Torn Labrum: surgery and recovery

I've dealt with popping, crunching, and shoulder pain for over a year now. I finally bit the bullet and went to the doc. She thinks it's a torn labrum and I got an MRI yesterday. I should know the results soon. I might have to do surgery to get it fixed. Anyone have experience with a torn labrum and undergoing surgery? How was your recovery? How long did you take off climbing? Any tips on staying in shape during recovery? 

Not my personal experience and I can't remember all the details and I don't know the whole context of your situation so plenty grains of salt...

A past ex had surgery for what was believed to be torn labrum on both sides (in her hips, not shoulders). She never got back to great hiking shape and had hip pain often. Sometimes very severe. I don't recall all the details or exactly what the reason was that she had the surgeries (she had them before we met). Hate to just throw this out there without enough info but I'd say before having any permanent non-life-saving surgical changes to your body, get lots of professional opinions and do A LOT of reading and go in under the assumption that it's not 100% guarantee to fix whatever issues you're having and you might come out worse (or with different issues).

Thanks for the advice. From what I have been reading torn labrums in the hips vs the shoulder is a pretty big difference. I'm no doc but from what I have read it seems a lot less severe than hip injuries. 

Like the above poster mentions get as many professional opinions as possible. It took many primary care visits and a referral to a Sports Medicine Specialist to get my MRI authorized as you have done. The MRI conclusively showed Labrum Slap/Tear and received another referral to an excellent orthopedic surgeon who was well known as shoulder specialist.

Arthroscopic procedure was finished in 2 1/2 hours and than the work began. 6 weeks of complete immobility before 6 months of PT. 1 full year of total non-weight bearing...meaning not one pull-up for a year. Your noodle arm will atrophy and feel achy for quite a while before slowly starting the rehab.. rubber bands, range of motion, etc. Be patient and do not blow it by trying to climb too fast (1 year) and don’t even think about going to work if it requires using the arm...  driving a manual transmission, tying your shoe, flossing your teeth, etc with that arm... Do all that and after a year you will climb again, maybe even harder than you could before. I was lucky to have the insurance in place and the down time to heal with this procedure which can easily cost $20,000.00 out-of-pocket without. 10+ years post surgery I rarely think about the sacrifice’s and year of climbing lost and will hopefully not need the other shoulder done someday following AC separations and other injuries dating back to High School.

Good luck and don’t necessarily believe PT alone will get you through this without the surgery. That may work for some people but in my case I’m glad to have gone through the surgery and post op. I’m now 57 years old if that provides more insight! I’ve written this exact advice before on Mt. Proj a couple of times after suffering the initial period of doubt, indecision and no relief before the surgery. 

What I learned. I guts' it out for @3 years and ignored it before getting my shoulders checked out. The grades kept going down and the fun was as well. I remember doing P2 of Sunnyside Bench in Yos, one of the most fun pitches anywhere and almost crying it hurt so bad when I finished it. When 5.7 (trad) became difficult and painful I went to the Dr. Turns out that I had a total of 9 tendons in the 2 shoulders that needed surgery. 5 in the left and 4 in the right. I mean, MESSED up and hanging by a thread bad. Torn Labrums, infrasupinatus, suprispinatius and some other shoulder horseshit.  When I was younger working out I'd do 5 sets of 12 pullups (60 pullups total), these days, years after the 2nd surgery I am working on doing a single pullup, for a total of one:-) Almost there, although the one shoulder still complains later.  

What I learned: 1st, climbers get some sick mussel imbalances that create the conditions for these issues. Mussel...heh...heh...anyway. I could grab that pull down machine in the gym and pulling every weight plate on the thing, do sets of 15 clean and easy. The push up machine, 2 plates ...max. So work on those opposition muscles before you get injured. 2nd, once you start screwing them up, the ones not trashed will work harder and it's easier to F them up. Lastly, once you rip a tendon, if you don't get it repaired in a timely manner, lack of blood flow may cause you to not be able to fix a ripped tendon as the tissue will eventually die off. I got lucky and was very active so they took a shot at repairing them. But don't put off doing something. The left one was done non-arthroscopic (aka "Open surgery") and the right one arthroscopic. Go with non-arthroscopic if possible, more likely to get it fixed correctly and you won't recover any faster or slower. 

