dislocating shoulders/

[Guest guest]

:

I feel so bad your son is having to go through this awful shoulder

problem. Mine has gotten so bad that it slides out about 50+ times a

day, all I have to do is lean forward a bit. So, there's the first

suggestion - changing body mechanics. Have him try to avoid bending over

or reaching over his head. FOr me, the reaching is OK (but not for

others), but as soon as I go forward 20 degress, out comes the shoulder.

Another thing, any time my elbow is back beyond my body, that pushes the

shoulder forwards. I can't even sit in chairs with arms becuase my

elbows go slightly backwards, there is upward pressure, and the chair

arm just pushes it right out. So I either choose chairs without arms or

pull my arms in to my body. So avoiding these position may help.

I have found putting the arm in a sling is useless because there is

only support for the arm - my shoulder will still come right out. The

only position is if the arm is crossed in front of my body so my right

hand is on my left shoulder and the sling adjusted to holdit there. Then

I have aces wrapped around my chest and shoulder to hold the whole works

in place. If I get up from laying down, I cross both arms this way so I

am pulling with the rest of my body and putting no weight on my

shoulders. So retraining to do activities so his shoulders aren't

stressed is one way to deal with the problem.

The only thing, immobilization wise, that has ever helped me is a

figure of 8 collar bone support. The adult one was around $20. It can be

worn over or under clothing and is adjustable by velcro in the back. It

circles in front of the shoulder, under the arm and the loops for each

arm join in back. It is not perfect but it blocks at least half of the

front of the shoulder and when pulled tightly will pull your shoulders

and collar bones back and more upright. With this I could also feel when

I did something where a dislocation would be imminent as I could feel

more presure on the part of support in front of the shpoulder as my

shoulder started to move ahead. It is not terribly uncomfortable. It has

cotton with some sort of padding inside, there is a plastic triangle in

the back where the loops join and velcro to adjust the loops in the

back. So this might be safe for .

Also, my Ortho had me doing exercises with therabands to try to

strengthen the supporting tissue. Some I could not do at all but there

were a few I could. I got the handle and door adapter because with my

dislocating fingers a handle was better than trying to grip a small

piece of tubing. I got it at a medical supply store and the OT there

supplied the exercises not the ortho, so you could just go into a store

like that with and they should be able to give you the supplies

and instructions on which exercises her could do.

Good luck,

Joyce