Recovering from shoulder dislocation

[VladTepes]

For those who have done this, how long until you were 100% again? I dislocated mine Wednesday and had to go to the ER to pop it back in, I saw a specialist yesterday and xrays turned out all good. Current pain level is pretty mild, just extremely tender around the joints and tendons and I don't have a full ROM yet obviously. I'm basically sidelined the entire month of September, in a sling for 3-4 weeks except for showers or to move elbow around a few minutes. I can start rehabbing it in 2-3 weeks and I get a followup in 4 weeks. Very depressing but good news is that it doesn't appear to be really messed up so with proper rehab and time to heal I should recover fine. I have some good joint support on the way to aid in the healing process.

If all goes well I should be back in the gym in about 5-6 weeks but I will be starting pretty light. Originally I was planning a cycle to kick off around October, obviously not gonna happen now, looking at maybe December if all goes well and I reach 100% by mid November which time will tell.

So, any tips or pointers would be much appreciated. What exercises really helped you? How long until you were 100% again? I'm planning on sticking to light machines and cables the first several weeks then slowly ease into free weights again. I can not do any overhead movements for quite awhile, that's how it happened in the first place doing DB shoulder presses. Anyone who suffered from this kind of injury able to do those types of movements ever again with no issues? I am trying to figure out how I'll ever build my shoulders up bigger with no overhead movements so that is a bit discouraging but since my shoulders are one of my stronger areas it's possible I can get by without those movements. I want to get back in as soon as possible but I also want to do this the proper way, last thing I want is to be one of those people who start having dislocations all the time. Right now I don't require surgery and I can't afford it now anyway so I definitely want to keep it that way.

 

[KILLEROFSAINTS]

i had a 3rd degree seperation a few years ago....mine will never heal without surgery.....but the tendons tighten back up after a few weeks....after you dislocate it once there is always a risk for it to happen again

 

[VladTepes]

Yes, Dr. said I have about a 30% chance of it happening again for awhile at least. I don't know how bad mine actually was, they didn't really say except that it was an anterior dislocation. I do know that as soon as it was popped back in it was a major relief immediately and just felt like I had been punched really hard in the shoulder afterwards.

 

[ThreeGigs]

Depending on your age and whether or not any damage occurred to cartilage in the glenohumeral joint, it could be anywhere from two months to a year until you're 100%.

I had some cartilage problems in my left shoulder about 2 years ago after a stupid accident involving trying to catch a cat. Healing was progressing nicely, although my ROM was really limited (couldn't tuck in my shirt). Then I slipped and fell on some snow in the winter and bam... back to square one. Took over a year until I was back to completely normal, with full painless ROM.

If you've got no cartilage problems, then it should be a fairly short recuperation, however DON'T TRAIN THAT SHOULDER until your physical therapist says it's ok. You absolutely don't want it to heal 'loose', or it'll just keep popping out again and again, usually on a bench press with a couple hundred pounds of iron right over your face.

 

[VladTepes]

Not sure of any cartilage damage, I know there was a little tendon damage that the Dr. said would take 6 weeks or so to heal. Based on what the Dr. said I don't think it will be more than a couple months of recovery but time will tell. It is feeling a little better each day so I think that's a good sign at least. And absolutely about the training, I will not be training at all the entire month of September aside from some rehab exercises I'll be starting in about 3 weeks.

I would like to be back to the gym in early October with light machine and cable work if I am able to but the more heavy lifts I do not expect to be doing until mid to late November at the very earliest, possibly later depending on how recovery goes. I will not even be attempting heavy shoulder work until next year, anything targeting shoulders will be very light for awhile even after I get any type of clearance to train again. Very frustrated because they were coming along nicely but I want to make sure it has time to heal properly and since I can grow shoulders quickly it shouldn't take long to catch them up if they begin to lag behind. For the time being my main focus is just to maintain what I have now and give it time to heal so I can hopefully avoid any issues with it in the future.