The Hardest Part of My Shoulder Recovery Wasn't Physical | Dr. Alfredo Petrone

I'm going to get a little vulnerable in this post. At the end of March, I was snowboarding in Whistler when I fell backwards and dislocated my left shoulder.

Ski patrol right after reducing my shoulder on the mountain.

As far as injuries go, it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. I didn't break or tear anything and I didn't need surgery. There were no major complications. But over the last few months it has taught me some lessons about healing, identity, patience, and myself that I wasn't expecting or could have anticipated.

As a chiropractor, I spend a lot of time talking to people about recovery. I tell patients that healing takes time and to trust the process. Our bodies are amazing adaptable machines that are remarkably resilient and adaptable. Then suddenly I found myself on the other side of the table. And it turns out it's a lot easier to give that advice than it is to live it.

My First Lesson: The body wants to heal

One of the biggest lessons I've learned is just how incredible the human body really is. When an injury happens, it's easy to focus on everything that's wrong: the pain, the restrictions in movement, the change in the gym, how hard it is to shower take care of yourself. All of the things you can't do. But every day, even when we don't notice it, our bodies are working to repair, adapt, and recover. Over the last eight or so weeks I've watched my shoulder slowly regain motion, strength, and function. Not overnight. Not even week to week sometimes. But little by little. There were so many times I surprised even myself. Like being able to do my first push up again a couple weeks ago.

Healing is rarely dramatic. It's usually boring. It's the accumulation of small improvements that eventually become something meaningful. This is something I've had to remind myself often that my body isn't working against me. It's working for me. I have always been good at reminding myself this and it has been something that has become a lot more part of my regular internal dialogue lately.

Lesson 2: Shoulder Recovery Healing Is Physical, But It's Also Mental

The physical side of recovery is often what is talked about most. We focus on exercises, rehabilitation, mobility work, strength training, treatment plans, and timelines. Those things absolutely matter, but what I've come to appreciate through this injury is how much the mental side of healing matters too, in multiple ways.

Part of recovery is learning to trust your body again. When you're injured, it's easy to become fearful of every movement or to convince yourself that you'll never get back to where you were before. I've had moments where I've questioned whether my shoulder would ever feel normal again or whether I would be able to return to the activities I enjoy at the same level. I've felt frustrated, overwhelmed, hopeless, angry and even sad and depressed at times.

Those thoughts are normal, but I've learned that spending too much time living in them isn't productive. At some point, you have to trust that your body knows what it's doing. The human body is incredibly adaptable. It heals, it compensates, it learns, and it gets stronger. Recovery doesn't happen on our timeline, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening. In fact, I think the more we focus on how incredible our body is at healing, the better it will heal and recover in general. Healing requires patience and trust in yourself.

Lesson 3: What Happens When an Injury Challenges your Identity

The other side of the mental challenge was something I wasn't fully prepared for. I've had injuries in the past that have slowed me down quite a bit (a substantial disc injury in my lower back a few years ago). But, this injury forced me to confront how much of my identity was tied to exercise and movement. CrossFit has been a huge part of my life for years. It's where I challenge myself physically, where I manage stress, where I socialize, and where I spend a lot of my free time. When that was suddenly taken away from me (for now and the foreseeable future), I realized I wasn't just dealing with a shoulder injury. I was dealing with the loss of a routine and a part of myself that had become deeply integrated into my life.

Over the last couple of months, I've struggled more than I expected. My activity level dropped significantly, my nutrition wasn't where it should have been, and I found myself spending far more time sitting on the couch than I'd like to admit. I started reaching for comfort foods more often, caring less about what went into my body and spiralling downwards in negative self talk. My weight increased. My body changed. If I'm being completely honest, I became pretty self-conscious about it. That's not something I talk about often, but I know it's something many people experience when they're injured. We lose our routines, our confidence takes a hit, and we stop feeling like ourselves. For someone who works in healthcare and spends a lot of time talking about movement, fitness, and healthy habits, that was a humbling experience.

What I've recently realized is that acceptance and giving up are not the same thing. For the first several weeks, I spent a lot of energy being frustrated that my shoulder wasn't going to be where I wanted it to be for a very long time. I was constantly comparing myself to what I used to be able to do and focused more on treating the injury rather than treating my whole self. Eventually I realized that all that was doing was keeping me stuck. The moment things started to improve mentally was when I accepted that my current reality was different. My workouts would need to look different for an extended period of time (probably for the next year). My goals would need to change temporarily. My shoulder would need time if I didn't want to re-injure it or set me back even further. Accepting those things didn't mean I was settling. It meant I was finally working with my body instead of fighting against it. This is something much easier said than done.

Over the last few weeks I've started taking ownership of that process again. I joined a new gym that focuses on HIIT-style training, which allows me to continue challenging myself while respecting the limitations of my shoulder. I've cleaned up my diet, started focusing more intentionally on my mental health, and made a conscious effort to spend more time doing things that genuinely make me happy. None of it has happened overnight, and I certainly don't have everything figured out, but I finally feel like I'm moving forward again.

This whole experience has reminded me of something I tell patients every day but admittedly needed to hear myself: consistency matters more than perfection. Health isn't built from one workout, one healthy meal, or one great week. It's built from showing up repeatedly, especially on the days when you don't feel like it. There are still days where I'm frustrated by how much I feel I've let myself go (where in reality its probably not as far as I think, what my shoulder can't do, and there are still a long road ahead of me in my recovery. But I trust that my body will continue to adapt, heal, and get stronger over time.

If there's one thing this injury has taught me, it's that it's okay not to have everything figured out. It's okay to move slower than you'd like. It's okay to have setbacks. It's okay to feel frustrated. What matters is continuing to move forward, even if the steps are small. Life is always going to throw challenges our way. Injuries, setbacks, unexpected changes, and difficult seasons are part of being human. What we do with those experiences is what ultimately shapes us. Right now, I'm learning to trust the process, give myself some grace, and take things one day at a time.

Dr. Alfredo Petrone, Chiropractor

Dr. Alfredo is a health enthusiast who’s goal is to help people and families live healthier, happier lives. My philosophy on health is simple - our body’s have the amazing ability and potential to self-adapt, self-regulate and THRIVE in this world.

KEYWORDS: shoulder dislocation recovery, mental health after injury, sports injury recovery, recovering from a shoulder dislocation, returning to exercise after injury, shoulder rehabilitation, trusting your body after injury, CrossFit injury recovery, Vancouver chiropractor, shoulder pain treatment Vancouver