Shoulder Tears and Surgery
Hey Steph
I read an article about someone asking about rotator cuff problems and surgery. You referenced lisa a subject matter expert on this. She mentioned since it’s a rotator cuff it’s one thing but a tear is totally different. I have an ac tear among other things. PT has helped. I tried climbing on it with care and it’s not really having it. Numbness and not feeling good when I lean on it ensues. I’ll be getting the exact diagnosis soon so you can know exactly what I’m talking about. But surgery? Would i climb again? And any steps/tips you or your friend lisa may have.
Thank you very much for your time
Jon
Hi Jon,
Here’s what Lisa said (and thanks Chris Noble for the photo of her climbing):
For Jon, my arm chair hunch is that he sounds like he will need surgical repair if PT hasn’t enabled him to climb and he wants to climb. as you likely recall, I was regularly doing PT before and after my shoulder injuries but eventually all the repeated injuries caught up to me and the shoulder was too unstable to tolerate climbing. Or even wiping down tables at Eddie’s! Which is why I opted to have the surgery. I was “lucky” in that because my rotator cuff was so hyper mobile (“loosely ligamented” were my doc’s words) to begin with, but actually totally intact, they were able to do a closed procedure laser treatment surgery to tighten up my rotator cuff, which compensated for the torn ligaments. Those ligaments are still torn, but now that I have a more stable rotator cuff courtesy of surgery, I’m able to climb.
It sounds like he may be on the surgical repair path and if climbing means a lot to him and is a significant part of his happiness, it’s probably worth the risk to have surgery, if his surgeon recommends that course.
With our friend whose surgery was botched, that’s a tough one and definitely more SNF terrain as she had open procedures for tears—at least one was an ac I think. She had great success with her first surgery and was supppppposed to have same surgery with the same doc but he went rogue on procedure and tried a new-to-him technique that failed miserably and damaged her median nerve. In the cruelest of ironies, it sounds like the repair went well but the technique gave her more injuries! Without her consent! (That’s actually why I opted to be awake in all my surgeries. I didn’t want ANY decisions made w out explicit informed consent.)
I think it’s important to remember in the grand scheme of things that more surgeries work out than fail, however when surgery goes wrong the results can be so devastating that it makes the risk seem not worth it. My other suggestion would be to assure he has an orthopedic surgeon who truly understands what rockclimbing is all about — bring magazines or videos to show the doctor what he wants to do with his repaired shoulder before consenting to any surgeries. Sometimes a surgeon might change their course of treatment once they understand that the person is not walking up a 45° snow slope, but hanging upside down on a 45° overhang!
Lisa
Hi,
I’m a PT in Seattle and I’ve done research on and teach about on the treatment of shoulder injuries in climbers. A friend forwarded me this conversation and I thought I’d jump in. I’ve published some information that might be helpful. You can find the info here: http://mojagear.com/journal/2015/11/16/the-climbers-project-exercises-to-help-you-climb-longer-and-stronger-by-preventing-shoulder-injury/
If numbness is an associated symptom it’s possible that you’re dealing with more than a shoulder issue. It’s worth mentioning that a really unstable shoulder can cause transient numbness but you could be dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome or a cervical radiculopathy. These would be good reasons why your shoulder pain hasn’t responded to PT exercises. It’s also worth mentioning all PTs and PT exercises for the shoulder weren’t created equal. So once you get your diagnosis you might consider another shot at PT with someone a little more focused in this area. Hope this helps.
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thanks for the information!