Shoulder

[SmoothAl 0]

Hello all!

It's been a while since I've been on the boards. I'm back to ask for some suggestions. I had a landing accident about 4 years ago, where I tripped in a hole and fell like Superman. I popped my left shoulder out of wack, got it back in and had issues trying to jump with it after that point.

I'm now working with a physical therapist to strengthen/repair the muscle that was torn near the rear back of my shoulder. He said he had heard of people using weight lifting shirts to help restrict too much movement from the shoulders, and he mentioned that I might look into one for the day I get back to the DZ. Basically, when I'm stable or the person I'm holding onto goes too high or too low, my shoulder would roll out.

Does anyone know of braces or anything else, i.e. weightlifting shirts, that could help keep my shoulder from rolling out again? This would only be used as an added piece of protection. The therapy has helped with a lot of strengthing.

SA

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I know several people who jump with such shoulder restraints. Ray "Stoney" Stone is one. His is made of neoprene and velcro straps. It looks funny, but it keeps him in the air.

[calledisrael 0]

lots of posts will tell you lots of things - there are some great guys on here who will share good experiences.

for about a year after my shoulder surgery and PT, i used this for skydiving and rock climbing, and it worked great. i guess what works will depend on your type of injury, for me i was just looking for extra support and extra peace of mind (i had multiple dislocations.) but like you say - it was surgical repair and therapy that REALLY helped. :-)http://www.supports4u.com/shoulder.htm

life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
(helen keller)

[SmoothAl 0]

Excellent! Thank you for the posts. I'm looking into the different braces that have been suggested. I appreciate your help. If all goes well I'll be in the wind tunnel by May and in the sky by September! Can't wait!

If there are any other suggestions, please throw them my way.

SA

[calledisrael 0]

oh, sidenote: the tunnel kicked my ass. or actually my shoulder. i went a year and a half post surgery, and only for 30 minutes, but holy crap my shoulder was almost immobile afterward just from the sheer exhaustion of that much work all in a row. i'm sure you'll do better than me - part of it was how inexperienced i was - but just thought i would give you the warning...

life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
(helen keller)

[SmoothAl 0]

Thanks for that. I guess I'll have to do small blocks of time then. Was there any time in the tunnel when you felt as if your shoulder was going to roll out of the socket? That's my concern at this point.

The couple of times I went up, after my bad landing, my shoulder rolled out, it was pulled back and up; I had to reach under my body to pull it back in close to my body.

SA

[meltdown 0]

I had a dislocation and rehabbed it, then wore a brace for awhile while jumping. Now it works good as new (knock wood). But mine only came out the one time. If yours is a recurring problem, that would be a cause for concern. You should talk to a doctor about getting that surgically fixed if you continue to jump. Landing with only one functioning arm is considerably less than fun. And that doesn't even begin to address the other potential complications.

[SmoothAl 0]

Well, it was 4 years ago when I finally grounded myself, because it was a reoccuring problem. I have since then, seen an orthodpaedic surgeon who said he'd rather not cut me open but would like to see what physical therapy could do for me first. If I was to make no progress then we'd talk about the knife. I'm waiting on an appointment to see the orthopaedic surgeon so he can review the PT's review of my progress...
I'm excited to get back, but I'm being patient. Safety first.

SA

[squarecanopy 0]

Both of my shoulder are jacked, and need surgery. I stay in the air by doing specific shoulder exercisees using some simple rigs called chest expanders. Go to Matt Furey.com to see them/purchase them. They have helped me immensely to get my shoulder muscles strong enough to hold everything in place for both skydiving and tunnel flying. I can do 15 minutes out of an hour now in the tunnel, before I could do about 4 minutes before my right shoulder would give out.
BSSl, Bill

Just burning a hole in the sky.....

[SmoothAl 0]

Uhh...I just got some obscure site...what's the actual address, squarecanopy?

SA

[hookitt 0]

http://www.mattfurey.com

At the bottom of the products page there's a link to this page.

