A Separated Shoulder

[DCox]

I found out a colleague that teaches chemistry at the college rides as well (he has an XR400). Yesterday we went down to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to ride their two MX tracks and the beautiful single-track trails. Excellent facility.

Unfortunately, on one of the MX tracks I went over the top of a high berm and cartwheeled, planting my right shoulder into nice hard Georgia red clay. The sensation of getting ready to throw up as well as the inability to move my arm clued me in that our ride was over for the day.

[hours later]

The x-rays at the ER show a dislocated shoulder, which didn't surprised me, because the pain is so severe. I guess that is the good news (no break that they can tell). However, they can't just "pop" it into place as the ligaments and tendons are stretched. The doctors said if he pushed down on this protrucing knob on the top of the shoulder, it would "hurt like hell and then pop right back out." Nice.

I am strapped up with an arm restrainer, and doses of Vicodin (anyone want to discuss Mike Allesi? ), to ward off the pain. I am supposed to go see a lig. and joint specialist this week.

Strange . . . I am already itching to get back to riding, whereas shortly after it happened I felt over it--at least for that day!

Has anyone else experienced this kind of injury? Given my sketchy discription above, how long does it take this kind of thing to heal up?

[Silver_Fox]

Oh man Darrel, sorry to hear about your luck. Reading about your crash brings back the pain of when I broke my collarbone last year. Glad you did'nt break anything. Hope all goes well with the specialist. But, you still had a good day riding right? Funny thing, even through all the pain, we still consider it all worth it.
Best wishes and heal up.

[mxer727]

ouch!!! last june i cracked my collar bone and tore my rotator cuff..muddy rutted straightaway + fourth gear pinned = BIG PAIN!!! doc said not to move arm for one week then two weeks of moving slowly and one month off work. got everything back now but it sounds like a head of lettuce being ripped apart when it moves now. once in awhile it will hurt but thats part of mx . good luck and be safe out there

[2fun]

Sorry to hear that Darrel!
Stretched ligaments are often considered to be worse than a break! A break will usually heal just fine and be stronger than before. A stretched ligament however, can cause problems for the rest of your life.

Hope you get that thing fixed up good, and don't get hooked on that Vicodin now ya hear!

What is it with everyone crashing and getting injured lately?? Sheesh! :

[psycho393]

Very sorry to hear about the Mishap. Hope you heal up quickly and that there's no lasting damage. on a side note the week before last the owner of a truck site I'm a member of had a pair of industrial sized batteries blow up in his face and burn off alot of his facial skin as well as a good amount of skin on one arm.

[countrygirlxr]

Yeah that red clay and mud at Durhamtown can jump up and bite you in the butt before you know it. Sorry to hear about your injury, but yesterday was a beautiful day to ride. On the bright side of things, you will have an interesting story to share with your students next week.

[Jeff172]

Not sure what they are talking about. No kidding the ligs are stretched. I've dislocated my right shoulder many times. They always put it right back in. The pain goes away (or at least down by 75%) once it's put back in. Mine actually come out in my sleep now (a couple times a week) due to needing surgery.

Anyways back to the original question of how long. After they put it back in, if you have a high pain tolerance, you should be riding in a week. If you can't handle pain and go through all the "physical therapy" and listen to the doctor recommendations..... see you in two or three months. I've knocekd it out at the track, had it put back in and finished up the day. It all comes down to pain tolerance.

[rmdude]

I am sorry to here that i hope he gets well soon so he can get right back out there

[Big Maico 393]

Darell:

Real sorry to hear about your shoulder, I've been there in 1981 I went over the bar's at the top of start hill at SaddleBack 5th gear tapped on my 81' 490 Maico, rung my bell pretty good , But I got up and raced my moto.

I started getting sick & threw up, just thought it was because of me being outta shape & riding my backside off, when I layed down to rest I couldn't get up & my shoulder was locked solid!

Had a friend run me to the Emergancy room, found that I had a 3rd degree shoulder seperaton. had to ware a figure 8 strap to hold the sholder in place for a month & then do physical therpy for another month.

In 1999 I was helping teach a rookie firefighting class at a live burn ( Real fire but controled ) well after we were done with the rookies the teaching team desided to have a little fun for themselfs, but it got out of hand & the house went up in a backdraft, I was second on the hose & the guy in front freked & bailed. I grabed the hosed & backed out, but the number one gut hit the ground & the hose got caught on something. The part of the hose rapped around my shoulder tore all the ligiments out of the shoulder.

