dislocated my shoulder over the weekend – massively painful and now have to wear a sling on my arm strapped to my body for the next 4 weeks. of course i’m right handed and it was the right shoulder 🙁
anyone got any tips, advice to speed up recovery.?

I’ve done it twice now and it was my left shoulder and I’m left handed. The best advice I can give you is find a physio who specializes in shoulders.

How long was it out for and did you have to have it reduced?

Best thing for the next few weeks is to keep it as still as possible to allow the capsule to shrink. Then go and see a physio and start rehab.

I have so far managed to avoid surgery, but ride with a compression top with shoulder pads just in case.

hi it took them 2 hours just to get me to the ambulance and then probably another 3 – 4 hrs to get it back in. i had to have a general anaesthetic as it appears that local anaesthesea doesnt have any effect on myself .

i am not sure what you mean by reduced ?

i’ll be looking for a physio as well.

thanks for the advice

Who has volunteered for ass duty?

get in touch with a physio sooner rather than later, if you wait for nhs it may well take weeks or months and by that time scar tissue has formed and everything has tighten up and will make the recovery slower

popped mine out in 2004 and was a mess till I got the right physio (sadly in 2005!)

Sorry, reduced is putting it back in the socket. Unfortunately the longer it is out for, the less chance there is of being able to strengthen the surrounding muscles of the rotator cuff to hold it stable. Also by the sound of things you may well have torn ligaments in the shoulder.

You can also ice the shoulder which will help.

I’d go back to the hospital and badger them for really strong pain killers (if they didn’t give you a stack already) but also ask them lots of questions about recovery time, surgery etc.

If you are in the south I can give you the details of my physio or maybe post up and ask if anyone knows a shoulder specialist in your area.

Sorry for the hijack – Kudos who did you use?
I need physio after a similar injury, and the NHS are bloody useless! (the system, not the people).

Are they anywhere near Southampton?

hi kudos -they gave me a load of codeine and have orderd some ice packs. at the moment i’m using frozen peas.

i’m in ipswich suffolk – i’ll start looking for physio today – left hand mouse control permitting 🙁

thanks for the advice

I see Tony Wilson in Chichester. Maybe a bit far, but if you can’t find anyone decent in Southhampton, then he is definitely worth going to.

Any more questions, just let me know.