UKC

Has anyone here had to contend with hypermobility when starting out climbing? Are there any exercises suitable for tightening up the tendons to protect from shoulder dislocation?

Laterjet procedure and physio works pretty well

Do you have a history of shoulder dislocations? Might be worth chatting to a physio with an interest in shoulders if that's the case. Otherwise I think you want to be focusing on strength exercises that closely relate to the forces involved in climbing. Pull-ups, and Ys and Ts, if you have access to rings/TRX, are two general exercises that have done wonders for my shoulder stability, although I don't have hypermobility.

I can dislocate both my shoulders at will. It used to be my party trick until I showed my doctor, at which point he told me in no uncertain terms to stop it otherwise my arms would fall off....

It never caused me a problem with my climbing, and both my doctor and physio said climbing would keep my rotator cuffs in good order, so I wouldn't worry about it unless you've a history of bad dislocations.

thanks for the advice. Its not me , but my son who is stating to climb seriously and I was worried that his hypermobility might mean he came apart on the routes! I did have to pull a friend out of Boulder Ruckle who had dislocated an arm.  Not something that I wish to repeat!

I have some degree of hypermobility, but I only had problems with shoulder dislocation after a significant slap tear. An operation sorted that out, but in general I have found that some strength training and not bothering with stretching makes my shoulders feel pretty stable. Is-Ys-Ts and shoulder shrugs off a bar are my go-to exercises. 

When my daughter started out climbing on the local climbing team they brought a physio in and did a day checking them all out for any issues. My daughters highlighted hyper mobility but little was done in terms of change. We just kept it in mind whenever she was getting coached or ‘training’ to ensure they were aware and to ensure exercises were balanced. She has lovely muscles around the back and shoulder and does regular trx, leg shoulder, arms and core conditioning work which I think has all contributed to no issues so far. In fact she doesn’t have the climbers hunch at all.  What she does have is the ability to pull 1” of extra reach out from nowhere when it is really needed.   As with any sport there are risks but also huge advantages to building up balanced muscles

The number one thing I recommend is rotator cuff exercises.

Not just for anyone with history/injury but because climbing puts huge amount of weight through them. It's kind of a future investment.