Below is an excerpt from the Mayo Clinic’s article about one of our Weightlifters who underwent shoulder surgery in high school, then came to Tampa for college and began training at our Keep Pulling Weightlifting Club.
For full article from the Mayo Clinic, CLICK HERE.
Delaney Willingham stepped to the mat, placed both hands on the barbell and prepared her body and mind to complete a lift she’d done hundreds of times before. But this time, as spectators of her high school weightlifting meet looked on, something went terribly wrong. After Delaney completed the first part of her lift, she suffered a serious injury. “I dislocated my right shoulder,” she says.
After being taken to Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus for evaluation, an MRI revealed the full extent of the damage. In addition to dislocating her shoulder, the imaging showed that Delaney had torn her labrum — the ring of cartilage around the rim of the shoulder socket that helps stabilize the joint.
Even though Delaney says the injury wasn’t painful, it was frustrating — especially given all the hard work, training and personal sacrifice she’d invested in her senior year of competition. And she was concerned that the shoulder injury would derail her lifelong dream of lifting at collegiate and professional levels. “I was told there was chance I’d never be able to compete again,” Delaney says. “That’s what worried and frustrated me the most.”