Dislocated shoulder... does physio interfere with SS?

[scp]

Hi Mark,

I just want to first say this program has been so good to me since I signed up to this forum and started it a year ago.

Anyway, I've dislocated my left shoulder 3 times before. I've used SS mainly to help me with my strength for baseball, but also to help rebuild my bum shoulder muscles from years of abuse... my bench and press have reached numbers I never thought I could thanks to SS despite my shoulder problems.

So, the other day during a baseball game, I dislocate my left shoulder. It quickly popped back in but the damage has been done.

The doctor gave me 2 options. Surgery and physio, which will prevent my shoulder from coming out again, or just doing straight physio although this would not guarantee my shoulder could just slip out again.

I'm concerned because I've been really on a roll with SS and I don't want to impede my progress. This scares the hell out of me.

If I go through with just physio, do you think if I deload and continued with the program, would this affect my recovery or would the physio affect the program? Could I do both SS and physical therapy?

Surgery would put me out for a good year because the doctor wants to completely surgically rebuild my shoulder... and I'm worried about my range of motion and strength being affected by this...

Thoughts? Or experiences with trainees whom you've dealt with that went through serious injuries? The Dr recommends no physical activity with physio, but I don't think squats could hurt me, only help, right?

[Mark Rippetoe]

It would be helpful to know exactly what he plans to do in the surgery. EXACTLY.

[DutchPancakes]

Also how you dislocated it this time.

If you fell and 3 people fell on top of you, thereby popping your shoulder out, possibly physio would be enough (how many times will this happen again?).

If your shoulder popped out because you reached up in a jumpball or for a block or something, then maybe you have a more serious problem.

The above is based on my expertise in these matters, as a property lawyer who has never dislocated anything.

[borzoi06]

I'm with Mark on getting to know what the doc wants to do. But a complete surgical rebuild sounds a bit odd. I've had both my shoulders surgically repaired. The first one was an open repair, and the second one was scoped. Both shoulders had the same issue. The second doc was appalled that the first surgery was so invasive, and said that there was no reason NOT to simply scope the shoulder.

After getting both procedures done, getting my left shoulder scoped was probably the best thing I could have done for it. The recovery was phenomenally quick, and it feels much stronger. I think I was back in the gym doing some kind of lifting within a month, whereas, the first open surgery took me nearly a month and a half just to get the strength to hold the handlebar on a bike and ride. Mind you, the surgeries didn't make me invincible, and I still have to pay attention to my shoulders on bench day, but I haven't had any dislocations since (8 years for the first and 3 for the second).

I would highly recommend getting the shoulder fixed if you're having so much trouble with it. But do your research beforehand. Don't just blindly take the advice of one doctor for a completely unnecessarily invasive procedure if there's no reason you can't just get it scoped. There aren't too many orthopaedic procedures they can't do with a scope these days.

[scp]

I decided to hold off from surgery for now and instead only go through with physio.

The surgery would start off, after knocking me out, with cutting my shoulder open, moving around my muscle and gaining access to my joint to examine my shoulder. From there the doctor told me it appears (from my MRI and ultrasound) that he would need to completely rebuild my shoulder to prevent any further dislocations. The doctor said after opening me up and taking a look at the joint, I would require an anchor... which I believe is metal bolts? The doctor threw a lot more jargon at me but from what I understood it'd be something like a 3 hour procedure, and a year long recovery to build up the muscles, cartilage, tissues and strength.

I was told the advantage to this is this would guarantee my shoulder would stay in place, barring an extremely traumatic injury. The negative is that there is a good chance I lose some range of motion and perhaps some strength depending how successful the surgery and my recovery is...

So... like I said I'm holding off with surgery but doing physio... at this point would SS hinder or help my rehab? This is so frustrating... I know at this point another dislocation is in my near future, but I can't destroy all this progress with a year of recovery... unless SS is possible during my recovery....

[Mark Rippetoe]

The surgery would start off, after knocking me out, with cutting my shoulder open, moving around my muscle and gaining access to my joint to examine my shoulder. From there the doctor told me it appears (from my MRI and ultrasound) that he would need to completely rebuild my shoulder to prevent any further dislocations. The doctor said after opening me up and taking a look at the joint, I would require an anchor... which I believe is metal bolts? The doctor threw a lot more jargon at me but from what I understood it'd be something like a 3 hour procedure, and a year long recovery to build up the muscles, cartilage, tissues and strength.

So you don't know exactly what he has in mind. Until you do, just train.

[scp]

Also how you dislocated it this time.

I dislocated it from simply swinging the bat... the pain was so tremendous that hearing a pop made me think I hit the ball until I looked down and saw my arm limp. At which point I went down in pain but the shoulder quickly popped back in on it's own. I did not have to go to the ER but I am in a sling still at this point until I begin my physio.

There aren't too many orthopaedic procedures they can't do with a scope these days.

After reading your post, I realized I have no idea why I didn't think of getting a second opinion. Thanks... it did sound invasive but then again, this is the 4th time of me doing this and every time I dislocated my shoulder it went untreated.

just train.

That's basically what I wanted to hear. I hope this will be only speed bump and not a roadblock in my progress...

[shootwillus]

I've been a chronic dis-locator. Rehab did not do it for me and I got an arthroscopic repair (bankart lesion). It has limited range of motion and is still unstable ten years later. However, it is no where near as unstable as it was before the procedure. In all honesty I cannot blame the repair for any faults because I was young and retarded and wanted to get back to training (for mma) as soon as possible. I think this severely negatively effected the outcome of the procedure. Still, as I said, it is far more stable than it would be without it. If your arm is falling out just swinging a bat, you may need surgery. I knew mine was gone when I reached for something on a supermarket shelf and it started to slip. However, my advice might be to get other opinions and find a guy that is a bit more certain about what he's going to do when he opens you up.