As some of you know, I (Neely) had shoulder surgery in November of 2014, so it’s been a little over a year since then, and I wanted to update you all on how it’s going.

First of all, here’s a recap of what I had done and how I was doing a month later. But basically, I had a torn labrum (SLAP tear), a bone spur, and an inflamed biceps tendon. So they removed my biceps tendon (biceps tenodesis) so that it stopped tugging on my torn labrum and reattached it to my arm bone, they removed the bone spur, and that was it. I was climbing 5 weeks after surgery.

And here’s a 3-month update from last February or so. I started climbing 5.12 again in late February I think, so about 3 months after surgery. I was climbing 5.13- in the gym in June I believe – so 5 months post surgery, and it felt pretty good by then.

I get a lot of email questions about shoulder stuff, so I figured I’d just write it all out. I’m going to cover how my shoulder feels now, whether or not I’d do it all over again, how I’m climbing, and what’s worked as far as rehab. Here goes…

How It Feels Now

Well, compared to how it felt before surgery, it’s amazing now. I had extreme shooting pains doing the most random things in my daily life, and climbing became pretty impossible for me. I dealt with the pain starting in April and finally caved to surgery when I realized it wasn’t getting any better with regular physical therapy, dry needling, massage, or the cortisone shot I got.

I don’t have those extreme shooting pains anymore (or really many pains in there at all), and I rarely think about it when I’m climbing. I will say that I notice weakness in my left shoulder when I’m trying to do big lock offs, but I think if I train wide lat pull downs or something with heavy weights, it should be good. I just haven’t done that yet.

Hangboarding and Campusing

I’ve actually sort of babied it a bit when it comes to these. I was hangboarding and campusing a lot before my injury, and I haven’t really done either since then. It just feels a little tweaky in my biceps area, but mostly I don’t do it because now my other shoulder is tweaky and I don’t want to push it. Because I absolutely do not want to have surgery on that one. Not yet.

Weights

As far as weightlifting is concerned, I started doing shoulder presses and other weight stuff pretty soon after surgery, and my left (surgical) biceps curl is stronger than my right at this point. Shoulder presses are stronger on that side, too, partly because my other shoulder is tweaked. I’m working on improving my one-arm rows for lock-off strength, flexibility, and overall shoulder and lat strength.

The way I work with weights has changed a little bit: I always work each arm individually now. I don’t want either arm to have the opportunity to lean on the other for compensation, so instead of bench press, I do chest presses with two dumbbells. Instead of shoulder pressing with a bar, I use two dumbbells. Instead of regular rows, I do one-armed rows. And I almost always do each exercise one arm at a time so I can focus on my form.

I do I’s and Y’s just leaning over standing up with very light weights, and that’s been a struggle. Even with 3-pound weights I fail to use my muscles evenly on both sides, so I’m working on not compensating on my surgical side, which is something I must’ve picked up while it was injured.

How I’m Climbing

I’ve had some other setbacks in my climbing training due to life stuff, so I’ve taken time off here and there, but I’m climbing on 5.12’s in the gym at this point without pain in my surgical shoulder. I’m gradually making my way up the grades again.

Would I Do It Again?

Yes, I would do it over, absolutely. I’d still be in pain and I probably wouldn’t be climbing if I hadn’t done it. Now, was it stressful and hard and the most painful process I’ve ever gone through in my life? Yes, no doubt about it. I cried a lot in the first month or so because it was just fucking painful. And would I do it again on my other shoulder if it got to the point my other shoulder was at? Yes, probably.

What Kinds of Rehab Have Helped

Physical therapy bands are awesome, and I use them religiously before and after climbing. I warm up with them before I climb by doing the typical rotator cuff exercises, and I stretch with them.

Stretching

To stretch, I take a stiff band, tie it to something at my shoulder height, and then I walk out with it until it’s pretty taut. Then I face away from the band attachment point so my back is facing the door knob or whatever, and I let it stretch my arm and shoulder backwards. Then, while holding the tension in the band, I rotate my body so now the band is stretching my arm across my body, and I repeat the process a few times on each arm.

Posture

What I learned really quickly is that with the band or weights or whatever you’re doing for your shoulders, you have to have excellent posture. Your shoulder blades need to be on their way to touching each other, head up, and spine straight. If you do exercises or stretches in your normal slumped posture, you’re just going to hurt yourself more.

Weights

The weight training has also helped quite a bit: shoulder presses, biceps curls, I’s and Y’s, chest presses, triceps pull-downs, rows, and arm bars (those I just learned about from my friend Leici and I love them).

