Hello this is my first post and this thread is primarily the reason i joined this forum
My name is Jacob. I "was" an avid climber, i say "was" b/c I am no longer able to climb as hard or as much as i would like becasue of my injury
I began climbing when i was 19, im 23 now, and was injured when I was 21. I had my arm pulled behind my back and pushed up towards my head. I believe this casued "sublaxation" correct me if im wrong. When this happened i believed my arm was broke, i've broken each arm twice when i was a young kid, so i knew the feeling.
All the points of insertion on my left arm hurt, there was acute pain ( like fast lighting bolts) at the tip top of my shoulder, behind my elbow, at the base of my wrist, and i was unable to bring my forefinger and thumb together to make a circle for months and months following. It was like the tendons couldnt be stretched any, and if i did..super pain
Two years passed and for some reason i thought one day my body would have just fixed itself, im young right? Wrong. This past summer i finally went in for an MRI and it said that I had a glenoid labrum tear from the 2 o'clock position to the 5 o'clock position on my left shoulder. The MRI also said there was an unusal amount of cysts on/around the labrum, I guess from where it tried to heal itself. Well ive been doing rigorous PT since then, 3 times a week, for almost 8 weeks now and although the muscules are stronger, my range of motion is a tiny bit better, and my forearm doesnt get as pumped when i do climb, i still feel super burnt and fatigued in this shoulder after i climb even though i work it to death in PT. The recovery time is twice as long even though it gets worked more, which doesnt make sense. If its stronger and worked more, as compared to the other arm, it should be fatigued less, and the unworked shoulder should be fatigued more? This led me to bleive that this so called "fatigue" was really dull feeling inflammation
Note: I take PT super serious! do as much as i can at home, therma bands, internal and external pulls, 2 lb to 5 lb side lifts, etc etc, and really take it serious when im there with the trainers, making sure to warm up and cool down and ice. I cant stress how much ice i use even now. Its married to my shoulder all night after PT and Climbing, and even the next day
Well the pain is still there, its been 2 years and it seems to hurt right in the middle of the front of my shoulder, its like i can feel where my labrum is at from where the pain is. My left pectoral muscule also sometimes hurts near the center of my chest. I also get super fatigued neck muscules even though i stretch and hour before climbing/PT, rest and hour, then climb, and the same for PT... stretch hour, rest hour, PT for 2 hours.
I had the Corticoid shot last week after 8 weeks of PT. It was actually Depo-medrol and maricane (spelling?) Wow was that a pain ive never felt, that night the lymph nodes on the edges of my leg swole up so much that they where discolored and prevented me from walking. I saw the my Doctors PA the next morning, she ( the PA- administered the shot and said she also had a labral tear) prescribed more anti-inflammatories/pain meds, i didnt fill the RX, i didnt want more pills after already eating Mobic for a month and having the anti infammatory shot, why do i need more anti-inflam pills? The lymph node problem went away in the next 24hrs
Its been a week, and the pain is still there. Its not as bad as before, but the super fatigue is there along with very, and I mean very acute pain place-ment right where im guessing my labrum is. I also have been feeling some dull pain in the same place on my opposite (un-injured) shoulder??? I dont understand how the shoulder can become so fatigued when i work it out so much and dont work the other one and its fine?
From what i understand, the shot stops inflammation, thus decreasing pain, its not a pain killer. But its just temporary, and i have heard many say they need another one 6,8months to a year later? But when i read the literature online, it says "could fix you for the rest of your life" ? I dont ever want another one of these and even if i did theres still pain... If i sleep on it, it hurts, if i stretch my rotar cuff to end point...it super hurts ( like you make 90 degree angles of your arm in a door way and lean forward ) Used to do this before climbing to stretch RC out really well
Even my Doc's PA said when i went in for the shot and was talking to her about the future of my arm, " Oh my arm/labrum hurts some when i forget my PT" I dont want to have to do PT for the rest of my life and then worry that if i dont this pain will come back
I have another follow up the 24th of OCT ( 2009 ) and will decide then if PT is working...
I dont want to go under the knife, im scared shizless about forzen shoulder, loss of range of motion, and all that... But i climb with a guy now who had a torn labrum from the 11 oclock to the 5oclock, with 8 bolts in his shoulder, who is right back climbing where he used to before he was injured?
I dont know what to do? I was a very physical person before this and now everything has taken a back seat. Im afraid to go running, ive stopped all ab work - crunches and such, b/c they say it will aggervate the labrum with such movement. And im slowly stopping going to the gym to do any body work
I dont want to have to do PT for the rest of my life and still have pain, i want to wake up one morning and it be gone... go climbing and have my shoulder feel like the other one, not super fatigued on the left and plain jane on the right??
Its been 2 years, and almost 2 months of PT and the shot, and i still dont feel "healed" for the shoulder capsule to close so much to physically push the labrum back to the bone, my shoulder would have to look like arnolds when he was on roids...
Im thinking now surgery is the answer, and a year from now i will have pain free climbing like i did before, with 1 day recovery time.
My girlfriend tells me that i didnt do anything for 2 years, and that i would most likely need PT for an entire year supervised, plus even more on my own... but im thinking this still wount fix the underlying direct casue of all the pain and inflammation - My torn Labrum -
my therapists keeps saying that where stabalizing the joint and strengthing the muscules. But now ive been getting pains in my biceps and chest, i dont know wtf is going on?
Please oh great ones with wisdom beyond my years, help a confused young man fullfill his dreams of climbing once again :dizzy:
