Dislocated Shoulder

[Rob Thomson]

""Yo"" all,

Just over 3 weeks ago i dislocated my shoulder for the first time playing rugby....It was out of its socket for just under 5 hours...3 attempts were made to put in in...Only the third worked, the first two just hurt me...

Went to doctor, blah blah the usual he said it will FEEL fine in a week or two, but obviously will be weak for at least 6, then i can gradually build gymming back up again...Until then I'm slinged...

However its been 3 weeks obviously and it's still shitted...Still don't have any feeling in the top of my shoulder (the nerve was a apparently crushed, feeling was due to be back a week ago apparently...still nothing), movement in it is still pretty minimal and the muscles seem to have collapsed completely, leaving a nice floppy chunk at my shoulder, compared to the opposite shoulder which doesnt have any ""flop""....This to me, OBVIOUSLY doesn't seem ""normal"" as it was supposed to be by now?

If anyone has had any experince in this, then please shed some light on their recoveries please....I'm pretty worried that's it raped for a very long time...

It's just what has happened seems to be nothing like what Mr. Doctor said would happen!

Cheers

Rob.

[Bondy]

I only partially dislocated my shoulder and had damaged my rotator cuff (group of shoulder muscles) pretty good and it was pretty raped for about a year and a bit, mainly due to the fact i was told to stop playing rugby for quite a while, which i only did for about 4 weeks then started again (bad idea - hurt lots), so id listen to them and stop doing any kinda activity that puts strain on your shoulder for aslong as they tell you to and do the exercises they shouldve told you to do to slowly strengthen it back up again when you can, with some kind of stretchy band until you can use light weights.

Its not really until i started going to the gym that ive really healed my shoulder properly sometime last year.

So all is not lost, im pretty sure its something like 6 weeks just resting it, then start doing exercises or something like that!

Have fun, hope all goes well.

[Tomm]

Whoever told you it would be better again in 2 weeks was wrong - It can take like 6 months.

I have partially dislocated (subluxed) my shoulder several times, but it didn't hurt that much afterwards. I have a friend who just dislocated her shoulder properly though, and she's been told it'll take 6 months for a full recovery, and something like 6 weeks in a sling.

With the nerve thing, it's a fairly common thing to damage the axillary nerve in your shoulder when you dislocate it. Usually just one small branch is trapped which causes you to lose sensation on a small bit of your arm. Considering it was out for 5 hours, there's the possibility that this could be permanent, but you should get some feeling back in time.

As for the muscle 'flop', I think it would be worth going to the doctors to check that out, because that is obviously more serious than a loss of sensation. Presumably you have some kind of follow-up appointment, or maybe you don't?

Either way I wouldn't worry about it too much - it will be really sore for a long time. Like Bondy, I was told to give up bikes/trials/ any sport for six months after an op on my shoulder... And I didn't listen - I started riding again after about 2 months. Now (18 months on) my shoulder still gives me some gip and I wish I'd been more patient. It's not too bad though.

[guineasmithpig]

once you're ready to start workin on it again, get yourself down the gym to see a decent trainer, or a physio.

i was helped by simon lord (Physio on the forum) with a dodgy shoulder that has been weak for as long as i remember. think it was from falling down the stairs as a toddler. anyways, gave me exercises for it to strengthen the right areas. low and behold, stacked it at epic skatepark and seperated both my shoulders. so now both are tw@ed. am currently in the gym getting them sorted. here, you'll find you can't push anything, yet pulling stuff is fine. make sure you don't over-do the bench and shoulder presses, as my shoulder popped the other day pushing 8kg, and just kept locking up! am currently pressing about 6kg on each arm with dumbells, again, keeping the weight light. yet pulling up about 20kg, doing rotator cuff exercises with no troubles. i'm spending about 1.5hr session, doing mainly shoulder and surrounding area work, on silly light weights, but its really helping! the strained and weakened rotator cuff will make your shoulder pretty unstable, and this needs to be addressed carefully to stop any more damage.

smithy

[Rob Thomson]

Whoever told you it would be better again in 2 weeks was wrong - It can take like 6 months.

