I Learned A Lot From A Shoulder Dislocation

Not too long ago, I dislocated my left shoulder--and the recovery was remarkable.


An Incredible Learning Experience
If you have ever dislocated a shoulder, I doubt that you may describe the experience as incredible. If anything, you might even think that the most enjoyable part of a shoulder dislocation would be it going back in to place, but for me, going through my most recent shoulder dislocation was an incredible learning experience.

The muscles surrounding and supporting my shoulders are imbalanced. I have been suffering from this (what I call) severe muscle imbalance since my freshman year in college. I have dislocated each shoulder numerous times. It was not until my fifth or sixth visit to the hospital for a shoulder dislocation that I realized why I was so prone to shoulder dislocation.


One Doctor Was Able To Deduce The Cause Of The Dislocation
A day or two after a shoulder dislocation, I typically saw a doctor that would give me advice on what to do about my recent shoulder dislocation. Well, there was one specific Doctor that I saw that gave me an excellent explanation as to why I was having such a difficult time with my shoulder dislocations. He sat with me, asked a few questions, and deduced that the six years of competitive swimming as a teen might be the culprit.

This Doctor was also different in that he had more experience with sports injuries. Until that point, most of the doctors I consulted with after shoulder dislocations were probably better at handling occupational injuries. They were perhaps not the best at treating sports injuries. This Doctor suggested that my pectoral muscles were relatively weak, and my back muscles were, in comparison, powerful. The idea is that the back muscles can be so strong that it would be more likely to pull the shoulder back and out of place. So this was happening over and over again. My shoulder had been dislocating, and, up until then, I never knew why.

How I Dislocated My Shoulder
Well, this previous shoulder dislocation was a fantastic experience. I was asleep, and my right shoulder comes entirely out of its socket. I tried to put it back in myself a couple of times to no avail. In retrospect, I was probably in too much pain to put my shoulder back in its place. From what I can remember from other times where my shoulder came out of its socket and put it back in place, I did not waste too much time before putting it back in its place. This time, the shoulder probably sat out of its socket a little too long. My muscles had tensed up too much to allow for any readjusting.


So, eventually, I went to the nearest hospital emergency room, and as I was waiting for the Doctor to arrive, I realized my right arm had been hyper-flexed for at least an hour or so. Imagine flexing your right bicep as much as you can for one to two hours. Imagine how painful that would feel--your bicep muscle would be experiencing an incredible amount of fatigue. As I look back, the shoulder joint itself did not seem to hurt as much as my bicep. This profound realization made enduring the pain of my last dislocated shoulder so much more bearable.

I guess I'll have to see if this is still true if I ever have to go through another shoulder dislocation.

iHeartGains
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