Yesterday, while bouldering in the gym, I made an uncontrolled, swinging move to a jug that resulted in my shoulder coming slightly out of its socket (subluxation). I have extremely loose joints; almost all of them do this on occasion. After the incident, I rested for about fifteen minutes to see if I noticed any pain and did not. I bouldered for another half hour and felt no pain or weakness in the joint. Afterwards, I proceeded to do a 4x4 with no weakness, instability, or pain. I finished the session with a few sets of pushups and called it a day.

I then went home, ran a few errands, and went to over to a friends house. While walking back to my apartment, I noticed that my shoulder would subluxate if I let my shoulder muscles relax while carrying my briefcase. While I do have loose shoulders, that is hardly normal. When I woke up this morning, the inside of my shoulder was achy when I moved it, but I had no loss in the joint's range of motion. The injured shoulder is still much looser than the other and subluxates if I relax my shoulder muscles under load.

I am not really sure what happened, especially because I was able to climb with no instability whatsoever after the traumatic incident. I plan on cutting out climbing until the inflammation subsides and then embarking upon a progressive rehab program to tighten my shoulders. Does this sound like something I need to see a doctor about immediately, or is it worth waiting a few days to see how it plays out?

My doc is a moron. The answer to everything, even chronic.. is ''rest''. I only go see him now to locate any problems, then i use the internet and get on with it myself.

Maybe yours is more usefull.. If only i had a doc that was a climber.

Often when a shoulder dislocates the head of the humerus (the 'ball' part of the joint) swings around and impacts the front of the glenoid (the 'cup' part of the joint). When this happens, it creates a lesion on the front of the humerus that makes the cup of the joint shallower. Depending on the severity, the lesion can involve soft tissue only or soft tissue and bone. Because the joint is made shallower it's more likely to undergo subsequent dislocations. The treatment for this kind of shoulder instability is often surgery.

This is not a medical emergency, so you don't need to see a doctor immediately. But if it continues to give you problems and pain, you should see a sports medicine specialist.

Is this the sort of thing that might require surgery even if the injury was not sever enough to restrict range of motion?

A subluxation or dislocation is a HYPERmobility situation. One would not expect loss of ROM. Indeed, you may well have INCREASED ROM, due to capsular laxity.

It's possible you may have a SLAP or Bankart lesion. In any case, resign yourself to a dedicated rotator cuff strengthening program.

And for heaven's sake, STOP relaxing your shoulder muscles to see if it still subluxes.

(no such word as "subluxate")


http://www.athleticadvisor.com/...lder/slap_lesion.htm

http://orthopedics.about.com/...oulder/a/bankart.htm

http://www.athleticadvisor.com/...lder/slap_lesion.htm

http://orthopedics.about.com/...oulder/a/bankart.htm

seems like my worse injury. It required no surgery but kept me away from climbing for 1 month and it took at least one and a half year of hard work before being 100% confident on the injuried side again.
First lesson : be patient and work hard.

If I had a SLAP lesion, would I feel it where my bicep meets the shoulder?

It went out and back in by itself, so technically speaking it was a subluxation, not a full one.

I can't say how much it dislocated but i experienced a very obvious tearing feel/noise, best described as when you separate two bones in a piece of chicken.
It wasn't just a small "pop", rather a quite long "schhkkreeeeewwwkkk"

Surprisingly un-painful during the actual injury (i'd say even a slightly torn ankle is much worse) but just plain "wrong".

I did not attempt any other climbing.

very painful as soon as i cooled down (15-30 minutes).

for roughly a week it has been very painful (i'd need painkillers to get a proper sleep, and could only sleep on my back of course) and would feel as if it would dislocate again when i coughed.

MRI said it resulted in a SLAP I lesion, so i only slightly damaged my biceps' tendon attachment and not the joint socket.

If I had a SLAP lesion, would I feel it where my bicep meets the shoulder?

The article on bankart lesions says that a common symptom is catching. Does a lack of catching preclude a bankart lession, or is that only more prevalent in sever cases?

You can't rehab for a couple of months and then stop. The problems will come back.

I have access to free weights but not therabands. Is there any advantage to therabands? Would pushups be beneficial?

I'm glad you are feeling better.

Theraband is really nice for early RC strengthening. Of course, it's not impossible to rehab without it, but it's good to have.

Without bands, the next best thing would be a pulley machine, with moveable pulleys. You can supplement with (very) light dumbells. Remember the RC is composed of small muscles, and many people require 1-2 lb dumbells to start. Of course, never sacrifice form to lift more weight. Form is especially critical with RC rehab.

Good luck, and post back.

They have 1, 2, and 5 pound dumbells at the gym. Would they sell therabands at big box sports stores?

www.thera-band.com

you want the resistance bands. Get yellow through silver. They're better than dumbells in that they're easy to travel with. Take it slow. More resistance isn't necessarily better. As onceahardman said, form is much more important than weight.