Can I keep lifting with a partially dislocated shoulder?

[whosthere]

I landed on my shoulder during judo practice five days ago and am now enjoying a partially dislocated shoulder, according to a doctor who took a look at the x-rays.

I was able to do headstand and regular pushups without any issue yesterday, but random things like getting into a t-shirt hurt quite a bit.

Doctor advised against any and all physical activity, but that's what they advised for my elbow tendinitis and Achilles tendinitis as well, and those got quickly treated via chinups and eccentric calf raises.

So now I am looking for your wisdom yet again.

Do I go to the gym and experiment with what hurts and what doesn't?

Do I ignore the pain?

Do I just forget about gym for awhile?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Not enough details about the injury, sorry.

[whosthere]

Will providing more details and an x-ray help? And is immobilisation a must for any kind of shoulder dislocation?

Also, thanks a lot for this forum and your books.

[Mark Rippetoe]

More details might help, but I will probably not recommend anything without actually seeing your shoulder. Are they recommending surgery?

[whosthere]

They are recommending giving it rest for a week or two, immobilization if I want to, and that's pretty much it.

I have almost full range of motion without pain, visually it looks normal. There was no swelling or bruising, and my judo coach, who gave it a cursory examination (visual, plus pressed/pulled on it in various arcane ways) on the spot, was unable to find any problems, and said it was most likely a bruise. I'm going to go to another doc tomorrow to get a second opinion on it, so I will try to take a photo of the x-ray and such.

One thing that reliably produced pain is the scarf test.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Move it as much as you can tolerate -- always good advice.

[whosthere]

Thank you, I had a feeling immobilization might not be the best idea.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you would like your shoulder to be immobile, immobilization is an excellent plan.

[freshelfpie]

I tore my glenoid labrum in a bodyboarding accident, doc called it a subluxation, it basically popped out, tearing the labrum, then popped back in. Didn't do MRI so the tear wasn't caught at the time. After half a dozen more subluxations over the years (shoulder remained unstable), I finally got it repaired. Sadly, lost job and insurance before I could properly rehab it, and didn't know anything about lifting at the time, so lack of exercise / mobility after surgery resulted in fairly permanent reduction of mobility. I actually CAN get my wrists in proper position for LBBS, but the left shoulder takes a few warmup sets to settle in and stop hurting. If your insurance covers it, I would have your doc do an MRI to see if there is a major tear. I lived with it for years, but I wasn't lifting heavy, and it was pretty unstable, would pop out when I had arm above shoulder level and forward. +1 on NOT keeping it immobilized unless you are in severe pain.

[whosthere]

For posterity's sake:

After initial 2-3 days pain stopped flaring up with every movement and shoulder only hurt with elevation or protraction.
Went to another doc, he said it was a "shoulder sprain". Same as the other doc, he advised immobilization, prescribed electrophysiotherapy.
I refused immobilization, kept doing head and handstand pushups, added chinup static holds, squats and supinated rows. For some reason these exercises did not cause pain, unless I shrugged at the top of pushup. Bench hurt, pronated rows hurt, OHP hurt, dragon flags hurt, chinups hurt.

After a week or so, pain from elevation or protraction gradually decreased, now I can do chinups with full ROM and shoulders relaxed at the bottom, bench/rows/ohp/dragon flags still hurt a tiny bit, haven't tested handstand pushups with shrugs at the end yet. Shoulder seems to be healing up fine, painless ROM is steadily increasing, and actually headstand pushups seemed to help a lot, but maybe it was just subjective.

With information I have now I am happy I refused immobilization and kept exercising, though maybe I'll regret it in the future.

Hope this helps someone.