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jakee

Flying after a dislocated shoulder.

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Does anyone have first hand experience of coming back to wingsuiting after dislocating a shoulder?

Was it easy, difficult, caused a problem/ felt like it could be a problem?

Cheers.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I have dislocated BOTH my shoulders. It was a long time ago though I still get pain on long or strenuous flights. If the injury was recent I would give it time to heal properly.

That could end up being a hazard if your pull arm goes out in flight.

my two cents

Justin
Wingsuit organizing, first flight courses and coaching
Flock University
Tonysuits

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I dislocated my right shoulder in Dec 05 along with a small fracture with a long name,(a dent in the ball at the top of the bone)
I was back flying my(then Gti)suit by July 06
Because I was worried about my shoulder strength, I had my rigger switch my rig to a left hand pull and have had no problems. Even with a bigger suit.
Dislocations stretch the ligaments that hold the shoulder together, with some people the shoulder gets so loose that they dislocate very easily in which case they need surgery to tighten up the shoulder.
Talk to your Doctor.B|

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I dislocated my right shoulder in Dec 05 along with a small fracture with a long name,(a dent in the ball at the top of the bone)



Sounds like what I've got;)

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Dislocations stretch the ligaments that hold the shoulder together, with some people the shoulder gets so loose that they dislocate very easily in which case they need surgery to tighten up the shoulder.
Talk to your Doctor.



The Doc and the Physio seem to think that I'm recovering well and ahead of schedule, optimistic that I won't be prone to recurring problems. Still, they're not really familiar with the somewhat unique wingsuiting forces so I thought I'd ask how other jumpers have coped with it.

Thanks!:)
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I had a chronic dislocation problem with my right arm. It all started on a skydive (luckily popping back in to allow a painful pull).

A further injury a little later really worried me that I would be out of skydiving for a while. I was afraid to put the wingsuit back on.

Thankfully for me, I found WS flying to be the least strenous on my weak shoulder. For the initial 4 or 5 months, you would not find me doing scary rolls or any intense flatspins, but I was in the air.

I am happy to say now that (strength wise) I am 100%. I am sad to report, however, that the pain has never really gone away for me. I really recomend that you have a doctor make sure you did not tear anything which will not heal without his help (or else you'll end up like me...THE HORROR!!!!)

Good luck!

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Not actually dislocated, just broken one - yes.

Broke a right shoulder last year in a car accident, with joint completely off the bone, got surgery and did my first jump three months after. The metal is still inside, some general movements are still somewhat restricted, but not those, which affect wingsuit flying. Main problem in flight was not the shoulder itself, just overall physical condition which is substantially worse than it was before trauma. Though, i still can manage 130-140 seconds flight w/o any problems. Also, three jumps a day is close to the physical limit I can handle nowadays.

Since that's my right hand, I was somewhat concerned about pull time, but it went quite smooth, like as usual (with some practice on ground, ofc).

Unstowing toggles is abit tricky, since i cant fully extend my hand upwards yet, same applies to the flare - i.e. you have to flare from mid-flight. Also, since you fly 1/4 braked under the canopy, your landing pattern changes slightly.

As for EPs - could reach both handles w/o problems.

Hope that helps.

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I've dislocated my right shoulder twice.

Was back jumping 5 weeks after the first time, and a couple of months after the second. How well you will do really depends on the type of injury, your age and recovery process.

In my limited experience, Wingsuit is less stressful on your shoulder than say freeflying. The suit restricts your range of motion to be like a hinge. Both times, my shoulder came out forwards (anterior dislocation I think this is by far the most comon type) so the pressure in normal belly to earth is holding it in rather than stressing it.
As someone else said you will never recover completely. Your shoulder capsule will have stretched, how much depends on your age, the injury type, how long it was out etc. Talk to your physio.

Be careful of both positions with your arms up (above your head) and with shoulder muscles relaxed... Thats how I poped mine out the second time, sinking down while tracking on my back... had been rotating from front to back on the jump, so putting lots of stress on it...

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Thanks for the comments guys, it's very encouraging:)
It's coming on well at the moment, been trying to simulate wingsuit forces by leaning into a doorway and it feels good. Looking forward to breaking the V3 back out sooner rather than laterB|

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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In my limited experience, Wingsuit is less stressful on your shoulder than say freeflying. The suit restricts your range of motion to be like a hinge.



True. I had a shoulder injury once (not a dislocation) and it hurt to do just about anything, but I was able to fly my wingsuit with no pain... really weird since we think the wingsuit strains our shoulders so much.
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

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