General Cycling Discussion - dislocated shoulder, how long to heal?

During an MTB race this weekend I managed to smack my shoulder, straight in from the top, as I was leaned over, during a little tree/big tree incident. I managed to finish the race(3 1/2 more miles/not last) and got checked out by the EMTs. they said it looked like I had dislocated my shoulder and it had popped back into place. There is some bruising and swelling, but they said no broken bone, altho my collar bone is pretty tender towards the outer end.

How long will this take to heal and at which point should I give up on the hope that it will heal on its own and I should just go to a doctor?

Paging Dr. Hungry, Dr. CB Hungry

gawd. ya damn idiot. if you ain't some hobo that can't afford to go to the doc, go get the blasted thing checked out. you may even need surgery to prevent future pain... i mean.. what the crap is wrong with you? :rolleyes:




















sorry about the name callin.. but **** man. did ya whack yer head to? i mean.. there's a loot of crap in that lil area that needs to work right. don't you think you should see the doc? you could have torn a tendon or screwed up cartelige or knocked a chip off the bone. also.. healing on its own.. it may need some form of treatment for it to heal properly.

definitely go see a doctor...for further examination?

how did the medic know wether the bones are fractured or broken? i assumed they didn't take any x-ray

Well....those can be ruff....i'd say if you go to the doctor and he gives ya meds
then your looking at a week to heal if you dont go to the Doc and no meds probably 7 days! HA! We mountain bikers are tuff....skip the doctor and keep riding dude! GBY!

I did the same back in 88' I'll let you know how it works out.

See a Doctor.

it is unlikely you dislocated and relocated your shoulder spontaneously. that only happens in movies (ok there are a few people whose shoulder girdle is very lax..they sublux quite a bit...but it is unlikely in your case)

You want to give your shoulder time to heal. Dislocations stretch all the stuff holding the bones together, and if all those muscles, tendons and ligaments don't heal well, they may remain stretched and your shoulder could dislocate again (and then again, and again, and again...). See an orthopedic specialist. Chances are your shoulder will be fine.

I think I did a similar thing years ago.



My left shoulder still doesn't fit right, and I still have to take over the counter pain meds most mornings to ride and get through work. I didn't have insurance, and couldn't go to a doctor back then. If you can, do it!