I have partially dislocated (subluxed) my shoulder several times, but it didn't hurt that much afterwards. I have a friend who just dislocated her shoulder properly though, and she's been told it'll take 6 months for a full recovery, and something like 6 weeks in a sling.

With the nerve thing, it's a fairly common thing to damage the axillary nerve in your shoulder when you dislocate it. Usually just one small branch is trapped which causes you to lose sensation on a small bit of your arm. Considering it was out for 5 hours, there's the possibility that this could be permanent, but you should get some feeling back in time.

As for the muscle 'flop', I think it would be worth going to the doctors to check that out, because that is obviously more serious than a loss of sensation. Presumably you have some kind of follow-up appointment, or maybe you don't?

Either way I wouldn't worry about it too much - it will be really sore for a long time. Like Bondy, I was told to give up bikes/trials/ any sport for six months after an op on my shoulder... And I didn't listen - I started riding again after about 2 months. Now (18 months on) my shoulder still gives me some gip and I wish I'd been more patient. It's not too bad though.

Yeah I have an appointment in a week...The "flop" really is worrying me...

Really hard not going to the gym as that was pretty much the basis of my life

[-RoBBo-]

My mate dislocates his shoulder 50% of the time we go to the gym. He's a tit. Just won't let it rest. He has a week off, then comes back and does 1 heavy thing...and there it goes...just pops out. He's been like this for about 6 months. So be if i was you, just be patient.

[Krisboats]

""Yo"" all,

Just over 3 weeks ago i dislocated my shoulder for the first time playing rugby....It was out of its socket for just under 5 hours...3 attempts were made to put in in...Only the third worked, the first two just hurt me...

Sorry, but thats the bit i find worrying.... what exactly did they try and did they know what their doing? Because, contrary to popular beleif, you don't just twat it into the nearest solid object lethal weapon stylee and carry on running around again.

Easiest, quickest and least painful way is to find the nearest wall, bench, table or bed and lie down on it with the side of your body in line with the side of the raised object and just leave your arm hanging off, as you relax the shoulder literally pops itself back in with only a mild pain (similar to being thumped pretty hard in the shoulder) and you'll find it feels like a pulled muscle. Mine took about the same as a pulled muscle to heal properly again too, it ached for a week or two constantly, then for another week or two it only hurt when doing strenuous excercise.... after that it was fine.

I would say go and see a physiotherapist straight away, though it will be more expensive than your gp, the advice will be good and they'll be able to refer you on to having any operations should you need them. You'll probably get it sorted sooner than if you went to your gp too, based on what you've already said.

[Token]

My shoulder was also out for a few hours before it was put back in.

I noticed that there was incredible aching if I did any activities with my arm, wanking was out of the question for a little while. Also If I tried to throw anything, like a stone I would feel it come out an then go back in. It started getting more durable and only really ached after a few months if it was cold outside. But yeah, two years on and it's back to its previous 100% health, although its been fine for the past 6 months atleast.

[Rob Thomson]

Sorry, but thats the bit i find worrying.... what exactly did they try and did they know what their doing? Because, contrary to popular beleif, you don't just twat it into the nearest solid object lethal weapon stylee and carry on running around again.

Easiest, quickest and least painful way is to find the nearest wall, bench, table or bed and lie down on it with the side of your body in line with the side of the raised object and just leave your arm hanging off, as you relax the shoulder literally pops itself back in with only a mild pain (similar to being thumped pretty hard in the shoulder) and you'll find it feels like a pulled muscle. Mine took about the same as a pulled muscle to heal properly again too, it ached for a week or two constantly, then for another week or two it only hurt when doing strenuous excercise.... after that it was fine.

I would say go and see a physiotherapist straight away, though it will be more expensive than your gp, the advice will be good and they'll be able to refer you on to having any operations should you need them. You'll probably get it sorted sooner than if you went to your gp too, based on what you've already said.

They tried the twisty, with a bit of pulley thing thang....That didn't work...

So they tried the method mentioned above, i relaxed, they had someone just pulling a wee tiny bit downwards to ease it in a bit....That didn't work either...

So they took me to the hospital, gave me Nitrous and did the first method again...That worked...