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*NEW* Shoulder injury update

Started by ben, January 23, 2005, 07:51 AM

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ben

It's been a month now and seems like my shoulder is on its way to recovery. I can move my shoulder a lot more and it has regained some strength. I'm also more aware of how I cannot (or shouldn't) move or use it.

My injury is a type 3 acromioclavicular dislocation (or luxation) and here's what it is, in medical terms (I'm also learning on that) :

The acromioclavicular joint capsule and coracoclavicular ligaments are completely disrupted. The coracoclavicular interspace is 25-100% greater than the normal shoulder.

Here's a link to see an illustration of the injury (scroll down to Figure 3. Superior acromio-clavicular dislocation) :

:: http://www.wsiat.on.ca/english/mlo/shoulderie.htm ::

Now, as far as drumming is concerned, I haven't tried to play yet because my shoulder is still very weak. Just walking around makes it get tired and unconfortable, so I'm more focused now on resting myself (and finding a way to sleep well on my back) because the pain and the feeling of having my bones separated takes a lot of my energy.

I thought about taking some time to practice my foot work, but since I live in a apartment, it's impossible to play there. Also, carrying my kit is out of the question, of course.

So, next step will be to see what the doctor will have to say about my recovery (I'll be seeing him again in 1 and a half week) and then do the exercices that will be best for my shoulder.

I'll keep you posted and thanks for your support.

junglelord

best advice for injury is this
rice=rest, ice, compression, elevation
rest is what you are doing
ice for 5-7 min at a time, three times a day
compression=stabilization, any thing that helps to stablize the affected region, like a shoulder brace at the orthopedic section of walmart
forget elevation as it is the shoulder

try emu oil for inflammation daily, apply small amounts and rub in gently

range of motion therapy before strength therapy
therefore use small movements with exhalation for only 2 seconds into the restricted movement for reps of 5 to 10 then rest (breath out when it stretches or hurts and back off after 2 seconds, no long static stretches.)

range of motion therapy is good from day one, a little bit at a time, rest is most important.
look for up to a year of rehab, range ofmotion therapy progresses into strength therapy when normal range of motion is regained
take glutamine amino acid 10 grams a day, vit B complex 50mg, vit C 1000mg, zinc 25mg, essential fatty acids (Udo's blend)
emu oil is awsome at reducing inflammation and helping with healing, also DMSO with emu oil is really effective with pain reduction.
DMSO is a solvent that athletes and horse racers use for joint injury.
how recent is the injury?
yes i am a trained therapist, best of luck, you will heal, be patient, ask me any thing and i will respond, junglelord

Dave Heim

Quote from: ben on January 23, 2005, 07:51 AMSo, next step will be to see what the doctor will have to say about my recovery (I'll be seeing him again in 1 and a half week) and then do the exercices that will be best for my shoulder.

I think that's the best thing you can do.

ritarocks


ben

Quote from: junglelord on January 23, 2005, 08:51 PMhow recent is the injury?
yes i am a trained therapist, best of luck, you will heal, be patient, ask me any thing and i will respond, junglelord

Thanks for the tips, junglelord.

I got this injury on December 28th (so it's been almost a month now) while playing hockey outside. I fell flat on my left shoulder and sadly didn't have any equipment to protect it.

Since then, I wear a simple strap (sorry, don't know the exact English term) just to hold my arm and rest my shoulder. I think it would be helpful to have a shoulder brace to stabilize my shoulder. Is it possible for you to copy a link to a website where I could see a picture of the exact device you suggested?

I was back to work a week and a half after my injury... I'm a graphic designer and I manage to rest my arm on my desk and be able to use my hand on the keyboard. That way, my shoulder is barely sollicitated except when I move my hand to grab things and to write (yep, I hurt my left shoulder and I'm a lefty!).

I'm also able to do things such as putting on my socks (slowly), tying my shoes (though this gets me very tired) brushing my teeth and putting food in my mouth with a fork or a spoon. I can touch my nose and my left ear.

Drumming is simply out of the question for a couple of months.

I'm very realistic about my recovery and what I'm worrying about is maybe doing things I shouldn't be doing = using my shoulder too much. That's what I'm looking forward to my next appointment with the doctor, to see if I'm taking good care of my shoulder, which I think I do.

I'm glad to hear you say that I will heal but I'm worried that my shoulder will never look the way it looked before, esthetically speaking. The two doctors I met said that it will regain 50% of its natural appearance, but that should be it. This is without surgery of course and the doctor who's taking care of me doesn't seem to think surgery right now.

I'll check out for that emu oil, which seems to do wonders.

