misjudged a swing today!

[ratherbclimbing]

As the title says I misjudged a swing today and dislocated my right shoulder! It was a big swing and a small miscalculation. I gave myself too much slack and was going too fast. I came at a branch about shoulder high and did what everybody does as a natural reaction. I stuck my hand out and the force popped my shoulder out. I lowered myself and was explaining to my brother and a friend how to put it back in place when I took a deep breath and shrugged and it went back in on its own. I explained to the home owner that we weren't going to be able to finish today. He actually gave me half of the money for the job and said he understood and get to it when I can.

Last time I dislocated my shoulder I was down about a month before I wasn't in pain and probably two months before I gained my strength back.

Any suggestions on how to speed up recovery?

It isn't as sore as the last time. But I'm typing this sipping on Crown Royal.

 

[theXman]

All crap!
Matty D and another climber... Blinky or... Someone....Has been through the same thing, recently.

 

[sean_freeman]

Craptastic,never did it climbing but in my previous incarnation as a rep footy player dislocated both twice each (inside and out frustratingly).

Best advice I can give you is to get a scan asap (if you can afford it) to ensure you are not carrying something even more worrying long term consequences of ligament damage is not great.

Most basic is get yourself to a well respected sports physio asap and do exactly what they advise (in terms of rehab).

Sorry I'm not giving you anything specific, frankly there is a big difference between grades of injury and so advice for a grade 1 tear or rupture would be disasterous if you have something more serious.

Be patient - I know no help but it really is the best advice. Wishing you a simple and speedy recovery.

 

[chris_girard]

Had surgery to repair mine. Kept popping out all the time before that.

 

[Blinky]

Dislocated both of mine, left one twice. My son is recovering from surgery to repair his labrum from multiple dislocations. I've looked into this a lot.

The bad news, it will become easier and easier to dislocate each time you do it. It only gets worse with each injury.

To heal without surgery takes a VERY long time, more than a year.

There are different ways the shoulder can be injured. You can damage the rotator cuff, the labrum, or you can have a separation which is kind of a chest injury. Look them up if you want.

If it keeps popping out easily, you need an MRI to estimate the type and extent of the damage. Even with an MRI the surgeon said he was surprised by how badly my son's labrum was torn.

Some of us are genetically more flexible than others, with shoulders that can be a bad thing because it's not a socket joint, it's a ball and a little flat plate with bigass muscle and connective tissue around it. Flexible people dislocate more easily.

The labrum surgery is arthroscopic and basically stitches the labrum back down. recovery involves 1 month of ZERO shoulder movement, 2 months of PT and then another three before full contact sports.

I never had surgery. After the second dislocation I quit paddling for six months and then slowly worked back into it. Bad time to be a paddler, good time to have a hot GF.

 

[tomthetreeman]

I have a torn labrum, and the doctors basically talked me out of surgery unless it gets to the point where I can't deal with the pain. I've built up muscle around it which reduces pain and/or repeated injury.

-Tom

 

[AboveTheLines]

Damn man, sorry to hear that. Take it easy man.

 

[MattyD]

Yup, sounds all too familiar. I had to get the surgury. Finally coming to the end of my recovery and just taking it slow. Hahaha, Yes, Thank God for the Hot girlfriend

 

[Adkpk]

I dislocated my shoulder. Popped out quite a few times for years after the doctor pushed it back in but you'll get used to popping it back in yourself. I feel lucky to have not gotten the surgery. It's been all good for quite a while now. Good luck with it.

 

[Blinky]

The idea of 'popping your shoulder back in' is a bad one one. If it's out and staying out, it should be reduced carefully, generally by moving the hand from you navel to your chin, palm inward. It's something someone else should do rather than under your own power.

If it pops out and back in easily, you're surgery candidate, it may heal to where it doesn't hurt anymore but it will never tighten back up. I have limited range in my right shoulder for that very reason. We had no choice but to reduce in the field, it was blindingly painful and it probably did more damage.

One thing is for certain, every time you pop it out you do more damage, cause more inflammation and move yourself further away from full recovery. It doesn't matter who you are, connective tissue does not heal at the same rate as most other tissue. It's slow. Once it becomes partially detached, it stays that way even though the tendon or ligament may scar over and keep working.