[battery]

Dislocated my shoulder at the wall last night. Knew I should have done something outside in the nice weather. Had to be sedated so they could get it back in so now feel like I have a stinking hangover as well as no sleep and a fucking sore shoulder. Most painful thing that has ever happened to me, and I have had 2 children!

10 days in and I'm having a little party as managed to put my own hair in a pony tail and get my arm in a jumper. An MRI has been ordered and I'm seeing a physio on Wednesday but I'm suspecting I have done something to my bicep too, initially I thought it was just stiffness from being in the sling but now it feels like more and is in some ways more limiting than the shoulder. Not sure if I should keep trying to move it or just leave it alone. The first of no doubt many ups and downs on the road to recovery (and if one more person even suggests that I'll not be climbing any more I shall punch them in the face with my good arm!)

[Motown]

Broken calcaneus after high fall with no mat. Lucky but gutted. Total disruption to all aspects of my life. Any relatively positive experiences/related advice gratefully recieved (apart from anything about mats - I'd let my daughter play on it for a minute).

[sherlock]

Aw shit.
Did exactly the same about 20years ago. Medics gloomy about future bouldering prospects. No operation but very clean break. Hospitalized for a week (doubt it would happen now) then home on crutches. Excellent and understanding physiotherapist,I followed all advice and tedious exercises.
and after 3 months was tentatively bouldering again.
No issues now perhaps a little ache in cold weather.Hope that's positive enough for you and good healing.
Of course you might be younger and heal quicker, I was 40 at the time.
Now about my hips. And knees........

[Motown]

Cheers Sherlock. No op. either and thin fracture according to consultant do he tentatively said that it could heal ok. You're right, no hospitalisation - a mere nine hours waiting in A and E, a quick cast, then home with crutches. At least six weeks like that then we'll see. Pain in right glute making getting up and down tough (left heel is broken one). Knees feel fine but niggles at base of back my main long term concern. Could have been a lot worse is what I'm telling myself.

Sherlock, do you think any problems with knees and hips are a result of this one fall, or more cumulative?

[sherlock]

Not even a cast for me. A week of elevation and ice.
No idea about your other aches and pains. Mine are definitely wear and tear.
Hope the lay off passes quickly!

[Motown]

  for what it's worthy I'm 42 do at a similar time of life.

[T_B]

Fell off with hands on the top of Back Bowden 9 years ago at 37. Youngest child was 8 months old. Smashed calcanium into bits. Op with cage a lots of screws (12?). Bouldered my hardest 2 years later, got into running 3 years later and have done plenty of rough fell, road and long days. But no way can I run two big days consecutively. Climbing wise it doesn’t impact anything really. I've lost strength in my ankle due to damaged ligaments and I don’t have the range of movement but I’m not a huge fan of slabs anyway. My advice would be the obvious do loads of physio to try and stop any scar tissue building up that will affect your range of movement. Good luck!

[Yossarian]

I smashed mine to pieces also when I was in my mid 20s. Sleepwalking accident involving a rather high window. Managed to get transferred to a surgeon who wanted to operate and he put a load of screws in. Took a very long time to heal, but I think it was the right decision. Loss of flexibility and some aches when it's cold along with some minor pain if I'm on my feet for days on end, but I think it could've been a lot worse.

[cheque]

Sorry to hear this Motown. Hope it heals as quickly and as well as possible.

[Fiend]

Broke my right heel falling off Charlie's Overhang pre-pads 25 years ago. Fairly bad break - 2 breaks and 3 chunks of bone. No operations, cast then plastic support boot. 3 months to heel (!) to normal functionality, climbing again after 4 months, full fitness after 6 months (I was a lot younger and lighter, but also didn't have the vast range of indoor training facilities). Only recurring issues are a slight lack of mobility in the ankle (which makes right leg balance slightly worse), and lots of clicking when i wriggle it - nothing significant.

[Fiend]

Enjoy your ponytail party, Battery! And hope if there's a bicep issue that it's manageable with rehab. And yes work those antagonists by punching anyone who says you won't climb again. Good for the triceps and pecs.

[Motown]

Thanks for messages. They are very helpful. Pleased to hear about everyone's respective recoveries. All the best.

[Wellsy]

Good luck mate, hoping for a fast recovery

[duncan]

Dislocated my shoulder at the wall last night. Knew I should have done something outside in the nice weather. Had to be sedated so they could get it back in so now feel like I have a stinking hangover as well as no sleep and a fucking sore shoulder. Most painful thing that has ever happened to me, and I have had 2 children!

