I dislocated my Shoulder

[tom once dead]

So as you can see by the title, I dislocated my right shoulder tonight. Just got back from Emergency ward then. So now I'll be sitting at home being bored and not earning money for the next week or so. I was told I will need to get a shoulder reconstruction ASAP.
Anyone got any advice on do's and don'ts with this kind of thing. The Pains not so bad right now, but I've had a few different drugs to stop that. I also found out tonight that morphine has little to no affect on me at all.


Ps I did it skating

[blendermassacre]

I have dislocated one shoulder twice, and the other once. Take the recovery slow, and do what they say. Mine wasn't bad enough for surgery, which I think may have been worse in the long run.

Do the physical therapy as much as you can stand. Don't get frustrated with your progress. I went from bench pressing ~300 lbs to not being able to successfully work out with a can of soup.

which shoulder? if it was your left, buy a lighter bass asap. Having weight hanging on it will be bad news.

[DWBass]

I dislocated my shoulder about 20 years ago. Worst pain I ever felt in my life! Not only that, I had to sit in the ER, on a Sunday afternoon for 4 hours waiting for an orthopedic Dr. to come in and help me! I was in so much pain I almost passed out! Morphine was my best friend. Took 3-4 months to heal and I never got back full range of motion. I wasn't playing bass at the time (was heavily into sports). I can't offer anything other than sit while playing with no strap.

[blendermassacre]

Originally Posted by DWBass

Took 3-4 months to heal and I never got back full range of motion. I wasn't playing bass at the time (was heavily into sports). I can't offer anything other than sit while playing with no strap.

yeah. It will never be the same, either. I need to be pickier about buying lighter basses, but its not easy on a strict budget.

[Anthbass]

I've had both of my shoulders reconstructed surgically. Funny, the left one I ruined while skating, too. The injury to the right one occurred when I took a header off my bmx on a half-pipe and fell about 8 feet onto my right shoulder. Not so much fun. Anyway, depending on the damage you've done to yourself, the surgery can range from tightening up of compromised ligaments (such as the glenohumoral ligament) to reattaching cartilage, to shortening the ligaments to purposely reduce the range of motion, in order to keep the shoulder better in place. Both of my shoulders were badly stretched, so I had ligaments cut and screwed to bones in order to keep them from being 'loose'. The left one has been fine for 20 years but the right one goes out fairly often, so some more work is in order. Rehab is important, especially as a musician. Do what the docs tell ya. I found stretching often to be very helpful in regaining both strength and mobility. Good luck.

[plumbob]

i dislocated my left shoulder on july 6th. hurt as bad as a compound fracture easily. same as you guys i had to wait, morphine is good. the er doctor put me in a shoulder imobilizer sling. when i went to see the specialist he took away the sling and instructed me not to wear a sling again as he wanted me moving my shoulder as much as possible. I went back to work two weeks ago, the absolute best therapy for me. what is most important to let you know, is that i'm seeing a chiropractor/sports medicine doctor for what i thought was an unrelated problem, and he's found issuesthat he says are directly related to the injury. so if you find yourself having headaches and neck and back aches you might want to check with a chiropractor- you call them osteopaths.
BTW. I was playing my bass two days later. I play lefty, but it still hurt like hell.

[Webtroll]

I dislocated my left shoulder years ago and my left arm was nigh useless for at least a week, was sore for the better part of a month. My truck was standard and I had to steer and shift gears with the same arm. I feel for you man, it's rough and if you need surgery your case was worse than mine. Good luck!

[tom once dead]

suprisingly it didn't hurt THAT much. Not really at all until I had to get in the back of the ambulance. It got pretty bad when I had to wait for a while for the doctor to put it back in and fill me with laughing gas. Its my right shoulder so I should be fine as far as playing bass goes.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by tom once dead

So as you can see by the title, I dislocated my right shoulder tonight. Just got back from Emergency ward then. So now I'll be sitting at home being bored and not earning money for the next week or so. I was told I will need to get a shoulder reconstruction ASAP.
Anyone got any advice on do's and don'ts with this kind of thing. The Pains not so bad right now, but I've had a few different drugs to stop that. I also found out tonight that morphine has little to no affect on me at all.


Ps I did it skating

For future reference (even though you may not have been figure skating):

2.2 Falling and protective equipment

"The "bad falls" are often the ones that you are least prepared for, while the falls resulting from various failed or incomplete moves are usually fairly predictable and are softened to some degree as a result. If you feel like you are going to fall, go ahead and do it. Fighting it often makes the fall harder and more awkward. We all know some of those falls are painful and others are very scary. However after falling a few times, you will learn techniques for falling.