6 months later I had it fixed, they put a pin in the bone to reatach the ligiments & it's took about 4 months before I could do anything with it! But mine was one of the worst the doctor had ever seen!

So I would figure that you might be out about 3 months, but let the doctor tell you how long, as everyones injury is diffrent & so is their time to heal up!

[magnethead]

oouuuccccchhhhhyyyyy

git better soon!

[rmdude]

Originally Posted by Big Maico 393

Darell:

Real sorry to hear about your shoulder, I've been there in 1981 I went over the bar's at the top of start hill at SaddleBack 5th gear tapped on my 81' 490 Maico, rung my bell pretty good , But I got up and raced my moto.

I started getting sick & threw up, just thought it was because of me being outta shape & riding my backside off, when I layed down to rest I couldn't get up & my shoulder was locked solid!

Had a friend run me to the Emergancy room, found that I had a 3rd degree shoulder seperaton. had to ware a figure 8 strap to hold the sholder in place for a month & then do physical therpy for another month.

In 1999 I was helping teach a rookie firefighting class at a live burn ( Real fire but controled ) well after we were done with the rookies the teaching team desided to have a little fun for themselfs, but it got out of hand & the house went up in a backdraft, I was second on the hose & the guy in front freked & bailed. I grabed the hosed & backed out, but the number one gut hit the ground & the hose got caught on something. The part of the hose rapped around my shoulder tore all the ligiments out of the shoulder.

6 months later I had it fixed, they put a pin in the bone to reatach the ligiments & it's took about 4 months before I could do anything with it! But mine was one of the worst the doctor had ever seen!

So I would figure that you might be out about 3 months, but let the doctor tell you how long, as everyones injury is diffrent & so is their time to heal up!

man that sucks good to hear its fixxed

[DCox]

Thank you all for your responses. Believe it or not, it is encouraging to hear other stories (as long as they have a good ending; i.e., later you can still ride ).

Aside from a knee surgery I had to have back in 1981 due to a crash in a Rochester, NY trials event, this is the first semi-serious injury I have had. Lots of spills and get-offs, but no long-term consequences. But possible injury is an acceptable risk and (at least for me) part-and-parcel of the sport.

I was kind of surprised that they didn't try to pop my shoulder back in as well, but the doc was pretty adamant (based on the x-rays) that it wouldn't stay put. Aside from the pain, it feels really weird . . . kind of, well, disconnected (doh!).

What is with the nausea and "puke response" that the body seems to conjure up in these kind of situations? Anyone got any information on that?

I am looking down the road here a ways, but once this shoulder is healed (as far as it will go), does the MX industry have any kind of brace for shoulders that have been weakened through separation? How effective are they?

Again,hearing some good recovery stories like Big M's, etc. are encouraging. I guess if this was going to happen, January is definitely better than March, but man, three months off does sound like a long time . . . .

Sorry if I am getting long-winded here . . . I really can't judge accurately my responses, as this pain stuff they give you makes one a bit senseless (though in a pleasant sort of way).

Ask me anything, I feel like telling the exhaustive truth about anything (j/k) . . . !

Originally Posted by Big Maico 393

Darell:

Real sorry to hear about your shoulder, I've been there in 1981 I went over the bar's at the top of start hill at SaddleBack 5th gear tapped on my 81' 490 Maico, rung my bell pretty good , But I got up and raced my moto.

I started getting sick & threw up, just thought it was because of me being outta shape & riding my backside off, when I layed down to rest I couldn't get up & my shoulder was locked solid!

Had a friend run me to the Emergancy room, found that I had a 3rd degree shoulder seperaton. had to ware a figure 8 strap to hold the sholder in place for a month & then do physical therpy for another month.

In 1999 I was helping teach a rookie firefighting class at a live burn ( Real fire but controled ) well after we were done with the rookies the teaching team desided to have a little fun for themselfs, but it got out of hand & the house went up in a backdraft, I was second on the hose & the guy in front freked & bailed. I grabed the hosed & backed out, but the number one gut hit the ground & the hose got caught on something. The part of the hose rapped around my shoulder tore all the ligiments out of the shoulder.