Make sure someone shows you how to do all of these things properly. I see some crazy shit in the weight room with people’s form and posture, and I know they’re hurting themselves. Get someone to show you, and watch yourself do them in the mirror so you can check your form.

Body Work

I had a massage therapist (or 8) in the past, but I realized I kept going back because it felt good. It wasn’t actually helping, and my body apparently needs quite a bit of help to stay pain-free. So I stopped seeing massage therapists and started seeing people who I found actually made sustainable changes in my body.

This is not meant to be insulting to massage therapists, and I think there are some really good ones out there who can do sustainable work. It just doesn’t work for my body right now.

Dr. Steve Melis

The guy I see for body work is Dr. Steve Melis of Proactive Chiropractic in Boulder. He’s a chiropractor, which comes in handy sometimes because he can adjust me like nobody else I’ve seen. But mostly he just puts me on his table and tortures me in a loving sort of way. He digs into the places that hurt the most with his hands, and just keeps digging until they don’t hurt as much.

And then it hurts less and I climb better. It’s excruciating, and I cry and scream a lot, but it’s completely worth it. Here’s a video of him working with Renan Ozturk after his surgery.

Dr. Brent Apgar

Dry needling has also made significant changes for me, although I haven’t done it in a while. When I first was injured, Dr. Brent Apgar of HotRodHuman.com helped ease some of the pain in my shoulder. He’s also a chiropractor, but mostly what he does is stick needles into the places that hurt most, move them around in the most painful way possible, then put an electric current into them so they hurt even more. And then there’s less pain. It is also excruciating and tear-inducing.

No pain no gain.

So that’s it. Let me know if you have questions in the comments, and please tell me how your shoulder surgery experience has been! We’re all here to learn from each other.

 

50 Comments

  1. Serena Buckaloo May 2, 2023 at 11:06 pm - Reply

    Hi, I am 8 weeks out from bicep tenodesis. I am having quite a bit of pain in the bicep region. You stated you also had this. Did you also have a feeling like the tendon is rolling or snapping that is quite painful? Feels gross and stops me in my tracks. This occurs with moving the arm and is in the area where the bicep tendon was taken from and not where it was moved to. I dont know how else to describe it other than a rolling or snapping sensation.

    • Marilyn February 7, 2024 at 12:53 am - Reply

      Hi Serena,
      I stumbled across your post as I’m 6 weeks post bicep tenodesis and have been experiencing the same sensation/pain that you describe here. It is a lightning bolt/zing sensation that accompanies the popping/rolling feeling. I’m also experiencing pulsating pain down my bicep and even some in the back of my shoulder sometimes.

      I am worried that this is not normal. I was hoping you could give me an update on how things worked out for you?

  2. Susan S March 2, 2023 at 9:57 am - Reply

    Hi Neely. Firstly, thank you for this and previous blog posts. It’s impossible to find any other real life info about bicep tenodesis recovery, and your posts have been immensely helpful.

    I’m 6 months on from my surgery this week. My physio (is that the same as a PT in the US?) has encouraged me to get back to the gym and pretty much take on anything I feel able to. This has all been going well, except that in the last few days, the pain in my shoulder has been intense. It doesn’t feel much different to pre-surgery. What’s weird about it is that the pain came on at the end of a week of no gym time, so I’m wondering if everything’s just seized up because my shoulder’s not been put through it’s paces.

    I have two questions:

    With the pain you suffered post-surgery, was it persistent, or a sudden, short-lived pain? Mine is definitely the former.

    Second question, with the arm bars, how many and how long did you hold them for? I tried this last night and actually felt it gave me some relief. Possibly, psychosomatic/wishful thinking!

    Any insight/encouragement you or anyone else reading this can give me would be very much appreciated! I’m really questioning whether it was worth putting myself through the trauma of surgery at this point.

  3. Mindy February 28, 2023 at 2:25 pm - Reply

    Hi Neely – I’m not sure how often you check this, but I found your blog post in Summer of 2021 when I was having pain down my right bicep. I’m a climber (not to your level) and was just finally sending V6 and approaching 5.12 when all my progress was dashed by a labrum tear (or as my surgeon later described once he got in there – an entire labrum mutilation lol). No particular accident, or event, just not properly climbing and loading too much onto my biceps for 5 years finally led to an overuse injury.

    I found the surgery to be easier than expected – the worst part was the month lead up to it and assuming i would die under anesthesia (lol you mentioned that being your fear too) and the fear of not being able to climb again, or be as active during recovery.

