If you feel like you need more guidance and support, seeking help from a doctor of physical therapy in your area would be the best place to start. There are also physical therapists around the world who offer virtual assessments if you are unable to find someone familiar with the sport locally.

https://theclimbingdoctor.com/clunk-shoulder-instability-climbing/

As an aside, I'm a doctor of physical therapy and I have also had this injury in both shoulders and have been doing well without surgery. By being consistent with exercises it took me about 6 months to feel like I can be active without modification. I was back on the wall climbing conservatively after 2 months. Every person has a different body and timeline but there is a lot of research and real-life examples that support success with conservative management.

Reach out with any questions you have! Wishing you the best in your recovery and a quick return to the wall.

Awesome thanks for the response! That’s good to hear that you were able to get back to some level of climbing within two months because I’m still planning on a climbing trip 2.5 months after the injury. I’ll definitely be very cautious but it’s good to hear that it can be done to some level. I’m thinking I’ll just try and keep the hurt arm well within my range of motion by only using holds right in front of me, but we’ll see how it feels in a month.

Glad to hear that your shoulder has held up well without surgery! That’s also good news. And that link you shared is exactly what I need!

I've tried to set a strict rule for myself this year about moves that start to make my shoulder uncomfortable -- just let go or get out of it immediately if possible. Given up a few onsights and redpoints when I've ended up in a move where I know will aggravate my shoulder or pop it out if I move any further off it. I can usually tell when I start pulling into it if it feels like it's in that sweet spot for my shoulder to do it's thing. Luckily, I kinda know them now, and can avoid them, but still find myself in that position at times when trying hard, especially on some onsight attempts. It's been well worth giving up the ticks to save the shoulder.

I dislocated my shoulder 6 months ago, I only partially tore my labrum thankfully, so I did not require surgery. My shoulder was out of place for about 4 hours before we could get it back in which all the doctors tell me is, besides what they read on the MRI how long it was out tells you how bad the injury was. I got a lot of nerve damage from it and my deltoid is pretty much non-existent at this point. All of that being said, I feel stronger than I ever have in a climbing sense. All the band exercises and PT I have done has strengthened my shoulder and back a ton and for months when I was getting back into climbing I was climbing very easy grades. Getting my confidence back was tricky but then moving my shoulder in that way loosened it up so it felt less tight and painful. Then, I think focusing on higher volume lower intensity climbing made my endurance better than it's ever been. Although I have felt very strong, I am very limited in how often I can actually try hard. With the nerve damage it's easy to overdo it. So my focus is still on easy climbing and probably will be until I hit the year mark on my recovery. So my advice would be to take it slow getting back into it and do all of your PT. I was climbing very well then I simultaneously took a small step back from PT and kicked up the intensity of climbing  which made my nerves flare up and put me out of commission for a few weeks with pain radiating down my arm. The healing process for this injury is a long one but I feel confident you can get back stronger than before if you are patient and grind on PT.