The basic principles are:

• a) Keep your head up. If falling backwards tuck your chin into your chest so you don't hit your head.
  
• b) Get your arms out of the way so you won't land on them.
  
• c) Try not to fall on your tailbone, knees or elbows. The best "landing gear" are the muscle masses of the thigh/hips and arms/shoulders.

Beginners should wear helmets, and experienced skaters wear protective gear (mostly knee pads) when learning a new jump. If you wear eyeglasses, use a retainer or "croakie". Ski or sporting goods stores usually have an assortment.

It is extremely important for you to understand that you can fall and not hurt yourself. When you realize that you are losing your balance "get down" and then roll off to either side. You want to avoid going over forward, since your toe picks will catch. Bend those knees and get your body mass as close to the ice as you can so you don't have much further to "fall".

Better still, practice falling. It is a skill like any other in skating and it needs practice.

When you do hit, you want to translate the force of hitting the ice from a direct impact to a sliding or rolling movement. It is conventional wisdom to take the brunt of a backwards fall with one of the cheeks of your butt. Roll the fall if you can to spread the impact. Slow down a forwards fall with your outstretched arms, and absorb the fall with your chest (and don't hit your knees or your chin). Remember that wrists are fragile -- it's better to land on the muscle mass of the upper arm and shoulder. If you are worried about hurting your wrists, wearing wrist guards will provide adequate protection.

The fear/timidity factor is often what holds a skater at a given level of performance. They may learn a move on ice/floor, but lack the confidence to balance on one foot, required for any real skating. They can get stuck with trying to skate backwards, which prevents getting past turns. They may manage a mohawk, but after a few thumps find a 3-turn daunting.

The view is widely held that if you don't fall during a practice session, you are skating too defensively and thus are not pushing yourself hard enough to make real progress. Many skaters will tell you they don't feel "loose" until they have fallen once to get rid of the fear.

If you do fall...

• 1) Don't worry if you're still afraid the first few times out. As long as you keep getting back out there, eventually you *will* get over it.
  
• 2) Try wearing hip, knee and butt pads. Even if you don't fall it will give you a sense of security.
  
• 3) Never, repeat never, skate with your hands in your pockets!
  
• 4) Think about why you fell and what you can do to prevent it from happening again.
  
• 5) Take it easy the first couple times back out on the ice. No need to rush back into doing dangerous things. Do it when you feel you're ready."

--------

I hope that you make a full recovery soon.

[BassXgirl]

Originally Posted by tom once dead

Ps I did it skating

What kind of skating?

I've never dislocated anything so I can't really help you there. The worse i've ever gotten skating is some road rash accompanied by a forearm that swelled up like popeye. I've been lucky

Good luck with your shoulder. Sounds painful!

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by BassXgirl

What kind of skating?

Im going to assume skateboarding, as I seem to remember him making a skateboarding thread.

Also, the OP lives in Cairns, where it snows... never.. in fact it rarely gets below 25(C).

[tom once dead]

yeah skatebaording. At the biggest skatepark in Australia apparently anyway. Also, its currently 23C top for the day was 27

Oh and don't worry, I've got a bit of skin off as well. I came down hard and fast onto concrete.

[tom once dead]

Oh and here is a picture, dont worry its not graphic.


If you look closely you can see a bulge in my shirt just left of my knuckles. That was were my arm went.

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by tom once dead

suprisingly it didn't hurt THAT much. Not really at all until I had to get in the back of the ambulance. It got pretty bad when I had to wait for a while for the doctor to put it back in and fill me with laughing gas. Its my right shoulder so I should be fine as far as playing bass goes.

Not hurting right away is due to the adrenaline rush! Same with me. Didn't hurt until the adrenaline flow stopped and then.....whoo boy did the pain kick in!!

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by tom once dead

Oh and here is a picture, dont worry its not graphic.


If you look closely you can see a bulge in my shirt just left of my knuckles. That was were my arm went.

Yours seems different than the one I had. My shoulder went completely out of the joint, landing above the rotator cuff. To give a visual, imagine a tennis ball sitting atop your shoulder! That's what mine looked like. It was a bad one.

[tom once dead]

oh yeah, it started hurting like hell about an hour later.

[blendermassacre]

I didn't even come out of the football game I was playing in. The next play it popped back in.

[tom once dead]

wowee, now that is manly.

[tom once dead]

Ok, so now I'm 5 days in and this sling is really driving me crazy. Only 5 days to go! It doesn't help I took all the skin off my elbow.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by tom once dead

Ok, so now I'm 5 days in and this sling is really driving me crazy. Only 5 days to go! It doesn't help I took all the skin off my elbow.

From now on more calculation and less risk...