    I was back to climbing V3 by month 5 and climbed outside for the first time on 10- by month 6. Sadly, despite continuing PT, my left shoulder is now showing similar symptoms as my right was and I am mentally preparing myself for a second surgery. I have an MRI next week, where we’ll likely go down the same route as before – weeks of PT (I’m already two weeks in), cortisone shot, and if neither of those work, surgery by early April.

    I know you’ve had both shoulders done and I was curious how you felt going into the second one and how your recovery went. I feel more at ease knowing the first one, while frustrating at times, wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I got back to normal life things fairly quickly by week 5 I’d say, of course still being cautious. But I ‘m nervous I may not be as lucky with this one, having been so fortunate before.

    Also curious if after that second surgery you still climb as much or at the level you were before both surgeries. My first surgery taught me a lot about the importance of rest and proper training and I don’t know that I’ll ever be as “obsessed” having been through this burden once, and potentially twice. Any advice for someone who feels a bit humiliated having to go through this again, and whose support system seems to think it’s time for me to hang up my climbing shoes due to age (41 y/o) and approach another activity that’s less brutal on the body?

    Your posts really helped me make my decision initially so thank you for sharing your experience. And for others reading this who may be curious – my experience with BT surgery was fairly uneventful. I didn’t miss a day of PT (3x per week 7am – that wake up time hurt me the most – for 3 months) and was ahead of ROM for the majority of that time. But you’ll have plateaus which is a part of healing and right when you think you made a bad decision and you’ll never get back to where you were, you’ll see progress. I don’t regret it. It was quit climbing forever, or quit climbing for a very brutal and uncertain six months. I’m afraid I’ve found myself there again.

    Thanks for reading.

  4. Anonymous January 6, 2023 at 6:30 am - Reply

    I my name is Philip Bruno who is dealing with nightmare from hell from my bicep tenodesis which was done for 2 slap tears and type acromion impingement, first offf I was suppposed to have my long head of bicep cut but surgeons assistant explained procedures differently and woke with surgery I did want because of my plus other than potential loss of some strength and potential Popeyes deformity it eliminates source of pain, well to get to it after complaining of pain in bicep after surgery which from reading is usually when you know if it potentially is in the early stages, well assistant said if pain continued they would do the surgery I wanted but never did, plus I was experiencing pain in pec area. before surgery as well as after and pretty much blew me off to where now I have a torn supraspinatus along with sub acromion fluid build up along with severe painful snapping and a feeling like Isomething is crashing into something in my shoulder , I am pissed to say the least trying find out if I have potential lawsuit, may send my MRI to your surgeon dr Hackett see what he says but I live in Cal

    • Neely Quinn January 11, 2023 at 3:19 pm - Reply

      Hi Philip – That sounds awful – I’m so sorry… Yes, I’d definitely get a second opinion. How strange that they didn’t tell you what they were going to be doing in there. If I were you and if I had the money to do it, I’d go to Vail to see Hackett no matter where I lived. I highly encourage you to do that to get the help you need. He’ll fix you up hopefully.

  5. john October 5, 2022 at 5:25 pm - Reply

    Hi Neely,

    I’m an active person who tore my labrum during crossfit workouts then made it worse for a year. I had the same surgery about 5 months ago now and have been doing pt since 2 weeks after surgery. Bicep tenodesis. I had no idea the recovery was going to be this long. I still have limited ROM and haven’t even been cleared for normal push ups. No one at my PT office was as active as I am/was. Still have a ton of compensation when I move my arm over head and certain PT exercises.

    Did you struggle for a while? I was finally told a month or two ago about the year long recovery to normal (pull ups, overhead presses, etc) and was caught off guard. Now I feel slightly relieved its not just me. Thanks

    • Neely Quinn October 31, 2022 at 10:50 am - Reply

      Hi John – Sorry to hear about your situation! Yes, it took me about a year to feel pretty normal again, though I never went back to some of the activities I used to do (campus board training mostly) due to weird pain. It sucks that nobody told you how long the process would take! But it will be worth it in the end! You’ll be able to do all the things you love doing again, and you’ll be so happy you did it. Or at least, that’s how I feel about it. You may want to look into a different, more progressive PT, who knows athletes better. You’re already so strong in so many ways that sometimes the little band exercises they give you at normal PT offices just don’t cut it. I plateaued with both of my shoulders about 8 months out and just started doing stuff that I thought was going to hurt me (lifting heavier, doing handstands or modified handstands and other things that seemed counter-intuitive) and things started improving. Tyler Nelson is a great person to help you through this or Natasha Barnes – just google them with “climbing” after their names. Also, collagen supplementation really helped me, so I highly recommend it.

