Dislocated Shoulder?

I don't know if this will help, but here's my experience.

Some years ago I broke my "shoulder" -- actually the top of the arm where it meets the shoulder was snapped off. I was in a sling for a while then given a course of physiotherapy. Nothing would make my arm work as it should and the range of motion was very limited. I could move my forearm about 6 inches away from my chest, and even that was darned painful.

By chance, my daughter's chiropractor called to see how she was doing after her last visit. I told him of the problems I was having and he called me in. My shoulder was dislocated and my elbow subluxated! Five months of physio without results and one visit to the chiro put it right.

The way he put my shoulder back in was to place his hand on my shoulder and thump on it with his fist as hard as he could. Amazing! The arm has worked fine ever since.

There's a whole discussion on the subject here: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum1/HTML/003919.html

I heard Nigel Havers once dislocated his shoulder on a film set, walked over to a wall, popped it back in and suggested they carry on filming. Apparently the ladies on set swooned over him even more after that for being such a hero about it.

Well, my shoulders dislocate/subluxate sometimes a couple or so dozen times a day (along with pretty much every other joint in my body, and how often/what will dislocate/subluxate varies, in part with estrogen levels) - nasty genetic collagen defect (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) - so my experiences are not at all typical. On the other hand, I also have probably thousands of dislocations under my belt, so loads of experience. Subluxate is a partial dislocation, so you know.

I can make my shoulder dislocate completely simply by lifting something over, say, 15 or 20 pounds, and relax the muscles in my shoulder. Slips out easy. Putting it back in is, for the most part, as simple as letting go of whatever I might be lifting and tensing muscles. For the most part. Sometimes, it'll go in wrong, so no, it doesn't work properly, I don't have full range of motion, and it hurts like a @#$@!!! For me, it's as simple as dislocating again and then letting it slide back in again. I can usually do it myself, but this is me.

With me, the joint is painful, but not screaming pain - it's usually more subtle, but it's long term. My shoulders have hurt for months now, ever since they decided to start acting up. But I don't have the screaming pain for a dislocation because my tendons are so elastic that it's not difficult to dislocate/pop back in.

Hope this helps, and if I can help further, let me know.

hazellsephine said:

How do they "pop back in", or how are they assisted?

Are there ever complications, like pinched nerves or internal injury?

Is it possible for something like a tendon to be misalligned, causing the arm to not work properly? And then could a knowledgable person manipulate said arm to reallign said tendon? How would this person do that - could it be done without redislocation?

Click to expand...

My sister first dislocated her shoulder as a teenager. Now at almost 40, she had to quit bowling because it would partly dislocate again periodically. She couldn't "pop back in" herself... had to go to doctor each time....

Audrey

They might "pop back in", but usually require some TRAINED assistance.

Until it is replaced in the socket, it hurts like hell and the victim can't move it ... often locked in an awkward position forward, back, or up depending on how the dislocated joint ended up.

Yes, it would make it worse: that's 4 hours of PAIN and swelling to get over. Icing it immediately helps, propping it up on pillows helps, but all the ones I've seen (several each weekend that I'm working ski patrol) were hurting.