Dislocated my Shoulder at Crossfit - Recovery Write-up

[emmonsdonna4]

Hey everyone, I wanted to summarize the injury I had, how it affected me, and the rehab process. I'll make edits every three months or so to track my progress and return to CF.

Background: I'm a 27 y/o guy who had been doing CF for about 1.5 years until my injury. I had seen steady progress in all aspects of CF since starting. I had previously lifted weights for 7 years.

December 2023: I went for a new PR power snatching and dislocated my shoulder while the barbell was overhead. I popped back in about a minute later. I go to the ortho that same day and get X-Rays. No bone damage thankfully. About a week later I get an MRI that confirms labral tear and a little bit of damage around some other tendons I don't remember the name of. No biceps tendon damage. I wear a sling for 4 weeks, doing one small CF workout before surgery for whatever reason.

I believe what led to the dislocation was a combination of poor mobility, improper recovery leading up to the attempt, and trying a weight that was outside of my strength range. Live and you learn I guess.

January 2024: Surgery exactly one month after dislocation. Surgeon tells me it was like my labrum had torn from the 8 o'clock hand to the 11 o'clock hand of a clock so not terrible. Told to wear a sling for 6 weeks.

February 2024: Since I work remotely, I really only wore my sling outside of the house and not all that often. Should've (?) been better about wearing the sling but I have no idea if that had any impact on my recovery since my arm was on my lap 8 hours a day. I began to run as exercise.

March 2024: In the beginning of the month I start physical therapy for an intended 12 weeks. Still running, not doing any weight training or modified CF.

April 2024: Running, did a 10k for the first time, slowly getting back into lifting weights, PT is going well.

May 2024: Quit running after the 10k (something I regret). I'm nearing the end of PT and would say my mobility is around 85% of what it used to be. Starting to get into weight lifting with minimal apprehension. I am still not able to do close to what my old CF self was. I cannot currently do any sort of pull ups, RMUs, BMUs, etc. I could probably snatch the bar and that's it.

As of today, I have not done any Crossfit in 5 months, and don't think I'll be full strength for a few more. I plan to just keep doing a body building split until I'm confident my range of motion is no longer compromised and I can perform everything overhead pain-free. I would rather do this than modify CF around my injury. It's actually been somewhat nice to take a break, get back into something I haven't done for a while, and try some other forms of exercise. Looking forward to getting back into it later this year.

 

[m0rdecai89]

@emmonsdonna4 Thanks for sharing this. This is an excellent and informative writeup of what happens after a significant injury. What you describe is a subluxation rather than a dislocation, the real difference being how long it's out of socket and how hard it is to get back in. I know because I've subluxed both of mine - once while ego lifting in college and once doing yoga (hard to explain). Minor point but I'd also say you sustained a lifting injury during CrossFit rather than a "CrossFit injury."

As a curiosity, what was your shoulder strength relative to the attempted snatch? I ask because I've been doing CF for six weeks, and in fact did snatches for the first time ever yesterday. Rx for the workout was 135, and given that I can strict push press 185, it was odd. Half the time, I felt like I caught the snatch the right way and got low enough, and the other half lacked explosion and ended up being more of a push press. But given that I have the strength and lack the form, it seems like it would be much harder to injure myself. I am curious.

 

[emmonsdonna4]

@m0rdecai89 My push press was similar. I think around 185-195.

I had power snatched 165 a week before the injury. The injury occurred on an attempt of 175.

 

[m0rdecai89]

@emmonsdonna4 Well that makes it even more curious. I wonder what the actual mechanics were. It's fascinating to me because lifting injuries are almost unavoidable, and they often happen to people who more than have the strength to handle what they're doing. People get hurt doing motions they've done thousands or even tens of thousands of times before, and not always heavy. I play baseball and I know multiple people who have pitched for 20 years or more snap their humerus during a delivery.

When I subluxed my left shoulder, I was doing dumbbell shoulder presses with 90s. That was stupid, as I generally did not exceed 80, but there was a much bigger guy next to me and I was much younger, so I did that. Mid rep (very controlled), my wrist kinda slid backwards, and it popped out. I am not entirely sure what happened, but you can probably visualize the armpit going "forward" for lack of a better description. During yoga, on my right shoulder, it was at the end of a hot vinyasa session, and there was a puddle around me the size of a small car. We were doing some sort of ground-based jumping - think both hands on the ground, and bouncing from a crouched position such that most of the time your hands were the only thing touching. My hand slipped off the mat onto the hardwood floor, slick with sweat, and my right arm shot out. This time, the subluxation was definitely to the back side. I don't know for certain but I would guess they were in opposite directions, though both resulted almost certainly in rotator cuff tears.

So once was a great deal of stress but in a slow motion, while the other was a very rapid acceleration and sudden stop. Opposite causes, but the same result. Yours was probably the second.