Thanks for your input.

junglelord

hi, i hope all is as well as can be expected.
the physician orders are always paramount of course, but i know that he would agree with my homecare, but be sure to ask first!
you have a 3rd degree spain/strain of the shoulder AC joint from your info...
that means up to a year to feel normal, maybe two years before little reminders are less remindful!
the need for surgery is quite real, but the ability to regain normal stability of the AC joint without surgery is also possible...the change in morphology (appearence) will not be a big deal (take it from a therapist with a few morph's of his own) as mentally even i got over mine, and i am a bodybuilder for life, so lack of symmatry is a bit of a bummer, but normal function, is more important.
i broke my neck  in 3 places in 2003 and have quite a torn left elbow, bicep, tricep (steering wheel twist and tear!) with spinal cord trauma, so the need to play drums for us is real, but it will take some rest first, hang in there you will be ok.
i believe that the best option for a shoulder brace is different to what you describe...it would wrap the shoulder and velcro in place, that with a strap would be good for at least part of the time...remember that motion is important, pain free range...you heal lack of motion with motion, you then heal weakness (probably 3 months in) with strength training, but no lifting except arm weight for 3 months...DMSO with emu oil is awsome for healing...go to a vet who treats horses, or buy on line, don't tell the vet it's for you!  it is totaly safe but gives garlic breath, but says not for human use, that's not a problem for lots of pro football and pro wrestlers, anyway were all animals (we are drummers!)
stay positive,

God Bless and talk soon

ben

Quote from: junglelord on January 24, 2005, 04:17 PMi broke my neck  in 3 places in 2003 and have quite a torn left elbow, bicep, tricep (steering wheel twist and tear!) with spinal cord trauma

Ouch!!! ... and all I got is a bump on the shoulder! This is the first time in my life that I broke or dislocated anything (I'm 35) and my positive attitude will help me get through it. I think the saddest thing is looking at my brand new Mapex Pro-M that I bought 2 weeks before my accident... I had the chance to play it once with a band and it was a delight, so I'll say I'm cool with waiting maybe a year before playing it again.

The shoulder brace is a very good idea. I'll go get one this week.

Yeah, motion's helping me recover, I feel it. I'm also very sensitive about staying in the "no pain" zone, so everything's seems fine. As far as appearance is concerned, if my shoulder works fine, there's what's important for me. I still don't understand how a shoulder could work fine if the bones are misplaced though...

I know it'll be a long recovery and I prefer to see it that way 'cause every sign of things getting better is a bonus for me. There's the moment the injury happened and I take it from there... Things are different now from the way they were before.

It'll be a wonderful feeling to get back behind my kit someday and I'll taste every minute of it. Maybe it's time for me to learn to play guitar (I've been thinking about it for years) and take singing lessons.

Thanks again ;-) Ben

junglelord

hi ben, it won't take a year before you play, actually you will be playing at the onset of the three month phase of recovery i hope, and believe that this is a reasonable time frame of rest, but totaly healing for a scar is up to 2 years for it to mature, so the body will take it's sweet time, but it will recover.
how does a torn shoulder work after? good question. the body will lay down scar tissue over the injury which will lead to stability, sometimes at the cost of motion if we are not diligent with our range of motion therapy.
rest is important, naps are a bonus if you can, the body heals most when at rest, so take care, and enjoy some extra needed sleep ;)

ben

I took a pair of drumsticks and just tried playing on a pillow... That wasn't so bad! Of course, I cannot imagine myself playing for a couple of minutes, but I think playing drums isn't that far away in time for me.

It's a good thing that my left shoulder (the one that hits the snare) is the one that's injured, because I use mainly my right arm to go around the kit. I play matched grip and maybe trying traditionnal grip will be a good thing for my shoulder, since I'll use mostly my wrist and forearm to hit the snare. Also, I don't use my left arm very often to hit the crashes, so getting through the songs just hitting the snare will be enough "action" for my left shoulder to endure.

My main problem will probably be carrying my kit, since I live in an apartment on the fourth floor. I think I'll use a 3 piece (leave the tom at home) with only one crash (= minus one heavy double-braced Mapex boom cymbal stand) instead of two. I also could leave the cymbal stands in my car. That could be a lot of fun experimenting by playing only with a snare, kick and floor tom!

We'll seen then, of course, but I'm already drumming in my heart (like I've always been) ;-)


junglelord

hey ben, there you go, you are already moving along the rehabilitation timeline, and i am so glad to here that you are making progress.  like you stated your abiliity is limited but not your imagination, therefore the possibilities are endless.  i myself have had a setback and have a obstruction in my left femoral vein that became a full blown blood clot last week.  so blood thinners, rest, and elevated left leg.  like you always drumming in my heart.  Glad God love me!

ben

Hey jungie!

