Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any Orthopedic Specialists Here??

So, I'm working on this little night job last night in a high rise building in the big city. (Carpenter)
Just me and another guy remodeling an occupied office. (hence the night work)
My co-worker has to leave early for some bull crap, Facebook fueled family drama...

No big deal...I've got to frame up and Sheetrock a little wall section to section off a long narrow (8') file room into two rooms.
The wall runs right beside (about 8") from a long row of fireproof file cabinets that weight somewhere around 400 pounds apiece.
Get it framed up...no big deal,...easy peasy.
When it comes to framing and rocking...it don't get any easier than this...

I throw the first sheet of rock up and tack it off...
Then, I reach in between the file cabinet and the sheetrock to screw off the stud at the wall.
And,...totally dislocate my left shoulder!!
Not just a quick "pop out" either...
It's out, and it's stuck out!
The only person within ear shot is a cleaning lady that doesn't speak English (imagine that)
But I was DAMNED GLAD she was there!!!
She runs off and finds a couple of office furniture installers but they can't understand her, so she leads them back and come to me shouting, "IN HERE!!"

At my direction, I have one pulling and twisting on my bad arm while another holds anchor on my good arm...
No good. It won't go back in and by this point I'm feeling like puking and pissing...

Every time I tried to stand, the pain and spasms would drive me back to my knees.
Finally, I forced myself up, and when the pain and spasms started I just bent at the waist...

I then stood on my own fingers, pulled up and twisted...
CRACK!!! Back in!!!

My plan was to just go home, but 1/2 way there, I redirected to the ER.
It was a wasted trip, but necessary for work comp protocol I guess...

So, my directives are "rest, sling, meds, ice",...etc. All the common sense stuff..
But, I have to follow up with an orthopedic Dr. in a few days, so I was just curious what I can expect.

When it rains...
While I'm sitting in the ER, holding my shoulder in it's socket, I get a call informing me my Grandpa has passed away. I sure wasn't ready for that...

dang man, you had a bad day of epic proportions. Sorry to hear of your grandfathers passing, condolences to you and your family.

I would expect pretty much the same thing from the ortho, he might give you a shot if it's still in pain. take it easy and be careful with it from here on out.

Ouch twice. Sorry for your miserable day.

You have my condolences, sir.

I hope one of the resident Docs chimes in quickly. Shoulder issues are not fun.

A good friend & coworker of mine had the same issue and he wound up having surgery to tighten up the ligaments & tendons to keep his shoulder from popping out. Surgery was successful for him, but it kept him out of work for almost six months.

Ed

6 months!!! Ouch.
I'm not sure I can do 6 days right now.
This sucks by epic proportions...

I would expect that if the dislocation occurred so easily, there is reason to believe it will happen again in the same circumstances.

Have a doc check you for hyper mobility, ask about exercises to tighten/strengthen the shoulder, expect an MRI. Last resort is surgery but like a carpenter, an orthopedist goes to the tool bag and uses the tool they are trained with to fix/correct a problem...surgery.

Best of luck.
Matt

Mine popped out several times. I ended up with surgery.

yep once the ligaments are stretched out they never go back to normal....have hyper-extended both knees, least once every couple of weeks i step wrong and have to try and catch myself before they bend to far the wrong way again....

Sorry for your misfortune. Prayers sent

the older you are when you suffer your first dislocation the better off you are, it does suck that it was stuck out of socket so long, no doubt some real stretching of stuff due to that.

if you've never had a problem with it before, you should be ok.

but as someone else said if it slipped out that easily, you most likely have some damage already in there from prior injury/dislocation/subluxations

dislocated mine at 16-17, suffered through it for a long time, playing bball, went to defend and just raising my arm up vigorously it went out of socket and was stuck there for a few minutes like you described.

when it got to it's least stable I dislocated it by sneezing once.

finally had surgery a couple of years ago, as no alternatives existed. 360 degree labrum detachment for me and of course stretched out tendons, ligaments etc.


if this is your first shoulder dislocate, I doubt they'll reco surgery, but who knows depends upon what's actually wrong in yours?

after shoulder surgery, it does take awhile, but am hoping surgery is not needed or warranted in your case.

hopefully just some goofy exercises that are not usual range of motion but go a looonnng way into stabilizing that joint by working the muscles around it in a different way.

best of luck to ya

ain't much call for one armed carpenters and barbers.

Ain't that the truth!!! And, missing this much work is my biggest fear right now.
This economy sucks...

This could get interesting...
I was 18 years old the first time it dislocated. It was a quick dislocation, but enough that I went through the medical process of sling, rehab, etc.
Surgery was discussed then, but orthoscopic was fairly new at the time so we opted out of invasive surgery.
For the next 4-5 years...several dislocations. All but one were quick. The one that stuck out was only out for maybe a minute.
Not long after that, I changed careers from concrete work to being a carpenter.
Other than an occasional "pop" or maybe even a couple of "near" or partial dislocations, my shoulder hasn't really bothered me in over 17 years.
So, obviously I've had chronic shoulder problems, and I'm sure that's going to make things worse, but after having that many years with no huge issues,...
This kind of came out of nowhere.
It's a total drag...

I couldn't be so lucky...
MRI results weren't good.
"the anterior-inferior glenoid labrum has a large Bankart tear"
The superior glenoid labrum appears to have a degenerative labral tear

And, "The humeral head has a moderate Hill-Sachs impaction injury with minimal surrounding bone marrow edema"
I have no idea what that last part means. I do know what a Hill-Sachs is though.

Anyway, when the nurse called to tell me about the report, she also said that the Orthopedic surgeon I was seeing wanted to refer me to another surgeon who specializes in shoulders.
I thought that was kind of strange, and it even spooked me a little.

Then, the following day, while waiting in the OR waiting room while my daughter was in surgery...(I KNOW!! Things have gone crazy around here!!)
I bumped into "my" Dr. He was nice enough to sit down with me there and explain the referral.
Apparently, the humeral head has a significant flat spot on it from years of abuse and maybe prior injuries. He flat told me it was a little more than he normally does on a shoulder.
Kind of heavy...
New Doc next week...

IMO, that's a good thing.

You want someone that works on shoulders a lot, not someone who sets broken bones from skiing accidents.

I agree! I was just a little taken back by it. It's actually looking like I'll end up with 3 opinions by orthopedic surgeons before it's all over.
That's very fortunate considering it's a work comp deal.

I've never had a surgery in my life, and truthfully the whole thing scares the livin chit out of me!!

Relax. You'll only know about it second hand.

All you will remember is being wheeled in to surgery.

Actually, the Doc that reattached my bicep is one of the ortho specialists watching over the US Olympic ski team.
He's done over 2800 shoulder surgeries, and had both his own shoulders surgically repaired due to ski injuries.

Mark

That seems like a lot to me, but I'm just guessing.

How about we change "ski" to "skateboard"?

My point of course is to get someone with specialized shoulder experience rather than general ortho experience.