PT and time can fix minor issues before they get worse, and PT will help avoid future issues. I was off for a year (2 shoulders done Left and right -6 months per) and I still have one that is screwed up and has moderate pain. I do PT regularly to this day and warm up well before climbing. Glad I got it done. Just do what the doctors and Physical Therapists say and it will work out. This winter I'm going to start working on a hangboard and see if I can get my lard ass up 5.10 again at least. (66 years old here, with pretty bad/painful finger arthritis too which makes climbing in cold weather a bitch, for reference)

Good luck!

I had my labrum repaired last march. Started climbing easy routes around 3 months post surgery. I'm at about 80% strength at this point 10 months post surgery. But i was more diligent drinking beer than training the last 6 months. I'm also 40 years old and have had surgery on that shoulder before. 

If you stick with PT and climbing training and your young you could probably be back to 100% after 6-8 months. 

I prolonged getting surgery for a year and it sucked trying to climb with the pain and shifting my shoulder was doing. I should have done it sooner. 

My shoulder feels great now! And my climbing is coming back fast. I'm hoping to send the proj this spring.

Monthly massages and dry needling were lifesavers. 

I did my left shoulder summer 2010 and was happy enough to do my right one (after a new injury) summer 2011. Both labral tear repairs with a lot of ligament stretching and multi-directional instability. Surgery #1 was for a ~10 month old injury that was getting worse. By the time I commited to surgery, I was reliably slightly dislocating after about 2 hours of gym climbing or whenever my muscles were fatigued. I was in my late 20's at the time and in good shape going into surgery #1. It's a slog. A lot of pain, and PT exercises 3-5 times daily for 6 months. I started gym toprope (basically no risk of a poorly controlled fall) at 14-20 weeks post-op. At 6 months, I was comfortable leading at a level that was fun for me indoors and outdoors. At 8-10 months I was getting close to my pre-surgery onsight level, but still too tentative and worried about bad falls to be projecting or getting stronger quickly. With 2 surgeries in just under 1 year, plus some travel the following year it was probably a total of 3 - 5 years for my climbing to completely recover, but I was stronger than ever this past February (before the gyms closed) and haven't had any recurring injuries. Some stiffness, neck pain, etc that may be related to surgery or to getting a desk job and 10 years older. Overall for people who are in a similar boat to where I was, which is young and healthy and seeing a progression roadblock due to a chronic injury, I recommend it assuming you trust your surgeon and your second opinion.

I injured my left shoulder in 2015, rehabbed with PT, and was climbing reasonably well, but always guarding against random pain/dislocation. Had surgery in April 2016: SLAP repair, biceps tenodesus (that’s when they relocate one of your biceps attachment points to a new spot, usually done as part of SLAP surgery), bone spur removal, and cleanup of one fraying rotator cuff tendon.

Going in, I was told no climbing for 6 months, but the surgeon cleared me for some easy climbing at 3.5 months post-surgery, and I was back to redpoint my highest grade before surgery at 7.5 months after surgery. No problems or issues since then, coming on to 5 years. 

Recovery wasn’t a completely smooth sailing. It took a while to get full ROM, and I had some issues with the scar tissue irritating the radial nerve that started couple months after the surgery, when the scar tissue formed, and took many months to clear. But ultimately it all worked out.

I credit the PT I did before surgery, at least partially, for speedy recovery. Of course I was doing PT religiously after surgery, and I can’t over-state how much of a difference a GOOD PT makes. It is just as important, if not more, than the good surgeon. 

I have a torn supraspinatus, bad impingement in both and huge spurs on both acromions. For about 2 years the pain kept me from sleeping, but I also did a lot of shoulder resistance exercises. 

Somehow, I managed to strengthen the girdle around the tear and it is literally pain free. My surgeon said he's never seen someone with my tear be able to rotate their arms even 90° up from their hips, much less push straight up with weights.

By all means, pursue physical therapy and strengthening to avoid surgery if you can. But you also have a time limit in that dead tissue can't be sewn back together