Shoulder dislocation – loss of feeling and movement?

Hi all,

I’m not a newcomer to dislocated shoulders (mines popped out 5 times and am having key-hole later this month), but I’ve never had any real complications, always popped back in fairly trouble free (had to go to hospital twice for this).

Anyway, my brother was out biking today (not with me) and he dislocated his shoulder (for the first time). However, he has lost feeling in his arm and fingers, and has no movement, apart from being able to bend the elbow a little I think (but not back straight).

He’s in hospital overnight, they’ll monitor it for improvement tomorrow, and if no improvement, he’ll have an MRI scan on Monday.

Apparently there is a 10% chance it won’t heal (all this info is through my parents, I’ve not talked to my bro yet).

Naturally, I’m kinda bricking it for him, so just wondering if anyone has any experience in this field, how serious can it be, does this kind of thing happen much etc etc?

Thanks, Duane.

Dislocated my right shoulder back in October ’10, still getting problems now nearly 18 months on.
Was quite a severe dislocation: went over the bars and the landing pushed my arm back and up, forcing the ball out in the same direction. Damaged the tendons and cartiledge meaning it wouldn’t stay in by itself for a few days. Lost feeling in my hand for a fortnight, apparently this is normal and is more to do with the system getting a shock than anything sinister. It slowly came back and was back to 100% after a bit of manipulation of the shoulder by the physio once the shoulder was strong enough.
The shoulder joint hasn’t healed properly though. The damage to the rear of the joint means that if I’m not careful when stretching down in front of me to lift something it can pop out. I also have to be careful when twisting the joint when carrying any susbstantial weight (shopping bag etc). The key for my injury is to keep up with the physio’s exercises, even when you think it’s fine not to. As long as I keep the strength in the control muscles, I can do pretty much what I used to with it. The only times I notice and have to be careful about what positions I get my arm into are when working on the car, putting the shopping in the car (no boot) and lifting the bike over styles etc. Other than that, all’s good.

Hope your brother’s arm gets better, I wouldn’t worry too much until any swelling goes down and he still doesn’t have movement or feeling after that. Medical-types can be a little pessimistic.

Your brother has likely injured his brachial plexus which are the nerves which supply the arm.
It might be serious.

Thanks both.

If it’s back in joint now, it could all be neuropraxia – essentially this is where the nerves get “bruised” and stop functioning properly for a few days, after which it starts working again, although full recovery can be a while. I would imagine that’s more likely than a proper brachial plexus injury if he’s simply dislocated his shoulder, but it depends what other damage was done at the time of impact. There’s a nasty story on pinkbike of a DH racer who crashed into a fence pole shoulder-first and lost the use of his right arm.

Either way, you won’t get a diagnosis over the internet so it’s best to speak to the specialists and see what they say. Obviously this is a scary time so good luck to your brother.

I would agree with Milky 1980 advice the muscles around the joint once you can work them its brilliant but a lot of dedication and care needs to be taken not to over strech it as will be back to square one hope everything goes ok. my shouder has its good an bad days.

When I first did mine I had pretty bad nerve damage. Couldn’t move my fingers for a few weeks, took months to get better. I didn’t get physio straight away as I was misadvised by my health center.