Hi All,
weeks ago I suffered an over extension of my arm behind my back.
partial dislocation.
Did ice, rest, etc but unhealed.
MRI / Ultra Sound shows damage to 60 year old shoulder.
question to those who know this path.... choice is surgery or non surgical repair.
surgery could be 9 months, non surgery quicker recovery but chances of dislocation greater.
can a shoulder brace illuminate the risk?thanks mike

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dowls said..
Hi All,
weeks ago I suffered an over extension of my arm behind my back.
partial dislocation.
Did ice, rest, etc but unhealed.
MRI / Ultra Sound shows damage to 60 year old shoulder.
question to those who know this path.... choice is surgery or non surgical repair.
surgery could be 9 months, non surgery quicker recovery but chances of dislocation greater.
can a shoulder brace illuminate the risk?thanks mike

If you haven't already, book a consultation with a sports shoulder specialist and see what they say. Sounds like you probably have though.

I had a shoulder problem, not the same as yours, but tried physio and nothing worked. Surgery fixed it straight away as it was a mechanical problem. If it were up to the GP I would still be trying more physio and going through pain the whole time.

I had a posterior shoulder dislocation from a rather unfortunate backloop crash about 20 years ago (I'm 57 now). I went down the surgery path because I didn't want to risk popping it out every time I held onto the boom going through the rinse cycle. Unfortunately my shoulder is still pretty well stuffed from poor rehab, overuse and now wing dinging. It has never dislocated again and it's not a huge inconvenience when on the water or day to day life but sleeping on it does get painful pretty much every night.
It's a tough decision but if you do go through with it take the rehab seriously and it should be ok it the long run.

Hi dowls
question is which did you have MRI or Ultra Sound. MRI gives a detail view of the entire joint and better depth of diagnosis, while the ultra sound is local view focal point. So it is important to have the correct imaging done to diagnose the injury and only then your doc or specialist can offer the correct prognosis. However if there is no tear of ligaments it is very possible to recover with vigorous treatment in rehabilitation work, with that in mind you will need to take precaution in sport activity that require you to use your shoulder in rotation or from overhead pulling down twist action. Holding and lifting will be okay. On occasions strapping is advisable in sporting activities but again the most important is stretching and warm down activities after sports.
Keeping the joint active/mobile is vital after these types of over Hyper-extension but this will only be vital after treatments is over not before, because the body after injury always like to contract muscles and joints, defense mechanism therefore need to keep mobile even when doing nothing keep stretching. Therefore surgery can be avoided in grade one injuries but again your doc or specialist will advise you of the diagnosis.
Did you have your arm in a sling after the injury for at least three weeks to give the inflammation a chance to ease and not put pressure on the joint. There a many paths to take to recovery. of coarse surgery is one option however this is more if a grade three tear is highly visible and even grade two tear if its one of the two ligaments have been compromised and affecting the collarbone seat position. There are many things to look at but keep positive and recovery is highly possible as discussed above without surgery. .
But again your doc or specialist will advise the best prognosis.

Regards Walt

I had shoulder surgery at SportsMed (although different injury to yours) 10 yrs ago and am thrilled at the result. I put in a big rehab effort, supervised by a shoulder specialist physio in Adelaide. I still have full range of motion and more shoulder strength than prior to the injury. As well as windsurfing, I also rockclimb, and have zero shoulder issues there either.
So, my advice is to get specialist advice, and do your rehab properly!

Not sure about your specific injury, but for those with complete anterior dislocation (typical-not sure about yours) the rates of re-dislocation strongly decrease in old farts. Meaning if your first dislocation occurs when you are over 50, on average you have a significantly lower probability of re-dislocation.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4852033/#:~:text=The%20risk%20of%20recurrent%20dislocations,%25%20(4%2D11).

This is partly because old farts tend to do risky things less often, present company excluded, but also because we tend to be stiffer in general than those under 25.

Surgery is never a slam dunk, as people who have surgery can permanently lose motion and have residual pain, so some would suggest in the absence of complete rotator cuff tear seeing how much one can improve with rehab first prior to jumping into surgery. If rehab fails to return the control and stability the person desires, surgery could always be pursued at that time. Of course a lot depends on the extend and type of "new" tissue damage.....

PS: my older brother had a complete dislocation in his 40's that needed to be reduced in emergency department. No repeat dislocations or residual problems, and he regularly surfs, mountain bikes etc. He could afford to lose a few kgs though

Can a shoulder brace illuminate eliminate the risk? In my experience, no. Because the shoulder joint is so mobile, and we tend to want that mobility in this sport, a brace is unlikely to give the right balance of restriction and freedom that you'll want. Believe me, I've been down this path before.

