Anyone dislocate their shoulder?

My horse zigged and I zagged, falling directly on my right shoulder, dislocating it and fracturing my upper arm too. Agonizingly painful and took 3 tries in emergency room to pop it back (hello anesthesia!) It could have been much worse, as farm owners were home to drive me, was wearing my helmet, horse ran to barn to wait for me and was OK.

If you've had this, how was your recovery? I'm seeing a good ortho dr. tomorrow and will follow his instructions to a T. Can't do any massages for the upcoming busy holiday time, and I'm limiting my horse time to treats and pats.
i'm quite bored and limited in doing anything while wearing a splint and sling. Arm is blue and a bit numb but achy.

Typing w/left hand ain't easy.

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Originally Posted by pony mom

My horse zigged and I zagged, falling directly on my right shoulder, dislocating it and fracturing my upper arm too. Agonizingly painful and took 3 tries in emergency room to pop it back (hello anesthesia!) It could have been much worse, as farm owners were home to drive me, was wearing my helmet, horse ran to barn to wait for me and was OK.

If you've had this, how was your recovery? I'm seeing a good ortho dr. tomorrow and will follow his instructions to a T. Can't do any massages for the upcoming busy holiday time, and I'm limiting my horse time to treats and pats.
i'm quite bored and limited in doing anything while wearing a splint and sling. Arm is blue and a bit numb but achy.

Typing w/left hand ain't easy.

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Sending jingles for a good recovery; no experience with this injury but gosh, sounds so painful. Worst is not being able to take care of your horse, I know!

So sorry pony mom that you went through this. I have a few time dislocated my knee so I can somewhat sympathize but having a break on top of that sounds worse. I am glad your horse made it out okay. I hope you recovery quickly. I am so glad you are going to completely follow Dr.'s orders. Check in with us to let us know how you are, as often as you can...christine

Hi ponymom, I'm so sorry about your accident. It sounds like it was very painful. I hope you are recovering. I've never had a dislocated shoulder. The closest I've come to that is having my hips dislocated for a bilateral hip replacement, but I was under a GA. They drill and hammer into your femur, though. It's painful, even with the medications.

For me it took ice, rest, and time. Hopefully your shoulder and upper arm will heal well. If you go to Bonesmart.org. there are numerous threads on joint replacements. I would start a thread under shoulders and see what you find. Lots of great info over there...

I'm sorry to hear this, wishes for a speedy recovery.

My ex dislocated his shoulder and would not go to the ER because he didn't want to wait (he worked there, the odds of waiting were slim). Calls an ER doc, puts me on the phone with him and said, "he's gonna tell you what to do." Yeah, I don't think so, I think I maybe still loved him back then. I listened, I did what he said but he kept screaming and it would pop back out as he grabbed it. After 3 rounds of this, I grabbed his face and said, "DO NOT TOUCH IT, 3 strikes, there will not be 4." Cobbled together a sling from my home nursing stuff in my car. And made him go to ortho the next day. I would not be responsible for relocating it improperly. They said I done good! I would do it again on him because I'm not a fan, but no one else, the screaming was awful.

I hope your's was not as painful. He healed really quickly, though. And once back in place, he didn't have too much pain

I was in a car wreck many years ago, think it was 1988, and was knocked unconscious. Pretty out of it during the ER hours. They kept me in the prone position all the time I was there, x-raying me lying down. Well, my collarbone was dislocated from the shoulder socket, but when prone, it slid into place. So-o-oo-o that meant they didn't see it. In the ensuing days I had so much swelling I just thought it was just that, swelling. Eventually I healed up, but my collarbone still floats out of socket. I have pretty much full range of motion, just a funky-looking shoulder. It does not hurt. It's just healed out of socket.

What a horror story, freshstart. That's the kind of scenario that always comes to mind when I envision myself as part of an off the grid prepper experiment.

I was on a month-long boat trip with my father, and about a week in I grabbed a handhold in rough seas and dislocated my left shoulder.

Dad was a corpsman in the Navy, and reduced the dislocation on the spot, and helped me with some physical therapy ideas for the next several weeks. He did a good job. I went to a physical therapist for some evaluation and more rehab work upon my return. It was mostly pain-free after a week or so, and quite usable carefully after a couple of hours. It still twinges now-and-then but it is mostly fine, enough so that I've not bothered to have anything more done about it.

I've reduced a couple dislocations in the field myself now, seems the faster you can get to it, the less swelling/pain results, assuming you don't bork up the reduction and make things worse.

I hope you feel better soon, pain sucks.

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Originally Posted by rodeosweetheart

What a horror story, freshstart. That's the kind of scenario that always comes to mind when I envision myself as part of an off the grid prepper experiment.

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I think if you do an off-the-grid prepper experiment, you want a remote/wilderness EMT/Paramedic on the team to catch things before they get out of hand.

My wife had an infection that was a result of abdominal surgery earlier this year, and was going septic from it. It was pretty bad, but it would have been far far worse if I'd not seen it coming before it got really bad, and I only recognized what was going on because of the training I've received, the initial stages looked pretty non-scary.

Oh no, best wishes for a speedy recovery! OUCH!

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Originally Posted by bae

I think if you do an off-the-grid prepper experiment, you want a remote/wilderness EMT/Paramedic on the team to catch things before they get out of hand.

