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:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Surgery is very much optional in your case from the sound of it, though orthos will almost always recommend it (I was lucky enough to go to a university hospital that was very bullish on rehab as opposed to surgery in general). I'd make the call for yourself on when you'd like to take the time one-armed - I will probably get it eventually when I have a lot of downtime and don't mind losing gains. I would strongly recommend prehab exercises before surgery as possible, and take your physio very seriously during recovery. Also worth considering that this is in the long run an opportunity to make yoga or some other joint health practice a continuing part of your life, in that respect my dislocations were a huge boon.
That's good to hear. I am weighing both options and haven't set a date for the surgery yet. But am leaning surgery. Might get a 2nd opinion just to be safe though.
Claude, the Doctor and Chat GPT all agreed on the condition & surgery after looking at my MRI. The Ortho recommended surgery primarily because I want to keep playing soccer and climbing.
Please man I'm telling you, don't get surgery from a muscle you pulled while yawning and stretching. It's a complete scam, most chronic injury heals much better over time without surgery.
If you're curious to look more into this sort of thing, I put together a list of resources here: https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/p/chronic-pain-resources-research
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.
Fair man. I wish you well either way, just want to let people know what I’ve experienced. Hope the shoulder gets better.
Genuinely appreciate it.
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