I am looking for rehabilitation excersizes for my right shoulder,
which as become instable thorugh various sports actitivities such as
football, boxing, basketball, and discus throwing. It frequently pops
out of place. This often happens when I am doing a reaching out or
extending motion like rebounding a basketball, or also through
overhand throwing motions. Additionally, direct contact to my
shoulder (such as hiting a football sled with my shoulder) also makes
it prone to slipping out of the joint. As you can imagine, the
problem has made it difficult for me to play sports anymore.
This popping out of my shoulder joint has happened about 30-50 times
in the last several years, and each time it has happpened, my shoulder
has slipped back into the joint on its own about ten seconds later,
although it is often sore for several days afterwards. I fear that my
shoulder is getting prgressively looser and looser.
What I am looking for is NON SURGICAL ways to stablize my shoulder. I
am already familiar with such exercizes as internal and external
rotation to strengthen my rotator cuffs, as well as rear delt flyes
and wieght liftin to strengthen my shoulders. I have done them
sporadically, but
they have not helped me out a great deal, so I am wondering if there
is anything else that will help.
I don't really need any long and complex explanations, but just some
concise descriptions of methods that are known to help this situation. |
Request for Question Clarification by
leapinglizard-ga
on
08 Dec 2003 16:48 PST
I suffer from shoulder instability myself, having dislocated my left
shoulder about ten times and my right at least thirty times. My right
shoulder will now dislocate at the slightest provocation, and often
does so at night if I let my arm sprawl out while I sleep.
I have sadly concluded, after many hours of web research and several
medical consultations, that there is no cure besides surgery. Once the
ligaments of the shoulder capsule have been loosened and the cartilage
in the joint has been crushed by repeated dislocation, there is no way
to grow them back.
As much as you strengthen the muscles in your arm and shoulder, the
joint itself will remain unstable, and there is no way to prevent its
dislocation when you use it beyond a certain narrow range. Then again,
good muscular conditioning will help you constrain the movement of
your arm within this range. The stronger you are, you better you can
resist external forces, such as those occurring in the course of a
fall or in hand-to-hand combat, that would tend to push your shoulder
into the danger zone.
To recapitulate, the damage done to your shoulder by repeated
dislocation is irreversible by natural means. Short of tightening the
ligaments of the humeral joint by surgical intervention, there is
nothing you can do to strengthen the joint itself. Exercise will help
you keep the arm within a safe range of movement, but there is no way
to reduce the probability of dislocation beyond this range.
I doubt it would reassure you if I posted a list of links confirming
this assessment, but I can do so if you were to consider it an answer
to your question.
leapinglizard
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
08 Dec 2003 19:03 PST
Hi again, relentless!
I believe you asked this question once before and I mentioned
prolotherapy, which is a non-surgical approach to ligament repair
using a series of injections to help ligaments repair naturally. It is
a new concept, but after 20 years of chronic sacro-iliac joint
instability, I had it performed and it did wonders. A good friend of
mine went ahead and had the injections after a chronic shoulder
dislocation problem and she also reaped the benefits.
I gave you a similar response to leapinglizard's when you posted your
initial question - basically, that loose ligaments will remain loose
despite muscular strength. Muscles attach from bone to bone for
movement, but ligaments hold a bone close to the joint socket. Once
they are stretched, the surounding muscle cannot do much to compensate
for the looseness of the ligament.
Just one article on shoulder prolotherapy:
"Substantial improvement may be noted in as few as one to two
Prolotherapy treatments, and the scar tissue from surgery can be
avoided. There are other advantages to Prolotherapy over surgery for
shoulder instability. Prolotherapy is the only treatment that is
designed to help repair the painful area. It involves no cutting,
suturing, sewing, or stapling. The athlete is also encouraged to
exercise while undergoing Prolotherapy, whereas after surgery there
are careful limits to activity."
http://www.prolonews.com/shoulder_dislocation_prolotherapy_hauser.htm
I have to also say that a had laproscopic surgery on my shoulder
after my rotator cuff became so torn from swimming that I couldn't
even hold my hairbrush in my hand. I tried absolutely everything but I
realized the bone spurs had to go. I have never had a problem since
and am back to doing all the exercises I had done in the past.
I certainly understand your desire to try everything possible in the
muscle-strengthening department first! If you are still adverse to any
type of ligament repair, even the non-surgical approach of
prolotherapy, I can certainly try to recommend the best shoulder
stabilizing exercises available. Generally though, rotator cuff
exercises are the most recommended regimen to stabilize the shoulder
joint and you are already doing them.
june
umiat
umiat
|