      • Anonymous December 7, 2022 at 11:25 am - Reply

        Thank you! Didn’t know if my comment went thru. It’s been 2 months since posting that and I’ve seen a huge improvement. Able to do assisted pull ups and regular push ups without pain. Definitely worth it. I’ll look into those two people and my wife has collegen already so I’ll take some. I’ll report back in a few months too. Thanks!

  6. Barbara Lutz May 18, 2022 at 9:15 am - Reply

    Neely I’m 7 weeks post op of what you had done . I just got out of immobilizer last week . I have been doing ROM since day two and have a very good PT and Orthopedic Dr. I am hoping for a great recovery like you . I have fear I have osteoporosis from past cancer treatments . I do push myself with the pulleys at home and faithfully complete my PT exercises 3-4 times a day . I was wondering what kind of collagen do you use . I too have read that helps soft tissue . I am 57 year old female who battle shoulder pain for years even have past small tear that I chose not to have surgical repaired but to do months of PT. Which allowed pretty normal function for nine years then this past year was nothing but pain I tried PT but then MRI warranted surgery so I kept up PT to build up shoulder integrity. This is going to be a long recovery . I am impressed with how much you accomplish so quickly . I’ve only just begun and with fear of frail bones they used a screw because the anchors would not hold in my bone .

    • Neely Quinn June 1, 2022 at 11:44 am - Reply

      Hi Barbara – I’m sorry to hear you needed to have surgery! I encourage you to have faith in your body’s ability to heal and give it time to do its thing 🙂 I know it can be hard to believe it’s going to be better, but it mostly likely will! I was using Vital Proteins marine collagen, but now I use Codeage Marine collagen (I can’t eat beef products) and both seem to work very well for me. I take anywhere from 10-30g of it most days.

  7. Jennifer Baehne December 6, 2021 at 12:25 pm - Reply

    Thank you for your posts. I do not actually climb but am a very active, CrossFit, now person. Many years of playing women’s tackle football destroyed my shoulders. I am about to have my 3rd surgery on my left for labrum tears. My surgeon is going to do the bicep tenodesis. He says I will be able to work back to any activities I want. At 50 I am not ready to give up weight lifting and such. I have been searching for others with positive outcomes to ease my mind.
    Thank you for your honest posts.

  8. Sharon October 28, 2021 at 9:18 pm - Reply

    Bot I wish there was something out there like this for runners! I’m scouring the web searching and found your blog. I’m an ultrarunner about to undergo rotator cuff surgery and haven’t found anything at all from a distance runner’s perspective. I may take your lead and journal my experience for others… but grateful for the info I scanned from your experience. Not running during my high season is going to suck so bad– I keep thinking of all the training I’m going to miss, and all the races I want to run! I just have to keep telling myself somewhere down the line it’s worth it to not be in pain when I move. Thanks!

  9. Anonymous March 21, 2021 at 1:52 pm - Reply

    thanks a lot for info. just did surgery.

  10. Wesley January 2, 2020 at 10:32 pm - Reply

    Neely,

    I’m also a climber (not nearly your skill level) and found my way to your post op story before not one, but two tenodesis procedures on the same arm. Turns out the first time the surgeon didn’t pull my bicep up high enough so after a year (long year, lots of rehab, got back to climbing V5 routes consistently) I finally got the green light to revision. I hated the thought of tearing myself back down again, but my elbow strength just wasn’t there on harder routes. I’m 4 weeks out from the second procedure and have every confidence I’ll be back to climbing sooner than last time. Anyway, I just wanted to comment to say that your story made me feel better about going through with those surgeries.

  11. Ben December 3, 2019 at 4:52 pm - Reply

    Hi Neely. I’ve found myself looking at your page the night before I have my subacromial decompression operation tomorrow morning. It’s been a year and a half getting to this point, and it’s great to read your story. I certainly feel more positive about the situation which has challenged me mentally as well as the obvious physical problems. Lost a hell of a lot of muscle and look forward to trying to regain this going forwards. I’m 27-my doctor said to train differently following this and never do low reps, but focus on sets of 12. Did you change your training routine post surgery? I’ve only ever been used to lifting heavy to build muscle!

    • Neely Quinn December 4, 2019 at 12:52 pm - Reply

      Ben – I hope your surgery went well! I definitely did not stop doing low rep / high weight training after climbing. In fact I do more of it now, and I know it’s made me stronger. My surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett who I interviewed on the podcast if you’re interested, never told me to change the way that I train long-term. It was a “You’re all fixed – go do your thing,” kind of mentality I got from him. But definitely in the beginning focus on higher rep stuff so you can ease back into it, and then listen to your body after that. Best wishes to you!

