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Separated shoulder

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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
so a little over a month ago i seperated my shoulder. its when the top of your collar bone comes out of the shoulder joint i think. anyway it was pretty bad they said 3rd degree separation if that means anything.

so next week will be the 6 week mark and at xrays last week he said it was healing really good and il be able to take the sling/brace off at 6 weeks. ive kept my arm tight in this thing the whole time making sure whenever the rare time i take it off my arm does not move positions.

ive lost my whole spring break and the last few weeks of skiing because of this injury and now were planning on building a big end of season booter. Now he said i should do around 6 weeks of physio(sp) but if my shoulder feels up to it do you think it would be ok to go hit this? it will be into pow so the landing will be soft...i just dont know if i might twist it weird or something. but it would be 3-4 days after i get my sling off and i was gonna work my shoulder that whole time so its a bit stronger.

i know someone must have had this happen before what do you think? Im gonna ask the doctor when I go but I have a feeling as soon as he hears jump its gonna be a no.
Apr 6 2009 10:34PM
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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
bump come on? someone must have separated their shoulder on here its a pretty common thing
Apr 7 2009 1:13AM
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Eastcoastr
Posts: 296 - Karma: 51
I seperated my shoulder third degree too and i took a week off and skiied wit it in a sling. Not reccomended but do-able. I would say go for it but it could end badly. Me i''d risk it.
Apr 7 2009 1:29AM
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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
yeah thats what ive been doing. but how were you after 6 weeks? like did it feel good enough to start actually trying stuff or still kinda borderline?
Apr 7 2009 1:45AM
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N_well23
Posts: 279 - Karma: 36
Ive dislocated my shoulder and my friend dislocated his this year pretty badly. Definately do not hit that jump. I know it will be tough to resist but you need to. Skiing soon after an injury like that especially when it includes jumping is a bad idea. If you dislocate it again its never going to heal right and you will regret it. My shoulder sucks now because I couldnt stay away from skiing long enough to let my shoulder heal right. it's almost summer, you should call it a year and dedicate your summer to rehabbing your shoulder. shoulders and knees are things you need to let heal completely or you are gonna have problems the rest of your life. Good luck resisting the urge to ski though.
Apr 7 2009 2:02AM
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montageskier
Posts: 4725 - Karma: 126

For what its worth, I seperated my shoulder on Jan 23 of this year, and know what I am talking about. I was told wait 6 weeks to do anything, well i wasnt doing that, I manned up and lived with pain out of sling by the end of the 1st week. I now regret it because my arm has good days and bad days, sometimes my shoulder feels like garbage, some days im fine.

If you had it in the sling for all 6 weeks, it should have healed fine. Other then the disfigurement you now have you should be better. Your shoulder will look like that for the rest of your life, ya it sucks.

You just have to be careful now, after your first shoulder injury, you are at higher risk for another. On Januarary 23rd it was my first shoulder injury, and just 1 week ago, I was playing volleyball and my shoulder popped out. I didnt even dive, it was a standard set. Just be careful.

Apr 7 2009 2:29AM
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OneLove_skier
Posts: 1175 - Karma: 135
yea it will be into pow, but that gets bombed out so quickly
and even if you do fuck up hard into pow its not gonna look real prtty
Apr 7 2009 2:36AM
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punkrock32
Posts: 1183 - Karma: 21
If it makes you feel better, i broke pair of bindings the first day of the season, then proceeded to 4th/5th degree seperate my shoulder (ac joint) about a week later which required surgery, and when I got back on snow late this year I broke a pair of skis and another set of bindings (seperate occasions).  You'll be fine skiing with your shoulder, just don't push it too hard and don't land on it or crash and roll over on it.
Apr 7 2009 3:20AM
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Gharf
Posts: 1390 - Karma: 983
i dislocated my shoulder 4 times and now i m gettin surgery. should be back skiing soon :)
Apr 7 2009 5:11AM
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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
thanks. and yeah ive been told its a lot more likely to happen again now. thanks everyone for the advice, i'm probably not gonna jump but i'l still ask the doctor about it and see how it feels.
Apr 7 2009 9:57AM
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[MEGAMO]
Posts: 1222 - Karma: 18
i had a 2nd degree separation a few years ago, and then 1st degree this winter. just take it easy if you do ski. when i did it, i could do groomers, and kind of pow, but didn't do jumps, since lifting my arm hurt like hell,and i was fine.
Apr 7 2009 12:34PM
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HeartBeatFaster
Posts: 723 - Karma: 26
its not worth it. If you made it this far you can make it one more day. A lot of this really depends on the damage that is done. Many times a separation can be a lot of tissue tearing and stretching of the tendons. This is why you had to sling it for 6 weeks because that heals/recovers fairly quickly in comparison to other damage possible. Since you have this damage already and even though you may feel fine, it still has a ways to go to be 100%.

