Hatrack River Forum: Shoulder Dislocations

This is topic Shoulder Dislocations in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :

Everyone needs to take advantage of the Hatrack medical community at least once in their time here.

So, I was doing some stunt work for a theatre production, and while the details behind the stunt are not important, the end result of a mental error had me falling about 4 feet head first to the stage. A second mental error saw me throwing out my left arm to break the fall, which drove all my weight up through the arm and caused my shoulder to pop like a champagne cork. We snapped it back in on site and X-Rays after rehearsal showed that everything was where it should be.

So now I've been given a sling and been told to keep my arm in it for 3+ weeks. How necessary is this? The show goes on in 3 days and, while the stunts/dancing/etc. are axed, I do still have a physical (in the gesticulation sense, not rolling around) speaking role. I can accept that it's going to hurt a lot to do it, and I realize that it won't speed up the healing process at all, but what I want to know is whether or not it will do further harm in the long term. I know lots of people dislocate their shoulders, pop them back in and carry on with their lives. Which makes me think that the sling may be to keep it immobilized more for comfort reasons than actual therapeutic ones. Or are you supposed to baby your first one and, if it becomes a chronic thing, you just give up all hope of preventing further dislocations?

And yes, I could very easily go out and talk to a doctor about this in person, but I'm in my very warm PJs drinking chocolate soy milk and marvelling at the splendour of "Tiger Balm" and generally not feeling like braving the winter weather. Basically being a big sook and looking to take advantage of your good nature [Smile]

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

If a doctor says to do it, maybe you should do it. However, my brother did stuff like that several times as a toddler, and there's no way anyone can keep a toddler's arm in a sling. My mom or dad would just manipulate it back in, then try to keep him from doing it again. Do toddlers just heal faster, or what's the deal with that? [Dont Know]

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :

You're as stubborn as my dad.

[Razz]

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

Your joints are looser when you're young. My shoulder used to come out all the time, and daddy just popped it back in. I certainly never wore a sling for it. But it might be different when you're all grown up. [Wink]

Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :

Yeah, but at least I'm asking this time, Raja [Razz]

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

That was what I was trying to say, ElJay. [Smile]

Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :

Few questions: What sort of dislocation was it? Like, what new location did the displaced arm go? And how do you mean it was put back on site? Who fixed it? How long was it dislocated before being fixed? Who looked at it and ordered the xray and sling? Did they recommend anything else, like follow up or physical therapy?

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

I'm sensing a convergence of Lethal Weapon energies in my personal universe.

Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :

The arm kinda went up toward my head and back. More back than up I'd say. It was put back in by the fight director. It was not long before being put back in, minutes at most. The doctor on call at emerg looked ordered the X-rays when I went to the hospital ~7 hours later. He said they looked Ok but if I continued having problems in a week I may want to get them looked at by a radiologist to see if he missed something small. Physio could start as early as a week doing pendulum exercises if I'm feeling up to it, and should start at 3 weeks. For that I'd go to the physio department on campus.

Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :

quote:
The arm kinda went up toward my head and back.

Oo-oooouch...

Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :

Oooh. The sling is to help the tissues heal. You sound like it still hurts you so that certainly suggests you do have some healing to do. I don't know much about proper after care for dislocations but my feeling is you should wear the sling at least a week or two and make sure you follow up with physio. I would think that it should be ok to take the arm out of the sling to act onstage, so long as you are careful not to lift any weight with that arm and careful with the gesticulations.

CT might have other thoughts.

Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :

Ooh, the physio department on campus is one of the few medico things I trust there. The tiny little blond woman is great (I can't remember her name, augh).

EDIT: LANA! Lana, that's her name.

[ February 01, 2005, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: Eaquae Legit ]

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :

I was trained to keep the arm as immobilized as possible for 5-7 days and then start gentle movements. However, it is impossible really to keep it completely immobile, unless you wear the same clothes, avoid bathing, and sleep upright. [Smile]

So in clarification, I was told to have the patient minimize movements that would take their affected arm's hand out of easy sight. That is, no reaching above the head or behind you. Try to keep that arm bent at the elbow with the forearm in front of the body (across the belly/chest area) as frequently as possible.

You know, I bet you could make adjustments to the costume to make a sling (or something like it) quite inconspicuous. E.g., if your were wearing a suit, sew the arm of the suit in place instead of a sling. Sure, you'd look a little Napoleonic, but acting is an art and a challenge. *grin

Good luck! Keep us updated.

[ February 01, 2005, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

I don't think the x-ray would reveal a lot of the muscles, ligaments, tendons and stuff, and that's really more what I would be worried about. Also, the body makes a lot of natural endorphins until about the 3rd day, when things may hurt more. I'd be really careful about using it while on painkillers, because they could mask necessary signals from the body.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Yikes, BtL!

Sympathy and healing vibes heading your way.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

It's the visions of Bob the Lawyer singing and dancing that are getting to me. [Angst]

Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :

Woo! Thanks for the fast replies. Would that more medical communities could work with the speed and efficiency of Hatrack's. Truly the envy of the world.

quote:
Sympathy and healing vibes heading your way.

The healing vibes I understand, but the sympathy seems wasted considering I don't really plan on learning from this mistake.

quote:
It's the visions of Bob the Lawyer singing and dancing that are getting to me.

Mmm. Perhaps I shouldn't have co-opted those terms, it does them a disservice to be associated with my stage work. To get a more accurate idea of what it looks like you should keep the phrase "guys in tights" close at hand. But there I go not helping again.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

[Razz]

The sympathy was for the pain, not the stupidity.