  12. DeAnna September 22, 2019 at 11:35 pm - Reply

    Hi Neely,

    Thank you so much for your post on your surgery. My doc gave me the news that he feels a bicep tenodesis along with decompression is necessary for my left shoulder. I’ve always been pretty active, I was a competitive swimmer for years, I’ve done, and would like to continue to do triathlons and my weekly HIIT workouts. I have so many questions for you….One of my biggest concerns is not being able to do push-ups or pull-ups (or burpees) after I’ve recovered from surgery. Do you have any pain or difficulty doing them? Or do you have any weakness that wasn’t there before?
    Also, did your surgeon tell you to avoid any particular exercises or movements that could cause the attachment to fail? After you were given the all-clear, of course.
    Lastly, what method did your surgeon use to attach your bicep to bone? I ask, because I’m (vain) worried about asymmetry. Mine wants to use a screw (didn’t mention how high) that eventually is replaced by bone as it heals. Curious if the the anchor makes a difference in appearance.
    I went in to my doc expecting him to say I need a slap repair only to be told that they don’t do repairs on people over 35. I turned 39 in July- bummer! Thanks!

    • Neely Quinn September 23, 2019 at 2:33 pm - Reply

      Hi DeAnna – Sorry to hear about your shoulder, but hopefully it’ll be successful! To answer your questions, I can do push-ups and pull-ups (and burpees and whatever I want) now after having had both of my shoulders done. I couldn’t do them before my surgery due to pain and now I can. No weakness – in fact I’m stronger now. And yes, you have to be careful with the attachment site for a few months after surgery, but he should tell you which movements they are. It’s things like having your arm whipped back behind you. For instance, if you were to be walking a dog and the dog took off and you were still holding the leash or my husband thought his attachment failed when he accidentally caught the back hatch of our truck when it was being lowered down. Hard to explain, but they should describe what kinds of things can hurt it. Oh, heavy biceps curls are out of the question for a while. I don’t know what the method is called that he used to attach my tendon to my arm bone, but I know that he put the tendon all the way through the bone, put sort of a button on the back of it and tied it off in back, then he put an anchor in the front of the bone. There is no difference in the way my arm looks now compared to pre-surgery. You’re lucky he’s doing a tenodesis and not a SLAP repair because the tenodesis is more successful and reliable and it’s not going to fail like some of the repairs do. He’s basically making the problem not a problem anymore (having your biceps tendon pulling on your labrum). So it’s a good thing you’re over 35. I hope that helps!

  13. Kevin Keith July 6, 2019 at 10:55 am - Reply

    Hello Neely,

    I had labral surgery a year and a half ago. It was the Bankhart repair with anchors. This surgery did nothing for the pain I was experiencing and has left me with very limited range of motion. 95 degree lift before having to arch my back. I am still climbing with pain and ROM issues. The doctors say I am in need of a total shoulder. I am reluctant to pursue it as I still have a good rotator cuff. They say the arthritis is really bad as a result of the surgery. So, I am looking for any advice and any stories of success or failure from total shoulder. I fear it means the end of climbing forever.

    • Neely Quinn July 8, 2019 at 3:19 pm - Reply

      Hi Kevin – Sorry to hear about your experience with surgery – that really sucks… Honestly, I’d get a second opinion from a surgeon who specializes in progressive methods with shoulder surgeries (if that’s not what your current surgeon does). Definitely listen to my podcast episode with my surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett in Vail, CO. He talks about what to look for in a surgeon, but you could also send your MRI’s to him from afar to have him do an analysis – that’s a service he offers to people. Other than that, I don’t know how much PT and body work you’ve done, but I’d highly recommend acupuncture or dry needling to help with the pain and ROM. I also got a lot of very deep tissue body work done on both of my shoulders and that seemed to help a lot. It’s not a massage – more like torture – so find someone who does deep tissue work on athletes and who understands the body very well. My guy is a chiropractor, actually, so he does both.

      I did an interview with Margarita Martinez, a woman in her 50’s who thought she needed a shoulder replacement and whose doctors told her she should stop climbing forever. She did PT with Esther Smith in Salt Lake and was able to climb her first 5.13d ever – with no surgery. So PT can really work wonders if you find the right practitioner.

      Lastly, I’ll say that after my second shoulder surgery (I had the same thing done on my other shoulder), I was experiencing a lot of pain even 8 months after surgery. I did 2 things that turned everything around for me: I started taking collagen and a week later I had consistently less pain. I still take it almost every day now and it’s been studied a lot for soft tissue injury healing. The second thing was that I started doing handstands, which eventually made it possible for me to have full range of motion, climb with my arms fully extended, do push-ups, do pull-ups, and all the other things. Handstands changed my life and I still do them after every climbing session. They strengthened my entire shoulders and my scapulae so that I felt more stable in my whole upper body. It was scary to start doing them because I thought it would make everything worse, but I had nothing to lose at that point so I just started and now I swear by them. There are progressions you can do to ease into it.

      Anyway, that’s what I’ve got for you – check out those two podcast episodes with Dr. Hackett and Margarita Martinez on the TrainingBeta Podcast and maybe even work with Esther Smith if you’re in her area. I’ve done a lot of interviews with her on the podcast as well. I hope you find what you need very soon! – Neely

    • Jurek July 23, 2019 at 6:15 am - Reply

      Hi Neely. Climbing in 4 weeks after your first surgery sounds pretty fast. Did you have Labrum re-attached as well or “only” tenodesis+decompresion?I had the same surgery like you 5 weeks ago, but with Labrum re-attachment. I have very good PT who successfully healed profis climbers, but she said ,I can start very easy climbing earliest in Sept it means 12 weeks.
      Anyway, my big problem is still sleeping. How did you manage it ? Do you know some tips apart from , what one usually can find on google ( recline, bolstering, ice, etc)?
      I stopped to take any pills 2 weeks ago and don’t consider to take them again. Usually I fall asleep painless , but affter 2-3 hours I wake up with some pain. After some 1/2h of some self-massage and ice can get sleep for another 2h, and so on tll I have been sleeping 8h in total. So I sleep 8h in total, but I’m pretty tired because of those breaks. Did you experience the same?

      • Neely Quinn July 23, 2019 at 12:21 pm - Reply

        Hi Jurek – I didn’t have my labrum reattached, no, so my recovery time was much faster. My surgeon did not ok me to start climbing and neither did my PT, but it worked out fine for me. Sleeping was a bit hard for me, too. I can’t fall asleep on my back unless I’m on oxycodone, so the first 6 days after surgery while I was on pain meds were fine. But after I got off the pain medication I think the thing that was most important was to find a pillow setup that worked. So I ended up using two very particularly sized pillows (instead of my normal 1 pillow) so that my shoulder wouldn’t get too compressed while I was sleeping on my side. Also, I don’t know if this is an option for you, but after my surgeries I rented an ice machine and cuff that I slept in every night for about 2 weeks. If I hadn’t had that I would not have slept at all, even on oxy. Maybe you could rent one of those. The one I rented was made by Game Ready and it was like $100/week I think. I hope that helps and I hope you heal up quickly!

  14. Brigid Stirling March 22, 2019 at 4:34 am - Reply

    Hi Neely,
    Thank you for sharing your experience with everyone. I had the same surgery as you one week ago. Although I haven’t been experiencing that much pain, my spirits have been low. Reading about your experience and your excitement and success returning to climbing has made me feel so much better. Thank you so much!

    • Brigid Stirling April 11, 2019 at 7:47 pm - Reply

      Hi Neely. I am at 4 weeks for bicep tendinosis and AC joint resection. Same procedures as yours. I’m so confused by the difference in ur timeline of recovery and climbing again and what my PT is recommending. I can only do passive range of motion till week 6. Won’t start climbing till week 12. My doc said I would be climbing at 6 to 8 weeks and at my peak by 3 months. This is similar to your progress. I don’t understand the lack of consistency. Do you think you came back to climbing too soon?

      • Neely Quinn April 13, 2019 at 3:21 pm - Reply

        Hi Brigid – Yeah, I definitely did not listen to my PT either time. The first time it was fine, but after my second surgery (same surgery on the other side) I shouldn’t have started so early because I wasn’t healing as quickly that time. I think you should just listen to your body and push through some pain, but not so much that you’re hurting a lot the next day from it. It’s a fine balance. I don’t think you should expect to be “at your peak” at 12 months – that’s crazy talk! I was normal-ish after about 9 months both times but not completely comfortable or strong until a year after each surgery. But it’s different for everyone.

        • Brigid Stirling May 4, 2019 at 5:47 pm - Reply

          Hi Neely! Thanks for responding! Yeah, I have mostly been listening to my body.If it hurts, I back off. I am at 8 weeks and haven’t started climbing yet. I was thinking of doing some easy slab climbs. My PT would be horrified if I told her that! She’s really cautious and moving me along at a snails pace. I haven’t had any pain in the bicep tendon. All of my pain is around the AC joint because of the resurfacing done there. The bone is still tender to touch and pain sometimes radiates down my collar bone. The doctor put me on a 6 day steroid pack which helped a lot. But since I stopped the steroids I have noticed more discomfort there although not as bad as before. It’s super frustrating because the procedure was just an extra added on to my bicep surgery.

          My biggest concern with getting back into climbing too soon, is damaging the insertion site between the bicep tendon and my arm bone. They say it takes 12 weeks for the new attachment to be healed and strong.

  15. MICHAEL February 4, 2019 at 2:02 pm - Reply

    How are the shoulders doing? I’m torn, LOL, on getting the surgery done or not.

    • Neely Quinn February 4, 2019 at 4:20 pm - Reply

      MICHAEL – Ha! Good one. My shoulders are great. If surgery is the option, I’d go for it but only if you have a very good surgeon with an excellent reputation with climbers. Or at least someone who’s familiar with climbing.

      • MICHAEL February 5, 2019 at 12:18 pm - Reply

        Thanks so much for the reply. I’m not a climber. I work in an industry which requires lifting, pulling, climbing ladders, overhead weight. Just came across your site on Google. Ortho says he would do bicep tenodesis if I wanna go surgical route and recommends it because of age 34 and the industry. I’m hesitant to say the least but I need to NOT get hurt again. PT has helped but I’m on light duty at work and haven’t went back full duty yet since it was a work injury.

        • Neely Quinn February 7, 2019 at 10:37 am - Reply

          Michael – Sounds like you might have a good surgeon if he’s telling you tenodesis is what he’d do! It’d take you a 3-6 months to get back to doing overhead stuff, but with proper rehab I think it’s totally worth it, especially if you’re currently not at full work capacity. Best wishes to you.

  16. Jacquelyn Pellett January 5, 2019 at 8:44 am - Reply

    Anyone still have pain going on 4 months past tenodesis? Admittedly have pushed it and may be paying the price ,(snow shoveling way worse than climbing)???

  17. jacquelyn p November 21, 2018 at 6:24 pm - Reply

    At six weeks past proximal biceps tenodesis (ripped both tendons off climbing) I got the okay to return to normal activities as tolerated -had climbed one armed for first thrre week’s then gentle laying of fingers on holds next three weeks -After surgery I quickly moved into elbow brace to keep from extension beyond 150 degrees but allowed me to get out of sling so I didn’t have stiffness or loss of mobility.

    Have cut back gym climbing to 3 days a week -usually 5-7 climbs total -do bands with T Y I but cut back to yellow band as couldn’t even move red band -slowly getting less painful -there is hope for all (I am 68)

  18. Brian July 15, 2018 at 3:01 pm - Reply

    Glad i found your post! Got rotater cuff surgery in a month and am nervous i wont be the same. my surgeon told me to expect to be out of work 4-6 months due to nature of my work im a very active person and the thought of not doing anything for a while kills me..also thinking about the nerve block gives me anxiety lol .Thanks for the update and glad things are going good for you

    • Neely Quinn July 16, 2018 at 10:21 am - Reply

      Hi Brian – I hope your surgery goes well! Yeah, rotator cuff surgery is a little more intense than what I had done because you have to be immobilized for 4-6 weeks, whereas I was only in a sling for like the first day (and when I went out in public for the first few days). But it’ll be worth it in the end! And don’t worry too much about the nerve block. Once it starts wearing off, you’ll wish it lasted longer 😉

  19. Danny June 5, 2018 at 2:46 pm - Reply

    Hi! I’m not sure if you still look at your comments here.. but I wanted to get your opinion and advice maybe? What type of slap was it? I have had a type II slap tear for 5 years. I re-hurt it climbing recently and now its pretty painful. I can’t really do all the moves i used to be able to do. Also.. little things in life like taking off my shirt and reaching behind me is painful. My doctor recommended biceps tenodesis. Do you think it was worth it? Will I ever be back to climbing the way I climb now? and weight lifting in the gym..? I am also a surfer and surprisingly swimming does not hurt my shoulder. Are you able to swim now pain free? I hope to hear from you sorry for all the questions!

    • Neely Quinn June 12, 2018 at 4:09 pm - Reply

      Hi Danny – I believe it was a type II tear as well, and yes, I absolutely think it was worth it with both of my surgeries (I had the other shoulder done last year). I can train harder and climb harder now because I’m not afraid of hurting it. I can also do everyday things without pain, where before I had pain many times a day just putting clothes on, opening drawers, etc. Yes, I think it was worth it. I’m not a swimmer, so I don’t have any input on that, sorry…

  20. Alex Vesco February 20, 2018 at 4:21 am - Reply

    Hi Neely,

    Could you possibly post a couple of videos to demonstrate the exercises you describe? Thank you very much for your blog as it gives a lot of hope to those of us suffering during the rehabilitation phase.

    Alex

  21. Ryan September 28, 2017 at 6:10 am - Reply

    Neely,

    Thank you for posting these articles. I had a bicep tenodesis with no labral issues 5 weeks ago. I simply (or not so simply) snapped the tendon, it was probably worn down from years of weightlifting. At what point did you start doing curls, dumbbell bench press, shoulder press, etc. after the procedure? I’m mostly concerned because I’m in a federal agent training program that isn’t overly physical, but will require some strength starting 8 weeks post operation. Thank you for your help!

    • Neely Quinn September 28, 2017 at 11:53 am - Reply

      Hi Ryan – I think I started doing that stuff seriously at like 5 or 6 months. I was in a lot of pain for a while, as I am now 3.5 months after my second shoulder procedure (same thing as last time). I’d rely a lot on your PT and docs for this advice, though. Every situation is totally different. Good luck!

      • Ryan October 7, 2017 at 4:37 pm - Reply

        Thank you for getting back to me. I hope your second shoulder recovery goes well and quickly!

  22. Paul Johnson June 17, 2016 at 2:50 pm - Reply

    I had my surgery 5 months ago and I’m finally able to put my arm up over my head, but I still get pain from horizontal adduction and external rotation. Do you find that you’re still able to work on the last 5% of your range of motion? My physiotherapist also suggested active release–have you tried that too?

    • Neely Quinn June 17, 2016 at 4:13 pm - Reply

      Hi Paul – I don’t know what kind of surgery you had, so that kind of makes a difference in whether or not my experience pertains to yours at all. I find that my surgical shoulder has better range of motion now than my other one, if that tells you anything. It’s really good, and I can do everything I can do with the other one. I didn’t do active release, no, but I did (and do) a LOT of body work and acupuncture. Highly recommended to find a sadistic body worker who can keep pressing on your tender spots even when you’re screaming. That sounded really bad, but you know what I mean.

  23. Tina May 10, 2016 at 5:04 pm - Reply

    Hi Neely,

    You mention “arm bars”. What do they look like! I googled this and only came up with the fighting move

  24. John January 12, 2016 at 2:22 pm - Reply

    Nice article Neely, I believe Hazel Findlay has recently undergone similar surgery. I tore my left labrum, had it repaired (reattached with a bone anchor), then did the same to the right aswell! It’s been 4 years now since the same procedure to the right shoulder, both shoulders are a bit higher maintenance than before but I’m climbing harder (currently V10) and my posture is far better! I learnt a huge amount (about my motivation, technique, psychology etc) during the injury-enforced downtime they gave me, it’s the reason I now earn a living as a coach 🙂

    • Neely Quinn January 13, 2016 at 2:18 pm - Reply

      Hi John – Yep, I did an interview with Hazel on the podcast where we talked about her shoulder. Glad to hear you’re thriving 4 years later!

  25. Dave January 11, 2016 at 1:43 pm - Reply

    Great article, Neely!

    I’ll also add that Turkish Get Ups are an excellent shoulder strengthening and rehab exercise. If I could only do one shoulder strengthening exercise this would be it. And your comments on postural awareness and scapular mobility are spot on.

  26. Dakota S. January 11, 2016 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    Neely,

    This was super helpful for me as I recently underwent shoulder surgery for a labral tear. It has been 6 weeks and I have a lot of motion back but no strength. I am surprised you started climbing post surgery fairly soon. I was told I cannot climb again until 12-16 weeks.

    How long did you rise back through the early grades (5.7,5.8,5.9, etc.)? My surgeon and PT do not fully understand how climbing works so a baseline of progression would be helpful. I was sport climbing hard 5.12 outside before surgery.

    Also, any tips on maintaining finger strength while I am unable to do upper body workouts?

    Thank you for posting this, sometimes I am really bummed about being unable to climb but reading success stories like yours makes it a lot easier!

    • Neely Quinn January 12, 2016 at 1:19 pm - Reply

      Hi Dakota! I don’t know if our situations are the same. Did you have a labral repair done? Meaning they put anchors into your labrum to make the tear go away? Or did you have what I had done? That completely determines my answer. If you did have what I had done, I started climbing like 5.6 at 5 weeks out from surgery. After a couple weeks I think I was climbing like 5.9. Then 5.10 came after maybe a month. This is all in the gym. Then I got stronger and stronger and went from climbing 5.8 outside in late January to 5.12b outside in late February. I don’t know if that’s advisable. I mean, my surgeon was kind of uncertain about me climbing so early, and it definitely hurt. I’m just a little hasty sometimes 😉

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