Chest Expander

PS. I have my camera back. It's charging right now.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[chachi 0]

my advice after multiple dislocations including once on a base jump flaring and once after opening on my vx94 is to go get surgery. the smartest decision i EVER made. i was in some predicamints that thanksfully i was able to fly myself out of. imagine landing in the worst possible place with one shoulder half in and continue with a piece of elastic around your shoulder if you want to.

[daremrc 0]

Hey, al..



I echo the above.

Search my sn here & you'll find a post I made last summer after I dislocated during my student progression. I had shoulder surgery in November & am just now getting back to full ROM and strength. My injury sounds similar to yours, tear in the lower-rear part of my shoulder with dislocations when I would raise my arm above & behind my head.

drop me a PM if you want any more details, but bottom line is that it never really did heal itself until surgery. surgery was outpatient & arthroscopic, and after hitting the physical therapy 3x a week for 2 months & doing my at-home excercises fairly regularly, my shoulder has more movement & stability than in has in years.

good luck

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[kelpdiver 2]

my injury was a different type - plate and screws were added. I did a 10 minute session, but because I only shared it with some 2 minute customers, did that 10 in about 15 real minutes. Definitely was done in by the last 2 min block. But 10 was enough for me to believe I could hold up to 60 seconds of freefall.

Later in the day I went to the sky and for me, found tracking while tired to be problematic. By the third jump, I just couldn't sweep the arms back. Last time out, I only did HnPs, so next time I'll see it's gone away as my strength returns.

[SmoothAl 0]

Thanks everyone. I did have a meeting with the surgeon last week. He checked out the appearance, the mobility, and strength of my arm/shoulder. He saw no reason to keep me from being back to full activities! I am going to do a few more weeks with the PT, then I hit the tunnel, with normal workouts. I'm still going to get some sort of shoulder brace also. I'm in no rush to get injured; I want to take as much precaution as possible. When I do get back out there, I'll have to meet up with some of you in Perris!

SA

[SmoothAl 0]

Hey calledisrael,
I put my order in for the brace you posted. Hopefully I'll get it in the next week so I can give it a shot in the tunnel. Thanks for the suggestion!

SA

[pcrt 0]

If you are having recurrent dislocations chances are you have a rotator cuff injury. The best way by far to diagnose this is with an MRI. Many times surgery will have to be performed. Ask your orthopedic surgeon about having a MRI exam.

~Paul Creel SCS-5015

[SmoothAl 0]

Already had the MRI, and I already met with the O.S. after my time with the PT finished. He released me to full activities. I continued another 4 weeks with the PT, which ends this Friday. I have my new brace, and I plan on heading to the tunnel on Monday to test it out. In an above post I mentioned the the O.S. wanted me to try out a PT first, that was after having the MRI. Trust me, I knew that was going to be the only way any of us would find out what was going on inside of me.

SA

[daremrc 0]

Hey, Al... Good on you for going to PT. Keep the excercises going even after the insurance runs out. a quick update, I'm 5.5 months out from surgery and I have made some skydives, the longest one being from about 7500' with about a 15 second delay and long canopy ride. no problems at this point...

I just wanted to mention that I have been told a few times to be very careful about the tunnel, apparently it is very hard on the shoulders between the extended flying time & bouncing around off the walls. I've never flown in one so I can't give any first hand knowledge, but several jumpers have warned me to be extra-careful about doing any tunnel time until I am 100% sure my shoulder is up for it. I had originally planned to do some tunnel time to test my shoulder but afetr asking around, decided against it until i'm at least a few more months out from surgery.

One other thing I've started to do is practice my flares & turns with both toggles thru one hand. I was lucky enough to be able to reset my shoulder under canopy when I dislocated last year, but it's good to know that as a plan B I can at least have control over the landing phase if I were to be injured again while jumping...



