weird shouldery move, heard crack, sore shoulder, serious?

I was climbing yesterday and did a funky, but not strenuous, move where my hand was about level with my shoulder and my hand and elbow were pushed way back behind me relative to my chest. I heard a crack and some minor pain, kept climbing, and then last night and today my shoulder is sore during certain moves in what I believe is the rotator cuff/very upper bicep area.

Anyone had this or similar or have any takes? I don't think its a ~huge~ deal and hopefully can just take a few days off and then climb again, but I know sometimes big problems start as small problems if they're not fixed!

Cheers

I can't properly diagnose it, as I'm not a doctor. Sorry.

I'd get the shoulder removed if I were you. 

Lisa S wrote: I was climbing yesterday and did a funky, but not strenuous, move where my hand was about level with my shoulder and my hand and elbow were pushed way back behind me relative to my chest. I heard a crack and some minor pain, kept climbing, and then last night and today my shoulder is sore during certain moves in what I believe is the rotator cuff/very upper bicep area.

Anyone had this or similar or have any takes? I don't think its a ~huge~ deal and hopefully can just take a few days off and then climb again, but I know sometimes big problems start as small problems if they're not fixed!

Cheers

Based on my experience as someone with a lot of shoulder history (7 dislocations one shoulder and 2 the other and eventual surgery, along with my wife having a similar history and two surgeries....ah the tolls of whitewater kayaking) there's not a TON that can be done short of surgery so a wait and see method is often prescribed. If your shoulder recovers in a week or so of rest take it easy and see how it feels. If you have a lot of impingement or discomfort after it heals for a bit then you might have some damage.  The only way they can know anything though is an MRI and even then it is often difficult to see much until its pretty bad.

The main outcome of having joint damage is dislocation, which is not fun but almost no one will recommend surgery after a single dislocation even, they'll prescribe PT which is just work to strength stabilizer muscles.  Climbing does that some but there are some specific things you can do to help with that (google some pt exercises and save yourself some money unless you can't motivate yourself to do it on your own).

Alternative therapies exist but are questionable as to outcome and risk so I'll not discuss those.

Good luck and warning I'm not a doctor so if you have real concerns your best bet is to go talk to one of those.  Fair warning a lot of shoulder specialists are sports medicine surgeons and surgeons tend to see solutions that they're most comfortable with, which tends to be surgery.

Mark A wrote:

Based on my experience as someone with a lot of shoulder history (7 dislocations one shoulder and 2 the other and eventual surgery, along with my wife having a similar history and two surgeries....ah the tolls of whitewater kayaking) there's not a TON that can be done short of surgery so a wait and see method is often prescribed. If your shoulder recovers in a week or so of rest take it easy and see how it feels. If you have a lot of impingement or discomfort after it heals for a bit then you might have some damage.  The only way they can know anything though is an MRI and even then it is often difficult to see much until its pretty bad.

The main outcome of having joint damage is dislocation, which is not fun but almost no one will recommend surgery after a single dislocation even, they'll prescribe PT which is just work to strength stabilizer muscles.  Climbing does that some but there are some specific things you can do to help with that (google some pt exercises and save yourself some money unless you can't motivate yourself to do it on your own).

Alternative therapies exist but are questionable as to outcome and risk so I'll not discuss those.

Good luck and warning I'm not a doctor so if you have real concerns your best bet is to go talk to one of those.  Fair warning a lot of shoulder specialists are sports medicine surgeons and surgeons tend to see solutions that they're most comfortable with, which tends to be surgery.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out, this was exactly the sort of information I was looking for :)

I did serious damage to my rotator cuff weightlifting a few years ago.  I did not get surgery, instead went with a lengthy but eventually successful course of physiotherapy.  If the pain persists get an MRI, then get a referral to the most highly recommended sports physiotherapist in your area.  My damaged rotator cuff has not recovered 100% from the injury, even after 13 years, but I would estimate it at 95% and it doesn't hold me back in climbing.  I wouldn't trust it for the kinds of max lifts I used to do.  Just don't mess around and make it worse before you do something about it.

Hey Lisa,

What you're describing is not unlike a move I made once ...

--- Left hand on small crimp about waist level --- right hip turned into the wall --- right foot just smearing --- right hand up above and somewhat behind right shoulder ---

I was essentially trying to mantle with the right hand when my foot blew, sending most of the fall force onto the right shoulder joint (which was already in a weak/awkward position).  I heard a weird *noise* as I fell.  Hanging on the rope for a sec, my shoulder felt waaaaaay out of place and it was somehow quite natural to fix that with an odd flick of the body (not suggesting this is what happened to you).  

The doc's words were "subluxation of the shoulder joint."  This meant a partial, rather than a complete, separation of the upper arm bone from the socket.  PT was the treatment and that didn't last too long.  

Rest up!

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Lisa,
My friend had almost an identical thing happen to him about a two months ago. His PT gave him some exercises and he’s been climbing moderately for the past couple weeks, but said he felt basically back to normal after 6 weeks. Like others said, probably just strengthen local muscle groups, but definitely have a professional look at it. 

If a short bit of rest doesn;t do the trick, See a PT and or doctor. Shoulders are not simple to troubleshoot. You are getting a little bit of good and a lot of bad advice, and some blatantly wrong information in the replies here... and I am not talking about just the snarky posts.

Drawing any conclusions from others' anecdotes is folly.

The shoulder capsule is a highly complicated thing. Any of a dozen things could have happened. For every type of injury, there can be a multitude of responses.
I heard a snap doing heavy cable flys at a gym. Pretty sure that started a tear in my supraspinatus. Several years later as I chicken winged my body up in bed off my side, same shoulder definitely ripped. A inked up MRI showed a 2cm tear. I also have bone spurs on my acromion. The shoulder I haven't had them examine hurts worse than the injured one. Even with what I have had to learn about my shoulder, I can't tell if it has the same problems as the other one. Therefore, our advice is nothing more than anecdotal  
That said, try a short course of vitamin i to knock down the inflammation. If the pain subsides, great.
Theraband therapy works great for tons of shoulder issues.
PT can strengthen  the girdle around a tissue problem.
Bottom line is that you just need to march up the levels of intervention until something works.
Anywhere from ibuprofen to shoulder replacement.
Good luck