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rck_climber
Mar 19, 2002, 5:52 PM
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Hey folks,
Bad news... After several years of being able to "pop" my shoulder in and out of socket, I finally went to the doc to have it looked at. It came so easily that I thought it must be normal, or at worst, a little odd, but certainly not a bad thing. I had another pretty severe dislocation in October and my shoulder had become very "loose" in the socket, so I finally bit the bullet and saw the doc.
Aparently, according to doc, this is far from normal and now I'm going to undergo open reconstructive surgery in my right shoulder using a "Bankart" procedure for severe anterior instability in my shoulder with frequent sublaxes.
My question is what impact is this going to have on my climbing? Does anyone know about this procedure and it's success rates?
I have yet to go to my pre-op appointment for consultation on the surgery, but I would like to have a better understanding of what they're going to do before I go in to discuss it w/ the surgeon so I can ask some pertinent, intelligent questions while I'm there. The docs were pretty frank and were not overly excited at the prognosis - seems this is difficult to repair such that the dislocations stop entirely.
Experiences, advice and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks all.
Mick
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radistrad
Mar 20, 2002, 8:14 PM
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Registered: Feb 25, 2002
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A buddy of mine had a bone spur removed in his shoulder, they did the Orthoscopic.
It has been six months and he is just starting to climb, 5.5.
It is going to suck for a while. Do all that the doc tells you to do, follow up with physical therapy, and keep you gear in a cool dry place until you can use it again.
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apollodorus
Mar 22, 2002, 1:40 AM
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I don't know about your upcoming surgery, or how it will affect you later. But loose joints generally come from repeated injury to ligaments and other connective tissue. Basically, when you stretch a ligament too far and don't allow it to heal back to its original length, it stays a bit too long. If you keep injuring and stretching the same ligaments, you will have a permanently loose joint. During a shoulder dislocation, the ligaments, rotator cuff, etc. are stretched out in the process. If the joint is reset and allowed to heal, there is usually little permanent damage. But, it takes a LONG time to heal ligaments. I took a bad fall skating in a swimming pool, dislocating my shoulder. It popped out about month later in another fall, and I called it quits: no more skateboarding in pools. After about a year of taking it easy on that shoulder (no overhand throwing, etc.), I began playing tennis, mostly to use the overhand motion of serving the ball as therapy. I have no noticable injury to the shoulder today.
The lateral ligaments of the ankle (right side of right foot, left side of left foot) are also very commonly strained and sprained repeatedly without allowing them to heal. The French method of cramponing, with the foot flat to the snow slope, is notorious for constantly stretching the ankle ligaments further and further until the ankle joint stays permanently loose.
Good luck with your surgery.
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quickclips
Mar 22, 2002, 3:48 AM
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From swimming I've developed similar problems. I've had 2 years of PT and my shoulders now have multi-directional instablity among a number of other problems. I don't know if your ortho doc knows of this (it is rather new) or if he has any experience w/ it, but there is a surgury out there now where they use a lazer to shrink the ligs and tendons in hte shoulder to help stabilize it. I personally havne't done it, mine have been getting a bit better, but I know of a person who wrestled and had that operation and it worked out pretty well for him. Just be careful and always get at least a second opinion. Good luck
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rck_climber
Mar 22, 2002, 5:59 PM
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Thanks all for the replies, especially for sharing your experiences, Ray. I really appreciate it.
Being a strong believer in the "Knowledge is power" theory, I've done alot of research on it in the last couple of days. Here's what I've found out for anyone else with the same symptoms:
My actual diagnosis is "Recurring subluxations of the right shoulder due to anterior instability". Furthermore, I have a suspected Bankart Lesion, where the glenoind labrum is seperated from the glenoid (shoulder socket where the humeral head, or ball, fits in). The greatest damage appears, from my research, to be to the inferior glenohumeral ligamet. This ligament has been either torn or completely stretched out from my repeated dislocations.
A little alarming is that doctors consider greater than five subluxations (dislocations) to be a high number; I typically have five before my second cup of coffee in the morning.
It is this obviously serious degradation of my shoulder stability that concerns my doctors the most. The prognosis is not great that the surgery will be able to stop the dislocations entirely, but will most likely slow them down.
The plan is to go in arthroscopically to get an idea of what, exactly, needs to be fixed. Then they will either do the Bankart repair procedure arthroscopically, if possible; or, more likely, go ahead and open it up for a full reconstructive Bankart repair.
Initially, I figured I'd be climbing again in two weeks - even if I had to duct tape the damn thing to my body and climb one-handed on some easy stuff. While my wife had planned on shipping all my gear back to Ohio to keep me from being tempted. It appears my wife is probably closer to the mark than I was; because from what I've read, it appears that it could take up to a year before I can even throw a ball again, let alone pull the hard routes I'm doing now.
Being young, I guess it's better to sacrifice this year, if need be, to be able to climb for the rest of my life; than to start again too soon and not be able to climb ever again. So, I'll see how it goes and listen to the docs this time.
I'll stay in touch after the surgery and let you guys, my climbing family, know how it goes and how I'm doing. Appreciate all the concern and beta.
Mick
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bowline
Apr 14, 2002, 6:28 PM
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I've had 10 shoulder dislocations. First from kayaking and then while rockclimbing. With mine the ligaments were torn off not just stretched. I've had surgery twice. Recouping from the surgery wasn't too bad. But the bad news is that you will never be 100% in that shoulder. Exactly what percent loss is a bit up to you (age, strengthening exercises) but you will never be sure until it is stressed to your new limit. Each dislocation makes it worse. And each operation has less chance to actually fix the problem.
I still kayak (can't resign myself to quit) but I scout those class 4 rapids and never eskimo roll on my bad side. I still rock climb but I'm always aware of moves that will stress that shoulder. That usually means not climbing at my past limit. And I stand the chance of screwing it up again, which would really be the end. I'd have to act my age (a sad thought).
Good luck.
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rck_climber
Apr 18, 2002, 6:31 PM
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Thanks for all the advice and concern. I appreciate it very much.
Tuesday's the big day, so I've got one last weekend of climbing left - too bad it's gonna snow again, guess I'll just be snowy - I'm damn-sure not going to miss out on it though .
I'll drop you all a line again after the surgery when I'm up to it.
Thanks, all.
Mick
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