Climbing after shoulder dislocation or subluxation

Hey all,

Context: I've dislocated (anterior) my left shoulder multiple times through various sporting activities. Had surgery on it after the 4th time, but when I was weightlifting back in 2017, had another dislocation. =( After that, I avoided weightlifting. Took some time but eventually was able to get my strength back with overhead movement (nothing too extreme). I picked up climbing cause I never had an issue with pulling and hanging. Plus it's fun as hell.

Fast forward to now: Was TR when I fell off the route and swung away from the wall. As I was coming back towards the wall, I reached for a hold to stop myself from swinging but with the momentum of swinging and maybe angle? (Body turned to the right and arm extended out, about chest height). Felt my left shoulder immediately pop out. The pain wasn't too painful but definitely had to come down.

Luckily one of my friends is has had EMT training so he was able to slide it back in. Foolish of me to reach out with my left shoulder but I think it was instinctual. Even when I came down I could still move my arm around but with discomfort, which makes me think it was more a subluxation than a complete dislocation? Could be wrong.

Wondering some if anyone had anecdotal, or somewhat scientific (if lucky) advice on climbing again. I know all the rehab exercises and time tables from previous injuries. I would really love it if anyone had experiences with climbing with multiple shoulder injuries.

Side note: MRIs & surgeries are pretty much not an option as I don't have insurance that would cover it. It would be super expensive.

Super bummed, but somewhat hopeful as I have read some people bouncing back after a couple weeks rest/rehab. But totally understand cases are different.

Appreciate it!

I have had shoulder injuries on both shoulders and I climb pain free today. I am not sure of the nature of the injury-- I remember hearing a sound like crushing lettuce leaves and I was not able to lift my shoulder without pain for some weeks after. Since the injuries, I have re-injured both shoulders. So I avoided strenuous positions where I was trying to pull with my shoulder extended and high. I also strengthened my shoulders with the typically recommended exercise routines. Now years later, I probably still subconsciously avoid these positions, but when necessary I am able to do them fine.

I don't know how serious your injuries are, but time and rehab fix a lot. I wish you a good recovery.

Sounds like you have a decent amount of experience dealing with this already and the advice upthread is good.  I had chronic subluxations for years and (out of ignorance) would frequently climb way too soon. (Like days after) My experience was that as long as I was super careful, it was fine, but I imagine it was a really risky move that put me at increased risk of doing it again.  I ultimately got surgery which basically solved the problem and now my shoulder feels great and I’m climbing harder than ever. That being said, there was a long gap between my worst dislocation and surgery (like 6 months) where I was working and climbing a ton at a reasonably high level. This was thanks to working with a pt and being on it with the prescribed rehab.

Ray, I would follow the advice to see a  good pt to help develop a plan for rehabilitation and strengthening your shoulder. I have climbed for 50 years and now have had surgery to replace the head of my humerus. I still climb seven years later and can directly attribute it to a great pt.

https://web.archive.org/web/20121218083647/ dpmclimbing.com/articles/vi…

Prior to climbing I dislocated my left shoulder up and backwards, never followed proper PT and had fairly poor ROM. I suffered quite a few subluxations early in climbing, basically any time a foot popped. I was terrified to do any big dynamic move leading with the left arm and held back my bouldering significantly. I tried just doing scapular pull ups and while that helped the shoulder still felt tweaky/off. I couldn't press into dihedrals and usually had pain in the anterior deltoid.

A fellow climber who is a PT recommended the above exercises to work on the base range of motion and to get the rest of the shoulder girdle support up to snuff, just doing rotator cuff work won't cut it she said. I did that whole battery twice a week for a year, then after reaching a decent base I still run through some of the exercises at the end of gym sessions, but only 5-10 reps for the most part. I also integrated one arm overhead presses with a kettle bell in the last year and that has further helped balance the shoulder/s.

I can now do dynos with the left arm leading and hold the swing with no pain or hesitation. There is no instability in the joint. Now I'm doing those scapular pulls with 1.25 body weight for 7-9 reps to warm up on sessions (vs. 2 reps at bodyweight kicking and screaming in 2015). It took a while, but the payoff was huge.