Hello ST peeps
After years of trail running, I finally managed to fall and hurt myself yesterday. Fell forward and landed on my shoulder. Dx was a posterior dislocation. Apparently this is fairly rare in the world of shoulder dislocations (less than 5%). Hospital trip included around 5 hours of waiting around and 5 minutes of an orthopedic surgeon popping it back into place, along with some opioid coursing through my blood stream.
So, curious if anyone here has had one, and what they went through - tips on what to do, what not to do, etc. Shoulder is still sore, though right not not at the point where I need to take any meds for it.
Hello ST peeps
After years of trail running, I finally managed to fall and hurt myself yesterday. Fell forward and landed on my shoulder. Dx was a posterior dislocation. Apparently this is fairly rare in the world of shoulder dislocations (less than 5%). Hospital trip included around 5 hours of waiting around and 5 minutes of an orthopedic surgeon popping it back into place, along with some opioid coursing through my blood stream.
So, curious if anyone here has had one, and what they went through - tips on what to do, what not to do, etc. Shoulder is still sore, though right not not at the point where I need to take any meds for it.
Thanks
Charles
I went through a rear dislocation late last year, although mine was due to a pretty absurd cycling crash. Was warming up before a cyclocross race and just ate it. Spent a few hours in the hospital while they tried to determine whether I had a dislocation or if I was just jonesing for a drug fix. Apparently, the dislocation was not prominent in the X-Ray. I tried to convince that they could just feel that my right shoulder was like an inch thicker than my left due to the joint sticking out, but they needed more evidence. Ultimately, they saw it clear as day using another imaging device (CT I think). Once it was located, drugs were flowing more freely and they popped it back in.
Pain was gone, but soreness lingered for a few days. Probably didn’t help that I had crashed and had road rash all over. You’ll probably find that your range of motion is pretty limited (showering and washing hair may be tough).
Now for the rehab … I was put in an immobilizing sling for a week before starting physical therapy. Sling stayed on for another 4 to 5 weeks and physical therapy lasted a few months. After a couple weeks, physio allowed me to ride the trainer as long as I wasn’t bearing weight on the shoulder. The biggest challenge is that the sling kept my arm sticking outward (think elbow against the torso, but hand outward like you were shaking someone’s hand) which made sleeping and driving tough.
All in all, it was a hassle, but the physio and ortho took a conservative route and my shoulder appears to be fine now. I can bear weight (pushups, TT bike for hours, etc) without issue and have full range of motion. Their goal was to limit movement to allow the soft tissue to tighten up significantly and then loosen as needed with the therapy. Apparently, if you just jump back into movement, the soft tissue remains stretched out leaving you vulnerable to future dislocations.
Thanks. I guess these are hard to Dx - from what I can tell, I had a completely incompetent radiologist who diagnosed a fractured humerus, w/out dislocation. so for a bunch of the time that i was there, they wouldn’t give me anything to drink (they thought i might need to go straight to surgery). i came straight from the run and really needed some liquids/sugar in my system. OTOH they were super generous with the meds. maybe my refusing them early on allayed their fears.
it does sound like yours was worse than mine. i’ve got just a normal sling, with instructions to rest up for a couple of weeks, using pain as the guide. your sling sounds rough, esp. since i’m worried some over-eager hand shaker’s gonna rip my arm back out.
doc did say that for the next couple of weeks, increased chance of it popping back out, which is my big worry (duh)
you know, i’m doing pretty well. it helps that i already had zero interest in swimming, which would be more demanding on my shoulder (tri-style lap swimming anyway, i’m all for hanging out in the pool or the ocean when it’s hot out).
at this point, i can do what i want to do. every once in a while i’ll move it in a funny way and it will hurt a lot. and a long ride on my road bike can kind of wear on it. (don’t ride in the bars these days). i had a follow up the week after it happened, and while i got a rx for an MRI i never went, as the doc didn’t seem worried and i havne’t felt much pain.
your sounds worse than mine was, so good luck with it, though i don’t really feel like i’ve got any advice for you - i really didn’t have much immobilization time so i’ve no idea what it’s like to deal with that.
I have had 4 shoulder surgery’s. 3 labrum repairs from dislocations. Take it slow. Period. Don’t rush it and if after u run a course of PT you don’t have any slippage don’t worry about surgery. As for swimming it has helped My shoulders drastically. Just listen to your body.