 I didn't separate my shoulder, I dislocated it... meaning the arm ripped out of its socket. The damage in my shoulder, due to the motion it ripped out, is a torn rotator cuff and nerve damage. Basically with the nerve damage there are a few muscles that are not working because they do not receive the neural firing from the brain. When I try to raise my arm, the muscles that pull and hold the arm in place are not working, so it slides out of place. You don't want that. I didn't mean to go on so long but I want you to understand that this happened on a backcountry booter into pow 3 months ago. You can still hurt yourself and put yourself into a much worse situation even if the landing is soft.
Apr 7 2009 1:03PM
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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
alright i'm convinced. Id heard or some kids at jib academy competing with separated shoulders so I wanted to see but it sounds like 6 weeks still isnt enough.

Il just work on filming haha
Apr 7 2009 2:41PM
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KravtZ
Posts: 6637 - Karma: 2,629
i skied in a sling but was just cruisin around following my friends didnt do anything crazy no jumps smallest lowest boxes i popped a shitload of advil before i went and when it started to hurt i just krilled and stopped skiing. woudnt recomend hitting a booter unless ur arm feels close to 100%
Apr 7 2009 2:47PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
I have shoulder problems, and I would take the time off. Call it a season and let that shit heal properly. Rehab like crazy and do your best to get it better.

Having a blown shoulder sucks.
Apr 7 2009 2:52PM
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Casey
Posts: 7849 - Karma: 24,317
I separated my shoulder a few years ago, since it wasn't a 3rd degree or whatever he said I should move it as much as possible in order to keep from getting a frozen shoulder. A 3rd degree if I remember right is when the bone is actually broken, so thats probly why you've had it in a sling. I would not recommend fucking around, my should still creaks when I move it, and the range of motion isn't as good as the other, even though I never reinjured it and did all my rehabilitation exercises.
Apr 7 2009 3:00PM
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bdieter1d3
Posts: 279 - Karma: 15
i seperated mine when i was 18 during basketball season, took about 24 hours off and went right back at it since it was playoffs and didnt have time to heal. it hurt like a bitch but you can suck it up and take a little pain. however i wish i could do it all over and let it heal so it would have made a full recovery, your call i guess.
Apr 7 2009 3:14PM
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a--1
Posts: 484 - Karma: 23

i did that once

it sucks

Apr 7 2009 3:16PM
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ilikeplants
Posts: 1868 - Karma: 17
I have dislocated my shoulder 8 times this season. The x-ray in my profile is from the first time in November.

The doctor told me to take 6 weeks off, I took a week and a half off and then went skiing again. I skied one day fine, went back the day after and dislocated it again. From there on its just been coming out every time I fall a little bit too hard. I remember a few weeks ago I was coming out of some trees that dropped onto a cat track, I wasnt paying attention and accidently went into the creek on the other side. There was like a little 3 foot drop to flat before the creek and when I hit that my shoulder popped out.

My opinion is that it's not worth it to go and ski just for one last session. Heal your shoulder and get back to having it strong. I choose not to listen to the doctor and now I probably have to get surgery on mine sometime soon. Heal up and be safe.

Click for larger image
Apr 7 2009 3:24PM
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ilikeplants
Posts: 1868 - Karma: 17
Sorry about the dub post but I forgot to add that now I have some minor nerve damage in the shoulder. Its cool because it doesn't hurt as bad when it comes out but sometimes if it just pops a little out of place, I can't feel it until I move my arm and it re-aligns itself.
Apr 7 2009 3:26PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
That image is about as bad as my major dislocation from last summer. My one dislocation from this winter was not nearly as bad, but still required me to go in the have it reduced. All the other times I reduced it myself.

I've dislocated or subluxed my shoulder about 8 times now. I can't throw a football or baseball overhand anymore either.

Take the time to get fixed up right.
Apr 7 2009 3:29PM
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