I've had multiple anterior dislocations of both shoulders over 30+ years of windsurfing. I've had two surgeries to my left, 30yrs ago (not super stable) and 6 yrs ago(now, really good), and about 15 yrs ago to my right. Each were different procedures. In each case the laxity of the joint meant it was affecting my life making surgery the only real option. Not good to have to have the ambo's give me two shots of morphine just so I can sit up after my shoulder disclocated when I put my arm above my head as I lay in bed one morning. Or having it disclocate when reaching in to the back of a cupboard. Hopefully your injury isn't as bad, but if it feels iffy, it probably is.

No-one here can tell you if surgery is indicated- as others have said above, get specialist advice.

The best advice I can give you is make sure you have ambulance membership in case something happens again and hospital health cover in case surgery is necessary. But other than that, we're lucky to have the great healthcare system we do. Each time I've ended up in Emergency for some "arm bone re-connection to the, shoulder bone", you hand over your Medicare number and that's it. No bills. Taxes at work. Brilliant.

Hi dowls
I had a similar injury many years ago where I tried to hang onto the tip of a mast/sail as a big wave washed over me down at Port Campbell, Vic. My shoulder hyper-extended behind me and did some damage but I never had it seen to professionally. I just nursed it and had a bit of physio. Over the years, I've had several dislocations in same shoulder from swimming and windsurfing but I've learnt a technique to pop it back in without someone else's assistance. I simply do a couple of quick reverse arm swings and it's all good again. I've been living with it for about 40 years now and it only happens very occasionally so never had the need to go down the surgical path. I'm always one for taking the soft option with physio/strengthening exercises first before exploring surgery. I've got a few mates that have had shoulder probs and have come off worse after surgical intervention. I'm sure there are lot's of good success stories too but just be cautious before you head down that road. If it were me, I'd give the shoulder some time to settle down and see a good sports physio for some exercises and then reassess in about 6 months.
Good luck.
Dan

Wow thanks all really appreciate you taking the time to respond with past experiences.
I did do both the MRI and Ultra Sound establishing the injury.
Sports Physician gave me the 2 x options.
following his options I'm going non-surgery. Had cortisone shots and a nerve block today now strengthening exercises. Excited that getting back to the water is potentially sooner than Christmas 2021.
time will tell, I hope my shoulder repair review stays positive.

I think that non-surgery is the right choice. Surgeons love doing surgeries and as some said you never know.. I had a dislocated left shoulder from my crazy roller skating years when I was around 20. I popped it back in after I fell and never went for any MRI or any doc. It was painful for about 2-3 weeks. Then I re-dislocated it 2-3 times over past many years and every single time I popped it back in (learned how to do it). Last time it re-dislocated during windsurfing in waves maybe 12 years ago and since then I never had re-dislocations. I did a ton of research as well and found that once you dislocate it becomes prone to re-dislocations as some ligaments stretched from initial injury. So the goal of a surgery is to make them tighter. Can be grafs or some other ways..
What's interesting though (in my body) that every single time I dislocated/re-dislocated same shoulder I got super depressed for a week/two and I could somehow feel that maybe it's related to the nerve that gets squeezed somehow. I know sounds idiotic but I had some falls when I literally crawled home with blood all over my shirt banged face and knees and was smiling..

I think that there are no initial exercises for dislocated shoulder. Rest for a few weeks. I remember the entire arm and shoulder (at least for me) felt like it was literally stitched to your body in some awkward/wrong way and very dull pain and you can constantly feel it. Once this feeling is gone, you can probably start some light exercises.

Some shoulder injuries take long time to go away. For me I remember it took 1-2 months after initial dislocation for almost full recovery. And then about 2-3 weeks after subsequent re-dislocations...

My experience. Hope it helps. PM if I can help more..

The "dead hang" is an excellent exercise which is even recommended by surgeons.

"According to board certified orthopedic surgeon John M Kirsch, M.D., hanging from a bar for up to 30 seconds, 3 times per day, can fix up to 99% of shoulder pain."

I would also add push ups, as long as they are done correctly.

lots of good advice, I would add nutritional support is very important, especially when you get into your mid 50s. Calcium/magnesium/zinc in an amino acid chelated form very helpful, and even better is creatine monohydrate (Six Star brand in US), I was getting chronic soreness in my arm (muscles and ligaments/tendons) from windsurfing from practicing beach and water starts, lasted 2 years. Then I started taking 5 gr creatine before and after sessions, or when I got sore the next day, or when I got injured, was a miracle for me, pain went away! Not everyone responds to creatine, but fortunately I do. Creatine is a natural substance in our bodies that we make less of as we age.

Brains needs to be applied.
You don't hold a death grip ever, but especially not when injured.
Twice I windsurfed within 3 weeks of broken collarbones. Hold the boom with the fingers, rig conservative, and sail places you know.
Both times, I could not fully downhaul the sail by myself. I was rigging with the bad arm tucked to my side.
Use your brain.

and as part of the nutritional aspect, make sure you are get plenty of protein everyday, like at least 100 grams.