Check Out Our Shop
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Overhead Movements with Torn Labrum

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Loakal
    Posts
    512

    Overhead Movements with Torn Labrum

    So this is probably a little nuanced, but I figured a couple people might have some advice in this area. I dislocated my shoulder about 11 months ago and sustained both a Bankart lesion (torn labrum) and a Hill-Sachs lesion (indented humeral head). I opted not for surgery, and back in PT, my therapist said that once I'm back weightlifting, it would be OK to do seated dumbbell presses, with proper form, of course. I'd like to start doing presses, but I'm wary that this might put my shoulder in a more vulnerable position. So any of you folks with this injury doing presses or making sure to avoid them?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    nh
    Posts
    8,221
    I don't have that injury, but thats a tough movement to start with. How about push ups and pull ups.
    People should learn endurance; they should learn to endure the discomforts of heat and cold, hunger and thirst; they should learn to be patient when receiving abuse and scorn; for it is the practice of endurance that quenches the fire of worldly passions which is burning up their bodies.
    --Buddha

    *))
    ((*
    *))
    ((*


    www.skiclinics.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Loakal
    Posts
    512
    I've been lifting for over six months since the injury. I'm following a Starting Strength type program, doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, barbell rows, and seated dumbbell presses. I feel pretty good on all of these, with little or no pain. But because of the nature of the injury, I'm worried that I'm asking for it if I push it with the overhead stuff, just because everything else has felt good up to now.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    1,663
    when i first injured my shoulder the overhead press was the worst thing for me

    after surgery i eventually worked into it. just start off with a very low weight and gradually increase it

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Loakal
    Posts
    512
    Thanks for the comment. It's the unknown of not having had the surgery that's bothering me. I should probably go see an ortho to get an opinion, or just leave well enough alone and not push it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    114
    I dislocated my shoulder out the back on Jan. 5th of 2010 in a bad fall skiing. I had a circumferential tear of labrum, Bankhart leasion, as well as Hill-Sachs. There was a chunk of bone that cracked off the top of the humerus head too that they just removed during arthroscopic surgery last March. They thought I would need the Latajet Surgery that Dr. Mark talks about, but when they got in there, they decided not to. I'm a year post op, and have excellent range of motion, but have woken up on occasion feeling like my arm was dislocating again. I'm now disappointing that I didn't have the Latajet. My range of motion overhead is great, but when I try to do overhead presses, I still feel a little unstable, so I avoid them.

    My surgeon was highly recommended and does all of the Detroit teams shoulders and knees. He was the only ortho that I went to that even performed Latajet, so I wish he would have just done it. After I initially dislocated, I re-dislocated 12 or more times before the surgery so I was extremely unstable. I really wish the doc would have gone with his initial plan of doing Latajet. Maybe this explains why Detroit has such a bad football team.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Too far from the hills
    Posts
    6
    Everyone is going to be different. There are folks whose Bankhart is such that they cannot lock-out a bar overhead without risking sublexation and others who can become olympic lifters who go overhead multiple times per week. (My experience approaches each of these extremes.) You'll need to find your way along. Your PT is correct to have tyou start back with dumbbells. This will allow you to adapt your weak shoulder to the range of motion to which it is most suited. I think you are better off using the dumbbells standing, however, since that make it easier for you to bail if you find your shoulder compromised. After you've done that for a good long while, you can evaluate working with a bar again, but you'll have to feel your way through that as best you can. The rules of thumb:

    limited ROM before full ROM (Newly ROM is weak ROM.)
    pulling before pushing
    closed-chain (fixed hand) exercises (e.g., pushups and dips) before open chain (e.g., bench and press)
    dumbbells before barbells.

    and most importantly, despite some popular perceptions to the contrary in the fitness world:

    training is training for something, not an end inandof itself. Don't be a weight room hero at the expense of the real world.
    There are definitely people for whom overhead pressing doesn't happen after a labral tear, even after a repair, because it's not worth the risk. You'll have to weigh that one yourself.

    I sublexed my shoulder repeatedly skiing poorly 25 years ago. I had impingement that sometimes limited my bench pressing but seemed fine for overhead pressing, until I dislocated my shoulder 15 years ago doing a seated behind-the-head press. It wasn't a huge weight, but it was a fair number of reps, and absent a way to bail until my spotter finished chatting up a co-ed, it resulted in a torn subscap tendon and certainly contributed to Bankhart/Hill-Sachs that a recent MRI shows. Even with this damage, I was able to rehab the shoulder and resume overhead lifting. I was definitely limited in pressing strength, but I did a fair amount of Olympic lifting without incident. There are definitely people with labral tears for whom push presses and jerks are better movements than presses, because leg drive gets the bar out of it's most mechanically disadvantaged position. I don't think that's my story, as I've always had more issues with horizontal pressing than overhead.

    FWIW, since I found your question linked from the CrossFit workout thread, be careful with kipping pullups and the like. My Bankhart lesion grew into a full SLAP tear and my rotator cuff went from bad to worse - likely from too much kipping muscle up practice, if I reconstruct my sequence of symptom onset correctly. I go under the knife in 2.5 weeks. I don't know how much pressing work I'll do after rehab (and this from someone with a full gym in my garage). My goal is to be able to play catch with my now 7yo son by this time next year.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Loakal
    Posts
    512
    Snowmiser: I mostly avoid sleeping on the shoulder and I've felt OK on seated presses so far. I would love to be able to avoid the surgery, hence this thread. I've been fortunate to even take some skiing falls without redislocating, so I've been lucky so far. If I'm going to do redislocate, I want it to be from skiing or biking and not in the weight room. Good luck with yours.

    ATP: Thanks for the informative and thoroughgoing reply. I'm going to follow the standing dumbbell suggestion and take it very slow. Like I said above, echoing your sentiments, if I'm going to re-injure, I'd rather it be from a sports impact than trying to be impressive in the gym. Lots of luck and skill with your surgery, and I hope you're back playing catch next year as well.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •