Skydiving after shoulder surgery

(Before I start, yes, all decisions will be made after discussion with my surgeon and physical therapist. I'm just looking for experiences people have had, not advice.)

So has anyone out there returned to skydiving after shoulder surgery? Specifically either rotator cuff repair or labrum tear repair? I'm just curious what your experience was, how long it took, how you knew you were ready, how you mitigated potential re-injury?

Thanks!

On 4/1/2023 at 6:27 PM, bdb2004 said:

(Before I start, yes, all decisions will be made after discussion with my surgeon and physical therapist. I'm just looking for experiences people have had, not advice.)

So has anyone out there returned to skydiving after shoulder surgery? Specifically either rotator cuff repair or labrum tear repair? I'm just curious what your experience was, how long it took, how you knew you were ready, how you mitigated potential re-injury?

Thanks!

Yep. Couple of them, labrum repair and a Bankhart lesion. Both completely suck. To be honest I'm not one of those people who follow instructions very well. I did pre hab in a serious way so my re hab was more successful but I probably, depending on who you talk to,  went back to jumping early. In retrospect, seeing as I am now in line for a complete replacement I think I made a right call for me. But I'm coming up on 70 now and there were cool, high level, jumps I didn't want to miss. To each their own, as always.

17 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Yep. Couple of them, labrum repair and a Bankhart lesion. Both completely suck. To be honest I'm not one of those people who follow instructions very well. I did pre hab in a serious way so my re hab was more successful but I probably, depending on who you talk to,  went back to jumping early. In retrospect, seeing as I am now in line for a complete replacement I think I made a right call for me. But I'm coming up on 70 now and there were cool, high level, jumps I didn't want to miss. To each their own, as always.

The shoulder I'm having surgery on is the same shoulder that I roll on when I PLF.  When I realized that, I (mostly) made the decision that I'll hold off on jumping until I'm confident that I can jump up and off a picnic table, PLF, and immediately stand up without fear that I'll "undo" the repairs that were made.  The other big risk I see is someone docking really hard and not letting go, but that seems less likely.  

Truth be told, I think this is a case where I'm likely to be skydiving again before I'm mountain biking again. That specific activity seems like a HUGE risk, since there's no way to not put a ton of pressure on the shoulder.   

1 hour ago, bdb2004 said:

The shoulder I'm having surgery on is the same shoulder that I roll on when I PLF.

Have you considered switching to the other side for PLF?

1 hour ago, David Wang said:

Have you considered switching to the other side for PLF?

Or just do feet, butt. It's what all the cool kids are doing now.

Not the same sort of injury but here we go....

Last August I suffered and out of sequence deployment; pin displaced in the plane and main deployed whilst I was head down.

Resulting injuries were: fractures to T4, sternum, left scapula, 8 ribs (right), and punctured lung (right). 

I was lucky to get away so lightly and managed, with pure adrenaline, to fly the canopy for 10 minutes from 11000 ft and land in the middle of the DZ where we all waited for the ambulance.

The 10 week immobilisation, particularly of the left shoulder (which didn't displace) led to a lot of deconditiining and tight ligaments, movement is still not 100% and it hurts a lot to get to the limit of flex still.

2 months and 3 weeks after the injury I was medically approved for jumping again and I was back in the air.

Flaring was hard and less than effective so I had to butt slide my landings. I could manage one jump in a day and that was it, I jumped solo and it was another couple of months the before I went terminal.

8 months on and I am still getting sports therapy to increase the range of movement, I can now manage 3 in a day.

Key is medical advice from someone who u derstands skydiving (the doctor I went to happens to be a world champion skydiver) and then work with a really good sports injury therapist.

Above all if you have any personal doubts don't get in the plane, I have driven to the DZ and stated on the ground some days as on that day it didn't feel right to jump.

19 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Or just do feet, butt. It's what all the cool kids are doing now.

Did that on my AFF1.  Which explains why my PLFs are now the envy of every old school jumper on the DZ.  

7 hours ago, MickPatch said:

2 months and 3 weeks after the injury I was medically approved for jumping again and I was back in the air.

Flaring was hard and less than effective so I had to butt slide my landings. I could manage one jump in a day and that was it, I jumped solo and it was another couple of months the before I went terminal.

8 months on and I am still getting sports therapy to increase the range of movement, I can now manage 3 in a day.

This is good context....and good expectation setting.  Not a lot of winter jumping in my neck of the woods, so I might have to accept that my activity in late summer and fall will be pretty limited, solos and hop and pops and maybe the occasional no-contact two-way.  Just enough to keep me from going crazy.  Then focus on getting back into it for real next spring.  *sigh*

8 hours ago, MickPatch said:

Key is medical advice from someone who u derstands skydiving (the doctor I went to happens to be a world champion skydiver) and then work with a really good sports injury therapist.

I was lucky to be randomly assigned to a surgeon who is a former collegiate athlete, has specialized training in sports medicine, and has worked with professional teams in the past.  Which, you know, I never would have even thought about how important that was until a few weeks ago, but I'm pretty grateful that is how it turned out.  

not sure if it has been mentioned but i would say also to pay particular attention to harness fit and using gear with a correctly sized yoke and harness to your body.

Just an FYI, lay off the grip exits for as long as possible.  I had surgery on both shoulders but it was so long ago, I don't remember how long I waited to skydive.

On 4/4/2023 at 3:58 PM, Greekos said:

not sure if it has been mentioned but i would say also to pay particular attention to harness fit and using gear with a correctly sized yoke and harness to your body.

Sounds like I need a new rig.  :)  (Seriously though, 100% understand what you mean here....and my rig is a bit oversized for me.  A consequence of being a short, thick individual who refuses to jump a canopy loaded above my comfort level.)

On 4/5/2023 at 8:21 AM, danornan said:

Just an FYI, lay off the grip exits for as long as possible.  I had surgery on both shoulders but it was so long ago, I don't remember how long I waited to skydive.

Great point, yes.  Thank you!

I have actually decided to sell my rig as I'm not planning to get in the sky again at this point (if I do, I can always get new kit).  This decision was for 2 reasons:  though my general anxiety is now under control, I go from 0 to 100 just planning a jump weekend; and my old labrum injuries that were repaired with surgery before I even became a jumper have now exacerbated past the point of normal range of motion.  I can't imagine having to do EPs when the motions just to flare cause pain. 

Perhaps if these physical issues resolve I can work on the mental ones and get back in the air.  I hope you'll lets us all know what you end up doing, and how it worked for you! :) 

On 4/19/2023 at 12:25 PM, TriGirl said:

I can't imagine having to do EPs when the motions just to flare cause pain.

Interestingly enough...I successfully performed EPs with a dislocated right shoulder, and I don't remember feeling any pain. I've thought about it. An explanation is adrenaline and I got into a different "mode" when I realized I had a malfunction and needed to act.

On 4/19/2023 at 12:25 PM, TriGirl said:

Perhaps if these physical issues resolve I can work on the mental ones and get back in the air.  I hope you'll lets us all know what you end up doing, and how it worked for you! :) 

So I am now 9 days post surgery. It's interesting how reality can force us to see the world differently.  Before surgery all I could really think about was all the fun I was going to miss this summer. Now, living in the moment, the only thing I'm really thinking about is when I'll be able to sleep like a normal human being again and, to a lesser extent, when I'll be able to type on a keyboard well enough to do my job. 

What were your injuries that led to leaving the sport?

3 hours ago, bdb2004 said:

So I am now 9 days post surgery. It's interesting how reality can force us to see the world differently.  Before surgery all I could really think about was all the fun I was going to miss this summer. Now, living in the moment, the only thing I'm really thinking about is when I'll be able to sleep like a normal human being again and, to a lesser extent, when I'll be able to type on a keyboard well enough to do my job. 

What were your injuries that led to leaving the sport?

The surgery I had on my shoulder resolved my frayed labrum at that time.  I now have impingement in both shoulders, with micro tears in both biceps due to compensation.  This limits my range of motion in both arms.  Reaching up to unstow brakes, for example, is painful.  

