Repeated Shoulder Subluxation (Partial Dislocation)

please excuse my using no caps as i am recovering from reversal shoulder surgery replacement, which is my dominant hand. that surgery took place on feb 15, 2016, i am age 68 and i find your story to be very similar to my history. 

in the mid 80’s, while playing on a volleyball team my left arm partially dislocated but i was able to roll it back in and kept playing. that continued for some time until it went out of joint in an exercise class. i was in my late 30's. in er the shoulder was put back in place and 6 months later i had what they called, at that time a stabilization procedure, which involved the placement of screws. due to over use of the other arm, the same procedure was done to it the following year. they don't do that type of surgery these days i learned. recovery went as expected, having acceptable range of motion.

years later, i started having pain in both shoulders; and was able to find an ortho surgeon who was familiar with the particular surgery I had. i now know he was trying to hold off additional surgery at the time; so as the pain returned in either shoulder, a cortisone injection helped. mine lasted a yr or so. 

​last fall (2015) the pain in my right shoulder became unbearable. X-rays were taken and my ortho dr told me the screws had to come out, which meant a right shoulder replacement that was done on nov 20, 2015. the physical therapist agreed with me that something wasn't right. i could feel grinding and we both could hear it and it seemed to "pop" with certain movements. i went back to the dr in january of this year and while he had hoped he didn't have to; the only option was for a reversal right shoulder replacement. i researched it so i understood what to expect. the surgery was done on feb 15 and my recovery is going fine. with the back to back major surgeries and having my dominant arm in a sling for 4 months, i am now sling free!   after several weeks of gentle pt i am now on more aggressive therapy, which is expected to take 8 - 12 weeks. the end goal is that i will be able to raise my arm to the top and back of my head and possibly a little higher. i might add that i have other health issues that made my situation more complicated, as the surgeon was dumfounded why the relacement surgery failed.

shoulder surgery is not a walk in the park and i don't even want to think of what will happen when the cortisone injections no longer work on my left shoulder. i was fortunate to have excellent ortho sugeon. mine had done at least 200 shoulder replacements and his reputation was excellent.

i apologize for this being so long, but i felt it to be important for you to know my history, which may help you. i recommend you find the best orthopedic surgeon you can and see him as soon as possible. with golf season upon us, i would hate for you to have a severe injury. you may be able to have corrective surgery that will prevent you from having issues such as mine. i waited too long when i first had problems. i hope this helps. by the way, i live the united states.

 

I hope this helps.

i am not a doctor, but in my opinion... definitely. Best you get the necessary tests and opinion by an ortho surgeon. please keep posting your findings. i'll be most interested.

in my opinion... definitely. Best you get the necessary tests and opinion by an ortho surgeon. please keep posting your findings. i'll be most interested.

Hi Jack, I have a work colleague who too has a dislocated shoulder, apparently an old sports injury. He's only 21 yrs old, still young. Just recently his shoulder popped out while working on my dump truck. Too make a long story short he now has to undergo an operation. You've mentioned that you pop your shoulder in place yourself, eventually things takes its toll, wear & tear!!!! Don't prolong the inevitable