Any one have any success stories on coming back from a shoulder dislocation?
Mine came out last week, but I can all ready lift it over my head, and it is my left, which is good because I paddle C boats with my right.
John
I was in a kayak when it happened
I’ve been there.
I have dislocated my left shoulder a few times. It will take a while and you will have to be careful to NOT do it again. With the ligaments stretched the shoulder is “looser”. I can roll mine out if I do things wrong. Luckily if it does happen it is much less dramatic than the first time.
I have no lingering strength problems, it’s all in the angle of the force against the shoulder. Make sure you do ALL of the rehab exercises. They will strengthen the muscles needed to keep in place.
Don’t worry, you will paddle again.
Have a friend how dislocated
Did his PT, worked on his form, and is a monstrous sea kayaker.
I have had multiple shoulder
dislocations and after the last time it was recommended by an orthopedic surgeon that I have surgery to reinstall the labrum. The labrum gives the shoulder 50% of it’s stability from popping out and if it gets damaged or torn off during a dislocation your shoulder will keep getting dislocated at the most inopertune times. I would recommend that you have your shoulder checked out by an orthopedic doctor so that you can keep enjoying your activities.
get to a shoulder specialist
My shoulder disslocated a couple of times and I did the rehab like the Dr. ordered and then I tore it up so bad I had to have reconstrustive surgery. The specialist told me if I would have taken care of it sooner it would have probably only been artrascopic surgery nothing major . It took me a year to rehab after surgery and It still gives me some problems in strength and rotation. But I am paddling. So please get a referal and go see a specialist. P.s I have also had two knee surgeries and 3 surgeries on my foot. So I do understand what you are up against.
Shoulder
I have had shoulder replacement in the last 5 months im getting better can paddle for a short time then burnout. But it is getting better they say a year and it will be fine, so I know how you feel
Shoulder Dislocation BREAKTHROUGH
If its been a week-plus, this info might be too late for you, but it’s worth checking out with your doc. It might also help future dislocation suffers.
I dislocated my right shoulder kayaking in July. It was put back in place that night, and I went to see the bone and joint doc the next day.
He put me in this 24 and 7 (except for showers) for 6 weeks:
http://www.orthopedictechreview.com/issues/novdec03/pg33.htm
The idea is keeping your arm in this position for 6 weeks aligns the broken parts of your shoulder so they heal back in their original postion.
Think of your shoulder as a bowling ball resting on a plate. When the bowling ball slides off the plate (i.e. you get a dislocation) the edge of the plate chips. It’s called a bankart frature. A major cause of redislocations is that the broken piece doesn’t fuse back to the edge of the plate even after your shoulder is popped back in. This sling puts your arm in the right postion so that the chip is aligned with the plate and refuses.
Much of what surgery is about is openning your shoulder so that bone chip can be pinned back into place along the edge of the plate.
I’m a medical person, and checked out the literature on this new technique, and was very impressed with the early clinical data, at first out of japan and now being replicated in the U.S. So I used the sling.
I had a bad dislocation, and the bankhart fracture was obvious on the xray.
After 6 weeks in the sling, the bone doc did another x-ray. That chip had fused back nearly exactly where it needed to be. He said to me, “congradulations, you avoided surgery.”
In terms of recovery, I’ve had to work a bit on stretching to get back my range of motion after having my shoulder immobilized for 6 weeks.
But i detect no lossness whatsoever. The biggest risk after a dislocation is a redislocation, even with normal things like laying on your back with your hands cupped behind your head.
I’ve put my arm through some serious manouevers in working to get teh range of motion back, and haven’t felt anything even begin to move out of place.
so, hopes this helps. My bone doc told me any bone doc who doesn’t know about this new technique has simply not been keeping up with the latest research. He also said this technique is rapidly becoming the standard treatment for dislocated shoulders. I have back about 95% percent of my range in motion, and I am sure I’ll get the remaining 5 percent.
thanks
It has been ten days since I dislocated my sholder, and I have my first PT appointment today. The docter moved everything ahead because I had 90% of my range of motion back in a week, the Doc was amazed. I am getting an MRI because I want to know how much damage I did (we are all curious after how fast the ROM came back).
John
Intersting article, Thanks