Yup. I had a torn labrum and a Bankart repair, after repeat dislocations, after AFF 6... 
Laid off/recovered for about 4 months, then I did 3 tunnel flights and a tandem before I finished my A. I had pretty high anxiety after my accident, and both of those helped me prove to myself that I could jump and not have my shoulder come out again. 

I don't jump anymore... but no regrets. Still so glad I did it all. 

7 and a half weeks since surgery, I got out of the sling about a week ago and I've started working on getting back full range of motion and some basic strengthening.  Talked to both my surgeon and my physical therapist last week, both are in agreement that I'm not likely to be strong enough to jump for another 3-4 months.  That puts me right around late September or early October, right at the tail end of the season in the Pacific Northwest.  I'll probably get a couple of weekends in but not much else.  That said, I'm considering heading down to Arizona in November, so hopefully that will get me a few extra jumps in.  

Truth is, right now I am 100% in no way physically capable of jumping.  I doubt I'd even be able to reach up and grab my toggles, let alone actually fly the canopy.  And I can't even imagine how painful freefall would be trying to push against the relative wind.  

Patience...... 

you can get a couple of weekends in or you could get a few extra months of rehab.  i know which one i would choose if it were me. 

Patience

To be clear, I am 100% following the guidance of my surgeon and my physical therapist, as frustrating as that guidance may be.  (I just walked a 5k this past weekend while wearing my sling for the first time in 2 weeks, so yes, I am taking this seriously.)  That said, at the 5 or 6 month point if they both agree that the tendons have sufficiently healed and I have regained sufficient strength and mobility in the shoulder to safely return to skydiving for a few jumps before the rainy season begins, then I am inclined to go for it. 

I've accepted the fact that I'll never be able to get back to a 375 bench press (how I tore my shoulder to begin with) and that my competitive powerlifting career is over.  I'm okay with the idea that it'll be sometime next summer before I'll be back on my mountain bike, and I'll never be able to hit the hardest trails like I have in the past.  I'm rapidly closing in on 50 years old and I realize I can't keep acting like I'm an indestructible 20 year old, especially since I don't ever want to go through a rehab like this again.  But I'm also not going to give up activities that my surgeon says I'm capable of doing relatively safely.      There has to be some degree of balance in life, right?

you could just sit around watching others do all the fun shit...

kidding, and i would choose to jump a few times, not wait it out.  as long as i was cleared by the doc and felt like i would be ok.  i was cleared to jump a couple of months ago by a doc and i felt that i wasn't ready, but that was just hernia mesh and no rehab or serious injury.  you'll know when it's time.

1 hour ago, sfzombie13 said:

you'll know when it's time.

One thing people here don't know about me (because, well, no one here actually knows me) is that I'm almost always the first to stand down if things don't feel right.  Now, I guess I just have one more thing on my list of "things that need to feel right" before I'm willing to leave the plane.  

This is not for me to answer as I have only shoulder impingement problems.  However, when or if you get back to jumping again, what is helpful, and it's a small thing, is to ALWAYS make sure your BOC PC handle is positioned (by shifting the handle there from your spandex pouch) to be as close to your body back as possible.  It may only be a 1" shift closer to your body back, but the shortened reach will definitely help  in the healing process.

12 hours ago, pomiak said:

This is not for me to answer as I have only shoulder impingement problems.  However, when or if you get back to jumping again, what is helpful, and it's a small thing, is to ALWAYS make sure your BOC PC handle is positioned (by shifting the handle there from your spandex pouch) to be as close to your body back as possible.  It may only be a 1" shift closer to your body back, but the shortened reach will definitely help  in the healing process.

This is great advice.  I am extremely fortunate that the shoulder that was repaired was on my non-dominant side.  Not even worried about skydiving on that one, but just the general level of functioning that I was/am able to maintain throughout my recovery process.  Not using my left arm was extremely challenging....I can only imagine what it would have been like if it were my right arm.  (And as an aside, a very good motivator to stop doing the stuff that is likely to lead to the same result on my right shoulder!)