Dislocated shoulder – how long until I can ride?

I crashed my bike and dislocated my shoulder yesterday. It’s back in, nothing broken and no severe pain. Im already wondering how long until I can ride offload again. I realise that this isn’t the place for accurate medical advice, but having said that: anyone on here don’t the same thing, and if so, how long was it until you were riding offload again?

9 days and I was back riding – but of course it’s very much an individual thing.

I did these resistance band stabilisation exercises and used a Comfrey root extract joint cream.

Bloody hell! I’d read and heard it would likely be at least a couple of months! CertaInly can’t imaging wrestling my DH bike around within a month. Cheers for the link and the tip. I might struggle with that exercise though – I don’t own a tie!

I was back doing some gentle riding in a few days, my shoulder didn’t feel at all weak or affected in the riding position, so my only concern was causing more damage in a crash. It was about 12 months till I got a decent nights sleep though.

Did it pop back in straight away? When I did mine I had to have a general anesthetic to get it back in. The pain was unbelievable, had physio for months.

chunychew – it was light XC riding. I wouldn’t have been DH’ling for a month or two, if ever!

My shoulder was put back in using Kocher’s method after Morphine and a few puffs on the gas – the pain was awful. Not an experience I’d care to repeat.

Did mine years ago skiing in the highlands. It was out for about 3hours before it was relocated. It was strapped tightly for about 4weeks then a couple of months of physio. The doctor I saw told me to forget about climbing and there was a good chance it would occasionally slip out. It never has and I was climbing 3 months later.

As long as the rotator cuff wasn’t damaged it should not be too long (I think) Probably best not to jump straight back on a dh bike though.

It was out for about an hour and a half. Went back in without too much fuss (but a fair bit of pain). I was x-ray’d twice but no one said anything about tissue damage. Will my orthopaedics appointment investigate tissue damage?

Mine used to come out regularly until I had the rotor cuff ‘stitched’ back onto the head of the humorous.

Will my orthopaedics appointment investigate tissue damage?

To check for tissue damage, they inflate the cavity around the shoulder with air then do an MRI scan. I think they will just check for play in the joint if this is the first time.

I’ve done both of mine and unfortunately had to have both operated on due to recurrent dislocations long term. Each one left me with six inch long scars and six months off the bike.

Every case is different, but what I would say is support it for a few days and stay heavily dosed on anti inflammatories for a week. Then go and see a decent physio, I didn’t for either of mine and regretted it but my dad did his,saw a good physio for a month and got some exercises to carry on with for a good few months after that. His hasn’t come out again despite him being in his 60s.

It might not hurt now but you will have caused significant damage in there and unfortunately it will never be the same again. What you can do is let everything in there settle down and repair itself the best it can. Then you can build strength in the muscles around it to try and stop it coming out again. Don’t let yourself reach for anything above shoulder height and DEFINITELY not over your head/behind you, cos that’s where it’ll come out easily from now on. Mine was coming out when I was wiping my arse or sneezing hard after I’d done too much too soon and wrecked it so what I wold say is be gentle and take advantage of the crap weather and do a bit on the turbo to maintain fitness. Could be worse, you could have done it in June when the trails were dry and dusty!

Hope that helps

The longer you rest it the more chance you have of it not going again. The fact that it dislocated means that some ligaments have been stretched and perhaps torn… They take time to go back to normal. For me it was not pain that stopped me riding but the knowledge that a crash could have more severe consequences. Took me a good few months before got all clear from physio. They are complex injuries with a lot of variables so peoples experiences differ a lot.

3 weeks until I was on the turbo trainer, 5 weeks until I was out on the road bike 6 months before I rode off road (although I still struggle with holding flar bars as opposed to drops/hoods etc)

Done mine snowboarding (airbags aren’t that soft)
Popped straight back in and didn’t give me much pain that day but the following 6 weeks were bad. Had lots of physio which done as much harm as good. Eventually got a MRI and found a tear, got physio to address where the tear was and I’m ok now but it took about 2 years in all.

OP are you less than 30? Unlikely on here!

Seriously though, makes a big difference.

I’m 32, and fairly fit/not overweight (despite my forum name). I do a fair amount of yoga/stretching, which I hope will have helped me a bit. Fingers crossed. Sounds like a mix or responses based on your collective experiences. Going to keep it in a sling for the next few weeks and then hit the physio. My mum is a physio so I hope she’ll come up trumps with some exercises.

depends if you’ve done any extra damage, I had a torn rotator cuff when I dislocated mine. Had pain for about 18 months, still can’t swim front crawl 4 years on. It improved a lot when I was able to light weights on it.

30 + means much less chance of recurring dislocations.

I did mine at the age of 42 skiing. Big dislocation, helicopter of mountain, and reduced with a mix of morphine and valium which was very nice!

The problem is if you damage the laburum (annular ring of cartilage which forms the cup) then re-dislocation can occur especially with the arm in a high position. I had 3 subsequent subluxations (where it pops out but the ball doesn’t go right around the corner) and I got quite good at popping it back in myself. After the fourth I had it re-scanned and the cartilage was detached at the front and had taken a bit of the bone along with it so there was very little holding it all in. This is called a bony bankart lesion.

I eventually had surgery (keyhole) 3 years ago here in France to screw it all back together and have had no problems since.

Bankart Lesions are much more likely when you’re young ( 🙂 ) but if you have one then re-dislocations are very likely unfortunately.

1 or 2 weeks just take it easy and see how you feel in yourself

As long as the rotator cuff wasn’t damaged it should not be too long (I think) Probably best not to jump straight back on a dh bike though.

How would you dislocate a shoulder without damaging the mystical thing that is called the “rotator cuff”?

Glupton + 1.

I dislocated mine years ago, and it popped out 4 times afterwards, doing daft stuff, like reaching out for stuff and just moving it the wrong way. Had a bankart repair done last December, and it is absolutely solid feeling now. My other shoulder has wobbled a couple of times, but has never come out, but I’m pretty positive it will at some point 🙁

You can’t put a figure on how long you’ll be off the bike for, as we’re all different, and there are varying degrees of damage. After the repair last year,I was off the bike for about 4 weeks all in, and back off road another 2 weeks after that.

You’ll know yourself how you feel, and when’s the time to come back. Take it easy, and don’t rush.