Working around a dislocated shoulder

[Irons]

Hey guys...haven't been on here in ages, but still lifting regularly. However, I just ran into a little bit of a problem, so I come to you for help.

I dislocated my left shoulder this past weekend in a disastrous pool incident. I finally just saw a doctor yesterday and he seems to think I have a labrum tear, but we won't know until I get an MRI done.

My question is this - how can I BEST maintain upper body strength and mass without the ability to do much lifting? I understand there will be some loss, but I'd like to minimize that loss. I'm extremely frustrated/upset because since I started lifting about 10 years ago, I haven't gone more than a week and a half without hitting the weights. Now I'm looking at possibly MONTHS before I can do any heavy upper body work.

I'm thinking my best bet is to still go hard with lower body, even though squats aren't really an option with the way I'd have to hold the bar or dumbbells. I suppose I can manage on a plate loaded machine. I might be able to get some curls in if I can manage to not move the shoulder joint, and ab work shouldn't be a problem, either. I'm just pretty worried about losing a lot of chest/shoulder/upper body strength here while this disaster heals or is surgically repaired, because I really can't do much work which involves that joint right now.

Any advice from people who have gone through this would be greatly appreciated.


Pained and frustrated,

Jason

 

[ctr10]

Irons just get your shoulder healed, the weights will be there when your ready to come back

 

[fufu]

Jason, you really should back off anything that will cause pain in the shoulder. With the curls, I would avoid those completely on the injured side, as the long head of the biceps brachii actually crosses the shoulder joint and attaches directly on the labrum.

If you haven't taken more than a week off in over 10 years, then great job, but relatively speaking, you will be back to your old self IF you take the due time off to recover. I understand that there is a huge psychological effort in staying away from the weights, but in the long term you will much better off if you avoid using your shoulder and stick to doctor's orders.

 

[NVRBDR]

there is no "magic exercise" that will keep you, I have been through similar situations, my advise is eat good, do cardio and above all, take the time to heal before you do any exercises that will cause more damage.

 

[yellowmoomba]

Been in your shoes more times than I would have liked. Hit your legs hard and only do upper exercises that do not cause pain. I lived with a torn labrum for about 6 month until I had it scoped. I could do pushups but no benching so I did a shit load of push ups. You'll have to see what cause pain and what does not.

As Jimmy says......watch your diet........

Currently in the same boat as you. I had wrist surgery 10 days ago. He told me no upper body lifting for 6 weeks so I'm doing legs and core only until I get the green light. It sucks but injuries are part of lifting.

 

[Irons]

Was on vacation the last week, but did check this thread. Thanks a bunch for all the advice guys. It's truly going to take a big psychological toll. I'm a little reticent to overdose on cardio for fear of losing too much mass, but I'm going to try to hit legs harder like YM suggested. I also spoke to a trainer who suggested keeping the weight up and doing limited ROM reps.

I was back in the gym for the first time today and did light weight, high reps. There was some pain, but I was able to adjust. I might bump up the weight week by week and keep adjusting my ROM to keep the stress off the joint. Gotta get the MRI done soon and then make the surgery vs. rehab decision.

Thanks again...