Good luck

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[SmoothAl 0]

Thanks, daremrc. I am planning on doing a couple of minutes to start. I've been hearing the same stuff. I'll try out a couple of minutes, see how it goes, then maybe try and get some coaching if the shoulder allows for it. I believe my shoulder is strong enough. I've been doing about 4 months of PT and I've been gradually increasing my lifting on my own...without overdoing, and I feel great!

Take care, be safe!

SA

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

I just wanted to mention that I have been told a few times to be very careful about the tunnel, apparently it is very hard on the shoulders between the extended flying time & bouncing around off the walls. I've never flown in one so I can't give any first hand knowledge, but several jumpers have warned me to be extra-careful about doing any tunnel time until I am 100% sure my shoulder is up for it. I had originally planned to do some tunnel time to test my shoulder but afetr asking around, decided against it until i'm at least a few more months out from surgery.

Told this by who?

I went to the tunnel to confirm my shoulder was ready for freefall. Better to have a problem in a small room with no canopy flight than to be under a parachute at 3000ft with one working arm. Each person has to make that call, of course. As for bouncing risk...it's not huge. I choose to basically crawl out the exit door to be sure.

It is very exhausting in the tunnel. I'd also warn the attendent if he's playing with you not to grab the arm or play with your air flow. Once the first couple minutes were up and it was clear I had stability, he was doing some play with me including swinging his arm underneath me. That hurt a little.

[daremrc 0]

Quote

Told this by who?

experienced jumpers who have had tunnel time, including one who has shoulder trouble... I was thinking the same thing, about trying the arm out in a controlled situation rather than in the air, but ultimately decided not to. 10, 15, or 20 seconds of freefall seems to be OK right now, I dont know how several consecutive minutes would do. My arm feels good enough that I will try more than that the next tiem I jump....


This is just my experience with my arm tho, and like you said everyone should make that decision for themselves.

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[5w0rdsharky 0]

Im only a student but i'll add my experience with Shoulders. I dislocated my shoulder originally ice skating then I did it twice more playing Ice hockey. Then ive dislocated it stretching when I woke up in the morning and finally dislocated it last september whilst diving into a swimming pool!!!

So as you can see skydiving is not the best thing to be doing!. So before I started the S/L course I went into hospital and had corrective surgery. Im pleased to say now that all the pain and discomfort of surgery has paid off. I now have 6 jumps under my belt and no shoulder problems at all. I have full range of movement back thanks to my Physio and no pain when im cold like before i had it done.

So in my experience. Surgery was deffo the best thing ever for my shoulder and has completely taken away the worry away from it ever dislocating again.

Good luck dude

Sharky

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

[SmoothAl 0]

Thanks, Sharky.

Well...I should put it out there now...I got in the tunnel yesterday. Did a one minute warm up and found that it was like riding a bike. My second round, about 30 seconds into it...my shoulder rolled and locked to where I couldn't pull my arm in to my body. I got out of the tunnel and sat for a few minutes. Round three...I got in, was flying great, no problem...about 30 seconds, and it happened again. This time I stopped for the day and received a very disheartening talk from the guy in charge. Almost made me feel as if I'll never jump again unless they cut me and put a pin in my shoulder. You know, I was frustrated enough without hearing that bs. I'm not saying that that is not what needs to happen, I'm just saying "have some compassion", it was obvious I was bummed about it happening during tunnel time, but I'd really would rather it happened in the tunnel instead at 12,000 feet! I even had my shoulder brace on.

I'll be making an appointment with the PT for tomorrow, and then contacting the OS to see when we can progress with surgery.

SA

[5w0rdsharky 0]

Like I said. Surgery was the best thing I ever did for my Left shoulder. Wish I had it done when I first did it. I could never put my shoulder back in myself as it would roll behind my shoulder blade!!! ouch!!

What did it for me was the last time it happend. In Greece 5 hours away from a hospital and 5 greek doctors pulling my arm until it relocated! I couldnt understand a word they were saying to me either.. was a disturbing experience.

Good luck if you do have opp dude. You wont regret it im sure of it.

Sharky

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.