My wife had an infection that was a result of abdominal surgery earlier this year, and was going septic from it. It was pretty bad, but it would have been far far worse if I'd not seen it coming before it got really bad, and I only recognized what was going on because of the training I've received, the initial stages looked pretty non-scary.

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Good catch!

I don't see how people can go off grid without quite a few medical skills, basic assessments. Do most who do this have a way to contact help in a true emergency?

Saw ortho--he said break is healing well, shoulder still in right spot. But concerned about swelling and bruising and need mri. Since I had shoulder issues before and he saw some calcification there, He thinks there may be some muscle/tendon/ligament damage that may need surgery.

Now i'm wearing a bulkier post-surgical sling, still icing and taking arnica and oxycodone at night. Now i wish they did surgery when in er so it would be done with. A lot of people told me that he's one of the best orthos around. i'm sure he'll do whatever he can to avoid surgery.

Thanks for your good wishes. if shoulder pain for 7 years didn't make me get it checked, this is definitely the kick in the pants i needed. may need a new career as well.

i'm bored and may binge on old tv show videos. can only pet and maybe brush my pony. elderly parents driving me here and there is turning my hair gray.

Hi pony mom,

I hope you're feeling better. Last night I talked with a neighbor who has also dislocated his shoulder. He told me that he was able to put it back in place himself. He raised his arm up and angled it back at about 60 degrees. He also rolled it forward as he was doing that. He said that it has felt like it was going to pop out again a few times. He does that adjustment, and it's okay.

I don't mean this as advice, I just thought it was interesting. Sorry to hear that being driven by your elderly parents is stressing you out. When I couldn't drive after my hip surgery, I used Dial a Ride. That could be nerve wracking at times, too. It just depended on the driver. Most of the time it was excellent.

I'm glad you are icing, and hope that you have adequate pain relief.

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Originally Posted by pony mom

Now i wish they did surgery when in er so it would be done with.

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When did they stop doing this?
Whenever we went to ER as youngsters with broken arms, ankles, minor surgical needs. They did the treatment right there. My brother always came out of the ER with a cast (arms, ankles, leg). Granted my one broken collarbone as a youth couldn't be cast but I did get the brace right then. When I broke my ankle a couple years ago I was sent home with an ice pack and an appointment for the ortho. Course I went right home and fell on it because they didn't even give me crutches. So it messed up more between the ER X-ray and the Ortho appt 4 days later!

While in the Ortho the older woman in the room next to me was there because of a dislocated shoulder. The ER wouldn't put it back in place instead did X-rays and MRI then sent her to the Ortho. He drugged her up pretty good and popped it back in place and then she said "Ok...I'm ready" and he said "Your done".

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Originally Posted by Float On

When did they stop doing this?
Whenever we went to ER as youngsters with broken arms, ankles, minor surgical needs. They did the treatment right there. My brother always came out of the ER with a cast (arms, ankles, leg). Granted my one broken collarbone as a youth couldn't be cast but I did get the brace right then. When I broke my ankle a couple years ago I was sent home with an ice pack and an appointment for the ortho. Course I went right home and fell on it because they didn't even give me crutches. So it messed up more between the ER X-ray and the Ortho appt 4 days later!

While in the Ortho the older woman in the room next to me was there because of a dislocated shoulder. The ER wouldn't put it back in place instead did X-rays and MRI then sent her to the Ortho. He drugged her up pretty good and popped it back in place and then she said "Ok...I'm ready" and he said "Your done".

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I know, right? When my husband broke his pelvis, we left the ER on Sunday at about 1 am, and the ortho would not see him until THURSDAY!!!!! I was furious.

I'm hearing this now too. Sending home the people with untreated broken bones to wait up to a week to see ortho. It's unbelievable to me. So all the ER does is diagnose the break. And yet if you don't go to ER, I bet you can't get into ortho for much longer, cause I think having been there bumps you up on the appointment calendar.

The ER Dr. sent me for xrays and tried to put it back twice. After the 1st attempt they called in the ortho who was on-call. He looked at it, sent me for a cat scan to be sure nothing was impeding it, then he was able to pop it in on his 1st try. After each unsuccessful try it was soooo much more painful; morphine didn't put a dent in it. And they all said I had a high pain threshold!

I can't even imagine being sent home w/o relocating it. The pain had me shaking uncontrollably (shock too) and later in tears asking for more drugs. Not knowing if I'd be heading for surgery, they didn't want to give me too much.

It's still achy, numb in spots, and swollen on my inner arm (makes me queasy to look at it) and bruised. Got ins. OK for MRI today so I'll call for appt next week. Cold weather is coming and I have only blouses w/buttons. The drugs don't take the pain away but help me thru the night.

I'd never even attempt to put it back myself unless I fell on it (had to walk some distance to barn after it happened and almost fainted several times)

I'm so sorry this happened pony mom. It's awful. So traumatic. I'm shocked at these stories about being sent home without treatment.

Have you thought of calling them back and asking for different pain medications? I was given percoset and tramadol for my hips, and those meds really numbed the pain. I'm not a drug oriented person, but with something like that, it can really give you relief and help you sleep. Are you still icing? That usually really helps, too.

Lots of icing. Right now the pain isn't bad, just like an ache. I take it out of the sling if I'll be sitting still for awhile. Today is the first day where it doesn't feel as if it will pop out if it's not supported by the sling.

Those ER stories of not being treated are awful. Maybe if my ortho wasn't on call I'd have been sent home too. Where do you have to go for "emergency" treatment then? Doc in a box?