10 days in and I'm having a little party as managed to put my own hair in a pony tail and get my arm in a jumper. An MRI has been ordered and I'm seeing a physio on Wednesday but I'm suspecting I have done something to my bicep too, initially I thought it was just stiffness from being in the sling but now it feels like more and is in some ways more limiting than the shoulder. Not sure if I should keep trying to move it or just leave it alone. The first of no doubt many ups and downs on the road to recovery (and if one more person even suggests that I'll not be climbing any more I shall punch them in the face with my good arm!)

Good luck. If you are normally mobile it is hard for the shoulder to dislocate without some collateral damage.

In my case it was the axillary nerve: straight after there was not a flicker in my deltoid. This could have been game over but fortunately the damage was mild and resolved in 6 weeks or so. A real YYFY moment when it started coming back to life. The residual stiffness took another three months with a lot stretching that was painful and felt wrong.

Nearly five years later my shoulder is not pain-free but probably a bit better now than pre-dislocation due to hammering the rehab./conditioning ever since (Power Clubs ad nauseam). Thankfully there has been no hint of recurrence.

[Falling Down]

Fell off with hands on the top of Back Bowden..

I fractured mine at Back Bowden too. Fell off high up on His Eminence over a beer towel.  Took a while to recover but was back running and climbing a few months later, though it hurt when I got cold.

Wishing you both a speedy recovery Motown and Battery.. take it easy.

[SA Chris]

I think that was exactly where richieb fell off when we were there for my 40th, recall he damaged something. Luckily mate had crutches at the campsite as he was still recovering from surgery after falling badly in Bishop.

I'm pretty sure I cracked mine at Stone Farm the first year I was climbing, falling off and landing on the only bit of hard ground there. Didn't get it checked out, but it ached in cold weather all that year, then I went back to SA.

Hope you get it sorted and it's not so bad.

[battery]

In my head I know this should be a YYFY but it feels like a NNFN at this point.

MRI on my shoulder revealed no ligament damage but there is cartilage damage on the cup and a humerus fracture. They said recurring dislocation is a possibility and surgery was only an option if I did it a couple of times again. He wasn't willing to say I would get full use back, just that I might. So I don't need an op and with some decent physio I should make a full recovery but at this point it hurts like hell, the thought of it happening again makes me want to vomit and the doc didn't seem particularly optimistic about me getting full use back.

So I have opened a beer.

[mrjonathanr]

Sorry to hear that Battery, misfortune sucks. Sounds like you need a very good physio and a lot of tenacity. I suspect you already have the latter..

[SA Chris]

Not good. At times like this a beer is perfectly acceptable (unless you have a cigar like Hamlet to hand).

Can you get a second opinion, one likely to be sympathetic to the cause?

I know it's a hard road back, but if you are diligent with physio work and sensible about getting back into it, it will hopefully be OK. I've convinced myself a few times over that last few years that whatever injury I've had (and I've had the full range) is the end of the road, but somehow manage to bounce back to former levels of mediocrity.

[duncan]

Some of that probably doesn’t sound great to you but I think there is a lot more YYFY than NNFN.

MRI on my shoulder revealed no ligament damage but there is cartilage damage on the cup and a humerus fracture.

You can’t dislocate a shoulder without something being damaged in the process. Any details on the humerus fracture? Presume not too bad if they’re not choosing to operate.

They said recurring dislocation is a possibility and surgery was only an option if I did it a couple of times again. He wasn't willing to say I would get full use back, just that I might.

He was always going to say all of this even if he was 99.9% sure you’d get a full recovery. Always under-promise. 

So I don't need an op and with some decent physio I should make a full recovery but at this point it hurts like hell, the thought of it happening again makes me want to vomit and the doc didn't seem particularly optimistic about me getting full use back.

Totally understand how you feel. Good that you don’t need an op.

So I have opened a beer.

Quite right.

And then get a good physio. and follow their instructions assiduously.

[Fiend]

Wise words from Duncan there. Hope you can make some progress and do some good rehab. Also make sure you're opening beers in a useful way to retrain the shoulder 

[Wellsy]

Surgery not needed is definitely v good. Hope it progresses well!

[battery]

Got hold of my MRI report and had a second opinion - if I want to climb again I need surgery.

Going to go back to the Consultant and speak to them

[Wellsy]

I hope if you need surgery it goes well with a swift recovery battery. That can't be nice news to hear.

[Coops_13]

Should've posted this earlier. Massive NNFN this week for Colorado (and global) climbers. Twin Towers on Hallett Peak fell down burying most of Upper Upper. Climbs like Flying Pinata (V12) and a lot of others (I'm sure) lost forever. Couple of people I know were there and were lucky to escape with their lives. Upper and Upper Upper closed for the foreseeable future

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/rockslide-reported-on-south-side-of-hallett-peak-in-rocky-mountain-national-park

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZEsoLjg5X/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZNJ9KPoWr/