Shoulder dislocation / stability / strengthening exercises

[repoman0]

My right shoulder tends to partially pop out of place (subluxation rather than full dislocation) during certain activities -- overhead throwing, swinging a bat if I'm not careful, etc. Chances are it will happen at least once during a day at the baseball field if I throw particularly hard or far. It's relatively pain-free, but my overhead press suffers for a while after and can be rather painful, and I've avoided snatch with anything more than just the bar because of it. This has been a recurring thing for me as far back as I can remember -- I remember I used to casually pop it out and back in for amusement in elementary/middle school (didn't hurt back then and I thought it was cool).

Now that it's starting to bother me a bit more and affect performance at the gym and in sports, I know that surgery is a good option but I really don't want to deal with the miserable recovery and possible reduced range of motion if I don't have to, since I've never fully dislocated the shoulder. Also I'd need to switch to the more expensive insurance at work to avoid paying a ton of money to even see an orthopedic surgeon (money isn't a big deal but I can't switch until November anyway).

So, in the meantime, are there any effective shoulder stability and strengthening exercises I can do to see if I can manage it that way? Overhead press definitely seems to have helped; it's given my shoulders quite a bit more muscle mass than they had when I was younger, but most of that isn't what actually keeps the shoulder in place. I think I need to be doing exercises targeting whatever holds it in place or probably surgery if that doesn't work.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I have similar issues. The below quote is from my crossfit log thread, post #201.

You need to make some really significant changes to your scapulothoracic and glenohumeral mobility - you need to make your shoulders more mobile. The problem is, when people just stretch for an overhead position, a common compensation (when you don't have the proper inferior glide) is for the humerus to glide anterior and inferior. The problem is? That's the most common movement that results in dislocation because there's not great ligamentous support that direction. I'd suggest doing a lot of mobilitywod.com stuff. That means posterior glides, stretches for IR, ER, shoulder extension, flexion, etc. There's a ton of shoulder stuff on Kelly Starrett's mobilitywod site and I think you've gotta get to it. Personally, I think snatch balance is not very useful for the risk you take when doing it. It's great for Oly lifters, but more complicated than the average crossfitter needs. I personally wouldn't do it anymore. Completely non-functional and sport-specific.

 

[repoman0]

I think my issue is more that ligaments/tendons/whatever are stretched and don't exactly hold the shoulder in place perfectly anymore -- since as far as I can tell, my shoulder mobility is well above average. I can stretch them both in all kinds of ways that it seems like most people can't. I read online that recurrent dislocation/subluxation after it happens once is extremely common (90%+) since some of the stuff that holds the shoulder in place gets stretched and doesn't compress back.

What did you do to screw up yours in that thread? Snatch balance -- what exactly is that?

 

[blackdogdeek]

Snatch balance -- what exactly is that?

Snatch grip (wide grip), bar on shoulders, dip knees and hips slightly, drive back up pushing bar into overhead position using momentum generated from drive. IIRC, i was actually lowering the bar back onto my shoulders when the shoulder popped.

The original injury occurred falling off a ski lift and landing on my arm weird.

 

[repoman0]

Bump. I've been researching good exercises to help with this stuff. Stumbled upon these, which seems to be a good summary:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/136g31/shoulder_stability_and_rotator_cuff_exercises_for/

http://functionalresistancetraining.com/exercises/shoulder-stability-exercises

Basically just low weight + higher reps of a bunch of different shoulder movements. I've been away from the gym for a week but I think I'll go back and do some of this stuff for a week and then see if I can get back into lifting. It feels much better, especially since I've been stretching both shoulders every day, but is definitely still painful and screwed up compared to the other shoulder. And if I dig in there with my hands a bit, I can feel that things are swollen / screwed up compared to the other side (seems to be a tendon in the front of my shoulder maybe that is swollen, but it doesn't hurt when I push on it or anything)

 

[repoman0]

bump again .. I've seen a couple threads started by people with similar issues, some concerned about keeping up with lifting at all so thought I'd update.

I did those exercises for probably 3 weeks 3x a week and just sort of ended up getting bored with them because shoulder windmills, stretching and warmup pre-workout made it feel pretty much fine. Overhead press irritated me the most after the injury, the rest of my lifts including bench and clean were fine. I couldn't even press 85lbs without pain, so I dropped to 65 and focused on keeping absolute perfect and stable form and went back to adding 5lbs per week for 3x5. In the process of working my press back up, the shoulder seems to be well on its way to healing itself -- I was convinced it was going to be permanently screwed up, since it developed all sorts of weird clicks and pops and pains when I stretched it in ways that the other shoulder is perfectly fine. Anyway I have a pain free press at 115lbs 3x5 with no signs of slowing down. Even pre-injury a single set at 115 was a huge struggle, so I'm thrilled to be attempting 120 for the first time ever on Friday. It's almost back to stretching the same way as the other shoulder too and the weird clicks/pops are way less severe and seem to be going away.

If you guys can press at low weight, start there and be diligent about keeping your form perfect and maybe it'll help with healing.

 

[Saint Nick]

repo:

I've been doing lots of extension, adduction, internal/external rotation, and flexion with a theraband. I started out on a weak band, and recently moved up to a stronger one doing 2x25 on each arm. Lots of reps. Arm is feeling better almost every day. Only been squatting, rowing, and deadlifting. Been doing mine for the past month, and will probably do them for another month before getting back to overhead and bench.

Thanks for the update

 

[_Rick_]

I've had a subluxations much less regularly than that, after an initial subluxation when I fell off the bike and landed with my arm under my body.

After a few years of more or less painful subluxations an episode where I dislocated the shoulder while in the swimming pool made me seek treatment.

Had a minimally invasive fixation procedure done (at age 25 or so) and since then I didn't have any new instances of subluxations. A slight feeling of instability remains and raises its nasty head at times, and I have lost a few degrees of flexibility in the shoulder (but I have very high joint flexibility anyways...), but all-in-all it's much better than before.

So, you might want to get a doctors opinion on that, maybe surgery can get you long term peace of mind. Of course, stabilizing exercises also help, but there are always moments when muscles are slack, and an unexpected force causes a renewed dislocation.