shoulder dislocation and riding...

[dookie]

anyone ever dislocate a shoulder? how long were you off the bike? i had a pretty severe one yesterday...pain like nothing i've ever experienced. once they popped it back in, the relief was immediate. i'm in a sling for a week or so and have weakness and a little pain if i load it the wrong way, but full range of motion and surprisingly good function just 18hrs after the fact...

[regularguy412]

You're lucky to have full range of motion. When I dislocated mine, I couldn't raise my arm (stretched out to the side) higher than my shoulder. I had stretched the ligaments and the muscle just couldn't contract enough to pull the arm up. After 2 weeks in a sling, the ligaments returned to almost normal. However, the joint is still just a little bit loose, to this day.

I was off the bike for about two weeks, but I did ride the indoor trainer. I hurt my shoulder in March of that year. I finally did some light weights later that year to help strengthen my shoulders and tighten the joint.

Mike in AR :beer:

[William]

A little further down the appendage…

Quite a few years ago I was sparring with a guy, he tried to hit me but I parried and moved in. All of a sudden he’s howling and holding his right wrist and his arm close to his body. Then I noticed that one of his fingers (ring finger as I recall) was pointing off in a very strange direction. He had dislocated it and he was obviously in some pain. My instructor at the time came over to take a look at it, grabbed his wrist and very gingerly examined the finger….then quickly grabbed it and snapped it back into place before the guy could react. No warning at all. There was a look on his face :eek: somewhere between horror and “You just didn’t do what I think you did!!!” on his face. Then the look was replaced by relief as he started flexing his fingers…”Hey, that feels pretty good!”

I’ve never dislocated anything but it was evident that the pain pretty much dissipated after his finger was popped back in. I’ve heard similar stories about the shoulder. I hope you heal up soon. :beer:



William

[MRB]

You got lucky. I dislocated my left shoulder when I was on a trip in the backcounty. I had to hike out, and by the time I got to the Hospital, they had to put me under to relocate it. The muscles had cramped up, and they could not reset it.

A big issue with shoulder dislocations is rotator cup damage. Lucky for me, mine is fine. For recovery I purchased a Schwinn Air-dyne for the shoulder exercise. That is my my P.T recommended, and it worked good.

I wish you a healthy recovery. It sounds like your already off to a speedy one.

[Ken Robb]

I had a couple of pals do this several times each and each time the shoulder got looser until one popped out while she was swimming. Our orthopedist buddy tightened it up for her and it's like new. The other guy just keeps popping it back in. Another pal crashed his GXER and I followed his ambulance to the hospital. The ER doc was an old pal so I got to tug on a towel he wrapped under the victim's shoulder while he forced the joint back together. This was after LOTS of morphine and the victim remembered none of it when he regained his senses.

ATMO, If you suffer a recurrance you should get it surgically repaired sooner rather than later and save yourself a lot of pain.

[cp43]

I've never dislocated my shoulder, but I did have some overuse problems from swimming. My shoulder doc said that it was related to loosening of the joint causing pinching of tendons. He gave me some PT exercises with 2 and 3 pound weights, and stretch cords to tighten up the joint. Worked very well as long as I kept doing them. I would go for PT before surgery if given the option. Hopefully it won't come to that though.

Heal up fast.

Chris

[Hank Scorpio]

I have possibly the most retarded shoulder dislocation story. I dislocated my left shoulder twice at the same ski resort on the same run doing nearly identical tricks about three years apart. I hate you Belleayre!
It feels loose and I was told I need surgery to tighten up the ligaments but I decided against it as I would have missed too much clinical time and delayed my graduation. I lift weights and have been surfing with no further problems. I hope the next time it comes out I have insurance so I can get it fixed

[Lurch]

I had a 3rd degree seperation from landing a preety awesome jump in a spectacular ball of dust and anger. I was off my bike for about a month. Ended up with the bone in my shoulder sticking up, and the doctor said if I was a pro athlete, he'd recomend surgery, but otherwise, it was my call.

The pain sucks for a while. The less you move it, the faster it heals. Good PT to tighten the joint up will keep it from popping out easilly again.

Sadly, I will probably never lift weights again . But if I wasn't so big in the first place, maybe I'd have not been so clumsy? :rolleyes:

[Chris]

anyone ever dislocate a shoulder? how long were you off the bike? i had a pretty severe one yesterday...pain like nothing i've ever experienced. once they popped it back in, the relief was immediate. i'm in a sling for a week or so and have weakness and a little pain if i load it the wrong way, but full range of motion and surprisingly good function just 18hrs after the fact...

Matt? Is that you?