Labrum tear

I am a new member and working on the program slowly after a right shoulder dislocation. From an MRI a labrum tear was confirmed. I had a bad left shoulder which required surgery 4 years ago, so I know the recovery from surgery is pretty brutal.

I wanted to see if you could suggest additional exercises that would strengthen my shoulders and help me advance through the program. I am seeing a PT however I wanted some gymnastics specific suggestions.

Has anyone here recovered from a labrum tear without surgery?

In my opinion, no advice necessary.  Your shoulder is damaged and needs to be repaired.

After the surgery and recovery, then we can discuss training options.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Luke Harris said:

 

 

Has anyone here recovered from a labrum tear without surgery?

Since you asked for an anecdotal example, I will answer your question with my own personal experience.

In 2009, I injured my right shoulder in a motorcycle accident.  I was swiped by a car and left with a lateral whiplash aka burner/stinger that tractioned my brachial plexus and left my glenohumeral joint with a torn labrum as diagnosed by MRI.

After much deliberation, I opted to first try conservative care (with a chiro) and promised myself if no improvement, then get a surgical consultation with an orthopedist.

After a year of rehab and conservative care, my shoulder was back to handling pull-ups and general weight lifting (typical gym rat stuff), yet it never felt the same.  I had put some mileage on my shoulder as a volleyball player in high school and after the accident, never felt like I could play without a bit of pain.  Even overhead reaching made my glenohumeral joint feel unstable.

Fast forward to 2013 starting GST with GB.  I never thought I'd ever be able to do things like muscle ups, German Hangs, Pseudo Planche Pushups, and handstand balancing.  Certain shoulder mobility exercises in F1 feel like my shoulder is soaking up the movement microload after microload.  I'm sold that it's not the movement that is good or bad for a joint, it's the dose.

However, with all that being said, your joint is compromised to a different degree than mine was.  The above is simply an n=1 experiment as I opted for the conservative route over surgery.

Just my 2 cents. 

Very interesting and insightful, Matt.  Thank you for sharing that.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I got a Bankart lesion (google is you friend) type labrum tear back in 2006, in my left shoulder . This means the anterior part of the joint capsule was torn open.

My experience was that in the following six months that shoulder would spontaneously dislocate three times doing relatively banal stuff like using a hand saw, crashing on skis at approximately 4 km/h etc. Very annoying, as you can imagine.

Got reconstructive surgery six months after the tear, and although recovery is measured in years before reasonable mobility and painlessness is achieved, I haven't regretted it one bit. The shoulder is super stable and I have no pain, but considerably stiffer in external rotation than the non-operated shoulder. In all other planes of motion, it functions great.

In terms of GST vs. repaired shoulder, I have an obvious disadvantage in Russian L-sit dips, wide grip L-pullups and Weighted shoulder dislocates, but it's not too bad, I just have progress at a slow and steady pace.

Seems like I came here at the right time.  I was going to make a similar topic.  I've seen Coach Sommer's stuff before and thought it was pretty good.  Poked my nose around here as well.  Unfortunately, that was around the time I was suffering the effects of a Reverse GLAD Lesion.  So, I couldn't really do much and had to stop completely.

Fast forward almost 2 years post surgery, my shoulder is in better condition, but still not great.  Pressing exercises especially in the horizontal plane seem to aggravate it.  I am also stiff in external rotation as you describe Ravn.  So, I have been looking for strategies to strengthen my upper body while keeping it healthy (I participate in kickboxing and submission wrestling.)

I just came back here after seeing an interview with Coach Sommer where he talks about the progressions, mobility, and strengthening connective tissue.  I found it very impressive and felt this may be a good place to look for upper body strength training.  I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed through the curriculum and more similar stories.

Thank you.

Ruse, if there is one and only one shoulder mobility you choose from the entire curriculum, I would suggest starting with shoulder dislocates (both overhand and underhand grips).  Start as light and as wide a grip as needed.  You may notice one shoulder is tighter than the other.  Curtail your weight and grip to that shoulder, NOT to the stronger, more mobile side.

Give it a few weeks and see how your shoulder feels during any other activity.

Start with Foundation one and handstand one.