Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

Topic Date User

shoulder dislocation - tales of woe/joy wanted 3-Jan-2009 At 11:20:33 AM StuE

Message

Sounds like a classic Bankart lesion to me.
http://www.orthosports.com.au/shoulder_ass.html

Surgery is not the end of the world - A good friend of mine in the UK had the repair done about 4 years ago. His shoulder was loose and kept popping out at annoying moments. He was no slouch and was climbing 30/V11 prior to the op and returned to that level within a year or so of the op. I had a SLAP repair done on my shoulder in June by Jerome Goldberg at Orthosports who is highly regarded in this field. It cost in the region of $3,500 (surgeon and anaethsatist) and I got about $1,000 back from Medicare. Thankfully I had insurance for the hospital/theatre costs etc. So as you'll see, one of the down sides is the cost but hey, if climbing is a big a part of your life as it is mine, you find the money somehow. The other is you'll be looking at a straight 6 months off with (plus 4 weeks immobilised in a sling) with a full recovery taking around a year. I've just started to climb again now after the much rehab and strength building to get some muscle back on my withered arm. I struggled with the shoulder for over a year before finally getting an MRI which identified the problem. I tried physio for 4 months and in the end went to see John Orchard (sports physician) at Sydney Uni to get a final opinion before electing to get surgery. He was pretty blunt - "Its a big tear and it won't fix itself so surgery is the way to go if want to return to climbing at full strength"

I had my last surgical appointment a couple of weeks ago and he was happy that it was fully recovered. The full range of movement will take a while and a lot of stretching. The bottom line is that I now a 'new' shoulder which I can use to the full extent and unless I do something at least as traumatic as the original injury it won't tear again- So I'm pleased I went through the procedure. I'm already back out crankin' and couldn't be happier.

Good luck!