Important Details about Shoulder Instability Surgery

As we know the shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body and has such a wide range of gesture, it is more likely to displace than any other joint in the body. Dislocations are among the most common hurtful injuries distressing the shoulder. Athletes, non-athletes, kids, and adults can all dislocate their shoulders. They can happen during contact sports and daily accidents, such as falls. Depending on the extent of your damage, your age, and your motion level—or, if physical therapy doesn’t help—shoulder surgery may be required to address the injury to the shoulder.

What are the symptoms?

The most distinguishing symptom of shoulder instability is a sense that the shoulder is about to come out of place or that the shoulder has moved back into its socket. This sense may or may not be accompanied by ache, but it is usually painful. Occasionally, an individual may feel coldness or a tingling down the arm. In addition, the patient may know-how clicking, catching or slackness of the shoulder with everyday activities and mainly with sports that need overhead throwing or swimming. Sometimes, the ball of the joint will detached totally from socket, and the ball will not instinctively fall back into place. Severe aching, deformity of the shoulder and a sense of paralysis of the arm may happen as a result. Operating the arm into place may require physician assistance.

How Can a Physical Therapist Help?

Following shoulder stabilization operation, your arm will be placed in a sling, usually for 3 to 4 weeks. Right after operation, your shoulder will be aching and stiff, and it might swell. You will be given treatment to help in controlling your pain; icing your shoulder will help lessen both the pain and the swelling. Your physical therapist will help and guide you through your post surgical rehabilitation, which will develop from gentle range-of-motion and strengthening exercises and eventually to activity- or sport-specific exercises. The timeline for your regaining will vary depending on the surgical process and your general state of healthiness, but full return to games, sports, heavy lifting, and other energetic activities might not begin until 6 months after operation. Your shoulder will be very prone to re-injures, so it is tremendously important to keep an eye on the postoperative instructions provided by your shoulder surgeon and therapist. 

How is it treated?

The shoulder joint should be put back into place quickly. Instantaneously after the damage, ice and a sling make the patient more at ease. In a young and athletic person the chance of re-dislocation is generally high. This risk decreases with age. Habitually, shoulder instability is subtle and repetitive examinations are required to establish and approve the diagnosis. It is mainly significant for the physician to test the uninvolved shoulder and to match the patient’s normal ligament position to the symptomatic shoulder when coming to a decision regarding cure.

Can this grievance or condition be prevented?

Shoulder dislocation may be avoidable. See your physical therapist if you:

1.   Have discomfort in your shoulder, especially when doing strong activities

2.   Feel as though your shoulder is “sliding" or “moving”

3.   Hear a popping sound in your shoulder