Separated Shoulder

Posted by J. Goike on March 20, 2008 at 10:46am in General Paddle Banter

I'm a newbie paddler that separated his shoulder second time on moving water. I was injured in December and last weekend(March) I was mid rapid paddling hard and it separated again. Any suggestions will be helpful. I've ordered a evs Sb03 brace to wear paddling and hoping it will help. I want to become a confident paddler but this ailment is hindering my progress. Luckily I am right handed and the bad shoulder is my left one.

Tags: brace, bracing, exercise, injuries, rehab, separated, shoulder

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Permalink Reply by Nathan on March 21, 2008 at 5:09pm: I paddled all my life and then dislocated my shoulder. I would 'pop it out' at least once a year. I was vrey careful with it. I had the great fortune to paddle with a world champion he asked me why i seemed to coddle my shoulder."that's your problem you have to strenghthen and mobilize it" he said. Before that I wore a homemade brace for years and it sorta helped as a reminder to keep my arms in a little but i would be very wary of becoming dependent on it. I pop it everyfew years but nothing like I did. If I had to do it over I would go to a Physical Therapist right away(i'm very poor and for a different injury it was so worth it) and take Glucosamine with Chondroitin. If you're new to paddling it would also pay to figure out someone with that "anal" mind set who can tell you if your paddling technique is putting you at risk. Generally hands and elbows should stay in front of your body or if they are behind you just be aware that that's a vulnerable postition. Having your elbows above your shoulders is bad. Goodluck and feel free to contact me. Nathan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt T on March 24, 2008 at 3:59pm: As a PT student I would suggest you see a therapist to get a list of exercises to strengthen your rotator cuff. The shoulder is made of several muscles connecting to the Humerous and these ligaments make up your rotator cuff. Often times some muscles are stronger than others and can pull the bones more than others making dislocations more likely. An intial suggestion would be to strengthen your back muscles as many people hit the gyms and work primarily on there pecs. This gives more pull toward the front of your body as these more frequently worked muscles become stronger and the weaker muscles are unable to counteract this pull. You need a good balance of things. Look at working the Teres major and minor muscles as well as the Infraspinatus and Supraspinatus this will help. But get a full evaluation at your local Therapist as a brace may not be the best solution and simple strengthening may be all you need.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James Smith on March 26, 2008 at 7:29am: How did you hurt it the first time? What rehab have you done since then? Have you started an exercise program for your shoulders? I would urge you to start the "jobe" shoulder exercises daily with no more than five pounds max. It will help.

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Permalink Reply by J. Goike on March 26, 2008 at 9:15am: Alright thanks everyone. I have finally worked things out with my insurance so I should be able to see a doctor soon, I'm making an appointment this morning. I have started taking the glucosamine with Chondrotin like Nathan suggested. I have been exercising my shoulders, thanks James I did not know the exercises were named "Jobe" this helped me find them on the internet. I have been using 5 lb weights. To answer James questions. I orginally injured my shoulder when I hit a downed tree that I didn't have the boat control to steer around. My original injury was much worse than my recent one. My original injury was very painful and felt like everything in my arm was torn, even in my forearm. My arm was so weak I couldn't even hold a beer and pop the cap off. I had severe bruising down my whole arm. It took about a month to heal. I did not see a doctor because I didn't want to deal with my insurance company or pay my copays. Basically I'm cheap. But now I'm giving in because I want to be healthy. My shoulder is feeling better now but I have been having a small muscle spasms the past two days. I'm going to the pool tonight for roll class and I'm going to wear a brace and see how it feels. I will post my progress. One other thing, I've been trying to find Thera-Bands for my physical therapy and seems the only place I can find them is online. Medical supply places around here don't even have them. I thought that was weird.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phillip on March 26, 2008 at 11:26am: Hi
Some bands are likely to be given to you by the Physical Therapist. Your insurance should cover this.
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Permalink Reply by Philip on April 6, 2008 at 5:34pm: I too suffer from a rotator cuff injury, and can testify to the effectiveness of these exercises. There's a good link to more information below.

In addition to the exercises, unfortunately you may need to decide to take a season off from paddling to fully recover. In the grand scheme of things it's beneficial. As many members here have mentioned strengthening and conditioning the shoulder muscles is the best cure aside from expensive physical therapy and/or surgery.

http://www.webball.com/cms/page1322.cfm; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathan on March 27, 2008 at 11:23pm: I Ruptured a disc years ago and suffered thru good and bad times it gradually got worse. I got pushed into getting surgery, which made it worse, I gave up boating and my skiing suffered tremendously. I finally paid for PT and I'm much better and all those thousands of situps and crunches or whatever that I'd been doing since I was akid were all done improperly and were useless. The PT prescribed simple super effective excercises. Worth every penny. I'm a cheapskate too.; ▶ Reply to This