The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
-
Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
-
Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
-
Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
-
Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Dude a dislocated shoulder with associated tearing is not chronic pain, it's a mechanical injury to your joint. This guy didn't pull a muscle while yawning, his whole-ass shoulder came out of its socket (already a serious sign of instability to have it pop so easily). Yoga, rehab, etc. will do a ton and I personally chose that over surgery, but a shoulder dislocation tears tissue that you will never naturally get back, meaning that your shoulder capsule is forever less stable. This means that even if you do everything right, future accidents have a significantly greater chance of re-dislocating your shoulder, which means weeks in a sling and months in rehab. It also makes a major difference to the holds you can do climbing. I would strongly advise him to see a shoulder specialist rather than just a general orthopod, and I can see why this may pattern-match to your experience, but no amount of techniques for managing chronic pain will affect the physical state of his labrum.
What makes you think I'm not talking about "Yoga, rehab, etc." when it comes to managing chronic pain?
I'd also advise him to see a shoulder specialist, but again remind him that surgery for this sort of thing is often unnecessary and leads to bad outcomes.
I can see why you'd pattern-match me to being dumb, but you're wrong.
I mentioned those because they're on your substack as options for managing chronic pain, along with a lot of other good stuff. But nothing on there is a solution for the long-term mechanical damage sustained in a shoulder dislocation. Shoulder instability is a mechanical issue, not a pain issue, which can be greatly improved by these things, but not fixed - and I don't think, based on my experience, that it can be improved enough to make advanced climbing with strenuous overhead holds safe.
I apologize if I seem condescending with the pattern-matching remark, and would prefer this not to escalate into shit-flinging, but I do have to point out that you referred to it as "a muscle you pulled". That's just not the case. There's temporary damage to the rotator cuff and other muscles from the intense stretching involved as the bone is forced out of position, but there's also permanent damage to the labrum and similar soft tissues and, with subsequent dislocations, the bone itself. If he does not get surgery he will have to accept that his shoulder is permanently mechanically weakened - which is a perfectly valid option, and the one I chose - and he'll have to shape his activities around that. It's up to him but in his position I would get an anchor attached.
@ThomasdelVasto , as @Bartender_Venator said, there is some permanent damage that won't fix itself. The Labrum has a tear, and needs to be repaired. It has started creating a lesion because of the instability it causes.
I'll be doing Yoga and PT after the surgery. I grew up in a household where my grand mom did 3 hours of yoga daily, and the lady is still full of vigor in her mid-80s. Clearly it worked.
My ortho, sports-medicine consult, gpt 5.5 xhigh and 4.7 Opus max are all in agreement on the surgery. It is minimally invasive, so shouldn't be too bad. So surgery it is.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link