6 months later I had it fixed, they put a pin in the bone to reatach the ligiments & it's took about 4 months before I could do anything with it! But mine was one of the worst the doctor had ever seen!

So I would figure that you might be out about 3 months, but let the doctor tell you how long, as everyones injury is diffrent & so is their time to heal up!

[2fun]

Originally Posted by DCox

What is with the nausea and "puke response" that the body seems to conjure up in these kind of situations? Anyone got any information on that?

Darrel, I am not 100% on this, but I believe it has something to do with the blood pressure dropping, and the body going into shock.

Bouts of nausea are common to people with severe injury, and often occurs just prior to passing out. Of course this does not happen to everyone, but it IS common.

As far as the EXACT reason, I am not sure.

[Keetoman393]

Man, sorry to hear that Darrel! I'm glad nothing was broken but it might have been better had the collar bone broke and not damaged the shoulder. I had to have cortisone shots in my shoulder socket because of a shoulder injury years ago. it hurt like a &^*(& when they stuck that water hose (so it looked to me) between my rotator and socket but felt oh so good afterwards! Keep us informed of what the doc says and take it easy on that vicodine!

[Satch0922]

DCox, hope for a speedy recovery. Man you really should be thankful that it wasn't worse. But it is good that your are itching to ride already!

[HLD]

Just curious, was it an AC separation, or a shoulder dislocation? There's a big difference between the two both in type of injury, and in prognosis. An acromioclavicular joint separation, or AC separation is not uncommon, and occurs frequently when someone takes an impact as you described. Depending on the grade of separation, it can take 6-8 weeks to heal, a few months, or perhaps would need surgical repair. Regardless, it will never be the same as before injury, but prognosis is typically very good for a grade 1 or 2 separation after just a couple months.

If it is a shoulder dislocation(subluxation), that means the head of the upper arm bone (humerus) came out of the socket (glenoid). Usually it's a partial dislocation. A complete dislocation of course means it was all the way out. When a should dislocation occurs, there is frequently damage not only to the ligaments, muscles and tendons, but also to the head of the humerus, making future dislocations more likely. Surgery is a more likely prognosis when a subluxation has occured.

Either way, good luck in healing, and listen to your doc.

[OLDMXRACER 393]

Heal up quick Big D. I've never hurt a shoulder, but I did dis-locate an elbow once and know that shock does some weird stuff to the ol body. Hang in there Bro!

[Dirtbikindad393]

Darrel I am very sorry to hear this. I hope you recover quickly and as painless as possible. See you on the boards more now huh?

[DCox]

HLD,

I do not know for certain the answer to your question, as these distinctions are in themselves new to me.

However, were I to make a self-diagnosis based on the information you have given, I would probably have to go with an AC separation. I will see the family doctor tomorrow who will then give me the needed referral to the specialist. So I should know something in the next couple of days.

Originally Posted by HLD

Just curious, was it an AC separation, or a shoulder dislocation? There's a big difference between the two both in type of injury, and in prognosis. An acromioclavicular joint separation, or AC separation is not uncommon, and occurs frequently when someone takes an impact as you described. Depending on the grade of separation, it can take 6-8 weeks to heal, a few months, or perhaps would need surgical repair. Regardless, it will never be the same as before injury, but prognosis is typically very good for a grade 1 or 2 separation after just a couple months.

If it is a shoulder dislocation(subluxation), that means the head of the upper arm bone (humerus) came out of the socket (glenoid). Usually it's a partial dislocation. A complete dislocation of course means it was all the way out. When a should dislocation occurs, there is frequently damage not only to the ligaments, muscles and tendons, but also to the head of the humerus, making future dislocations more likely. Surgery is a more likely prognosis when a subluxation has occured.

Either way, good luck in healing, and listen to your doc.

[psyklone393]

that's terrible news, d!

i've never sustained that kind of damage to a shoulder, but a buddy of mine dislocated a shoulder not too long ago. he never had surgery, he just did rehab and later on started on some strength training. it took a couple of months, but there's a huge difference. before the rehab if he was just standing and then hopped or jumped, the slight shock from landing back on his feet was enough to get his shoulder to 'drop out' and you could see it ... there was a sort of dip where the edge of the shoulder was supposed to be. now it stays put. he hasn't ridden with it yet, so we'll see how it feels then.

anyway, keep us updated on your progress. here's wishing you the best!

-Z