Shoulder partial dislocation/subluxation

[seldon]

So....

Pre-season lacrosse practice, I hit somebody and suddenly OUCH again, I've partially dislocated/subluxated my shoulder. It's about the 4th time I've done it playing lacrosse (all from hitting people).

I've been lifting for my upper body/chest in general to try and help prevent this (and it may have contributed in this case as I did a killer chest workout yesterday >> fatigue) but what can I do after the swelling goes away to build up the muscles in my shoulders?

Last time I did this (and it hurt for more than a day), I went to the doctor and he basically said ice and advil until it feels good, and then I can play again, with an increased risk of recurrence. It's recurred, and I'm not willing to just sit on my laurels and take this. I want to at least contribute to a solution. So to the maggot collective PT/DOC/Orthopedist/previously injured, any ideas?

Cheers,
-john

[Core Shot]

You have ripped your shit.
An MRI will show for certain.
Maybe labrum, rotator cuff, who knows.
You can make it a bit stronger, but if you expect to run into people or trees at high speeds, you will prolly need surgery.
I am no doctor, but everyone I know with dislocating shoulders has only been truly fixed with surgery. But then they have somewhat limited range of motion adn stiffness. But at least they dont see stars and worry about that out of joint feeling.

[seldon]

I don't see stars, nor do I ever have the hesitation or out of joint feeling. It justs hurts like living hell about three/four times a year. Last time the doc said I hadn't hurt my rotator cuff, just based on moving my arm around/where it hurt/where it didn't. Said I had just stretched things out a little.

And fuck. I'm 17. I'm not supposed to have a limited range of motion and stiffness in my left arm for the rest of my fucking life. Note: I'm not totally dislocating it - it kinda comes partway out and then instantly back in.

Thanks core

[descender]

I have a similar injury. If you really had a sublux, you should get into PT because the exercises to keep the joint stable are not normal gym exercises. Best bet is to strengthen the hell out of your rotator cuff. Internal and external rotation with therabands plus other stuff.

My OS who doesn't want to cut me even thought I have a detached anterior labrum. Until I dislocate for real, he doesn't think there is a need. To reassure me, he mentioned one of his patients who plays pro basketball and has the same lesion as I have, and dunks, hard, all the time.

[seldon]

SWEET! I was doing some reading online about labrums and based on my age it seems like that's what I've probably got... but since i've never completely dislocated it I wasn't sure. And reading that it takes 6 months to recover (from surgery) was just a depressing thought....

[wicked_sick]

I've had surgery and I felt fully recovered in much less than 6 months. I was out of the sling in 3-4 weeks. And the ease of mind and body I have from a fixed shoulder is definately worth the recovery time

as descender said, work on internal and external rotation with a theraband, or light >5lb cable weights. Do many repetetions. i noticed that concentrating on proper posture and repeatedly squeezing the bottoms of my shoulderblades together at any opprotunity (watching tv, surfing web, writing papers) as done a lot for me as well. I thought my physiotherapist was a hack with some of the light seeming excersizes he was giving me, but they worked.

Last weekend I landed hard and fast off a drop and got my pole caught on in the snow. It ripped my arm out, behind me and up. I thought it was going to be certain death, but i felt barely even a twinge. Definately go get it fixed

[peterslovo]

as descender said, work on internal and external rotation with a theraband, or light >5lb cable weights. Do many repetetions. i noticed that concentrating on proper posture and repeatedly squeezing the bottoms of my shoulderblades together at any opprotunity (watching tv, surfing web, writing papers) as done a lot for me as well. I thought my physiotherapist was a hack with some of the light seeming excersizes he was giving me, but they worked.

^^^KEY^^^

I have had subluxation problems ever since separating/subluxing my shoulder playing hockey back in 1993. I still sublux a couple times a year. Keeping up with the exercises is key.

[The Reverend Floater]

Hey Seldon--I just saw this thread. I had surgery on 6 or 7 torn ligaments/tendons last spring and had some bone frags removed from my shoulder which was diagnosed as a severely "unstable" shoulder. My doc said that I had to strengthen everything around the joint after surgery. Theraband helped immensely until I hit about average strength, around 5 months out. After that I began doing really light shoulder presses and bench work. The real breakthrough came when I begun swimming, though. I hated swimming previously. Really, really hated it and wasn't good. Now I'm still not good, but I swim every day after weights and I've never felt stronger in my whole life. It's a great workout cardiovascularly and it did WONDERS for my shoulder, which now feels about 100 times stronger than pre-surgery. Give it a shot...if you're not into it, keep it up and you'll come around.

[creaker]

I've had 3 shoulder dealios done, so I speak from some rehab experience. Like someone above said, you gotta work the little muscles to the max. Those rubber bands are gold here. That's what's gonna keep it tight. Lay off the big stuff- it's impressive in the gym but may actually work against you. You'll feel like a huge pussy, but will be better off. good luck.

[Vinman]

I too only just saw this today.

The main thing for you right now is to try to prevent a full dislocation as well as prevent further sublux events.

As others have said the rotator cuff muscles are key here but don't neglect tothe upper back muscles. If you upper back muscles are weak and can not sabilize your scapula then your rotator cuff will have a hard time doing its job as well.


It is likely that you do infact have a torn labrum. The labrum is a ring of cartilage that does a couple things.
1. helps to stabilize the shoulder by deepending the shoulder socket.
2 serves as a point of attachement for the shoulder ligaments

If the labrum is torn or becomes detached from the rim of the socket ti can cause some instability. An unstable shoulder is not a good thing and will end up in injury to either the rotator cuff or finally end in a dislocation.

If you haven't already been to an ortho, you should go. As you said you are only 17 and from the sounds of it your should may be getting worse. Not good. Go see an ortho.

[descender]

I will add that I was really eager to get the surgery since my attitude is to just fix the thing and be done with it. My OS argued that the surgery is to fix instability so until I have a dislocation, there is no proof of instability that needs to be corrected. The MRI may show a lesion, but clinically he does not observe instability. Plus I have some stiffness, and surgery probably make that worse. I kind of don't like this approach because he is essentially saying he will cut me once I dislocate, which will suck, but there is also the small chance that I will not dislocate. He also said it is up to me, so if I want him to do it, he has no problem. I am also 30 which means my chance of instability are lower than a younger person, statistically speaking. For now I am just happy to be skiing, and I will re-evaluate in the summer.

[seldon]

partially dislocated it again yesterday. even after working my ass of with cables and PNFing etc. into the ortho on friday again.

i realized the problem is how i'm hitting - theres just no way my shoulder is going to stay in when im hitting people at full speed with my arm way out. so im going to work it back into shape like a mofo and hten keep my arms together and high wehn im hitting.

[Rocky_Mountain_Rider1]

When I was playing football I took a hit while up to catch a bad pass and flipped onto my shoulder totally shredded the shit outta everything in my shoulder. It took me a whole year to really recover to any degree but just follow the doctors advice, if it's a tear take it REALLY easy and if its not try and do 360 degree rotations of the shoulder.