The doctor gave me, yesterday, his blessing to (smoothly) getting back to drumming! My shoulder's healing really well and I bought a shoulder brace like the one you suggested.

It's a good thing cause I got the gig I auditioned for in mid-December! I may be back behind the kit this coming Saturday.

I'll keep you posted on this.

;-) Ben

mudpuppy

Ben, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have a question for junglelord. I have a rotator cuff injury, not major(yet) just a naging type of pain. Would you recommend a brace for this type of injury as well? I have been given a regimin of exercises and do them regularly, but no one ever suggested a brace. Thanks.  BTW, Ben I am glad you are comming along so well. Best of luck!
mp

junglelord

hey guys, i have been suffering from a DVT (large interal blood clot) since jan 16 (a residual from my car accident in 2003) it's been a month, and just got my vascular stocking 3 days ago and that has made a big improvment in my vascular and lymph edema in the left leg,  and blood thinners are doing their job (slow though takes about 3 months for clot to slowly disappear).  but i can play all fours again, so very nice to drum! One thing to remember God loves us all!
hey ben your coming along well i hope, and just for the cool people here to realize that i could help almost all of you with my hands except ben!  i treat improper tension (ben has hypermobility) but eventually i would have to treat compensating structures for ben, then in 6 months or so, more of my kind of direct work on the seperated shoulder once there is suffecient stability for my kind of soft tissue therapy.  treating tension in the body is no different then tuning the drum head, all tensions must be equal! so we all know what that is all about.  i use lots of soft tissue techniques but rely on ROLFING or Structural Integration as my main hands on therapy. i also do Visceral Manipulation (want me to quiver your liver?) Cranial Sacral therapy (think vulcan mind meld!) Active Release Technique (chiropractic soft tissue care, like rolfing regional, no global concept!). i truly believe that 10 hours from a ROLFER is very important for all of us.
mudpuppy, the  brace is only for hypermobility, you should strengthen the rotor cuff with very light weights (these muscles are quite small) so 10 pounds for external and internal rotation is a good weight. Stretching is best done with Active Isolated Stretch technique (physio idea, arron mattes) 2 seconds at a stretch into the range of motion of pain or discomfort, exhale forcefully, back off, and repeat for a set of ten, 2 sec stretch is the best idea, not 30 to 60 seconds, contrary to popular belief.  you will see improvements right away. if you need find a physiotherapist that does AIS, and also the Rolf Receipe is more powerful then any other soft tissue therapy. average cost of a rolfer is $100-$1125 per session.  all of these things are quite easy to demonstate in person but kinda hard on the written forum, i wish i could up load some AIS stretches! rotator cuff ROM is just like riding a bike, left turn, right turn and stop sign are the 3 basic ROM for the cuff. ie abduction (lleft turn on both sides if you get my meaning) external rotation (right turn signal, again both sides), internal rotation(stop sign). i like the cables in the gym or light dumbbells for these strength exercises. now the stretch is opposite the strength, ie internal rotation (stop sign, subscapularis) strength will stretch the opposite muscle (external rotation muscles, infraspinatus and teres minor). not that strength and stretch are done at the same time but the movements are the same just that the opposite side is effected during the primary motion.  i will try to be more brief in the future, sorry, and i hope that the information about which health care professional who use specific therapy is what you want to look for. not a chiro without ART, and not a physio without AIS. Rolfers always rolf, so thats a given. i do like to spread the gospel of soft tissue care, and please anyone ask me what you want and i will try to respond in a timely manner, God Bless everyone.
PS I was 3rd in my class of 300, i have 10 years experience and have taught anatomy and physiology to nurse, paramedic and massage students for 5 years.  i'm into advanced hands on therapy, not fancy machines!

ben

Hey junglelord! Good to hear from you.

I'm going back behind the kit tomorrow (Sunday) evening! I'm really excited about it and my shoulder's doing very well.

In fact, a month and a half after the injury, I feel like it's almost back to normal. The flexibility has greatly improved to about 85% of how it was before. I began physical therapy once a week with a therapist plus daily exercices I have to do. I feel that the strenght in my shoulder is also very good and I'm trying to use it as often as I can to get it back into shape as quickly as possible, without going beyond its limits of course.

I don't really see a difference anymore in daily activities â€" except for some discomfort, fatigue and light pain when doing the exercices to regain flexibility and strenght. I'm really amazed by the speed of my recovery and I'm pretty sure that my positive attitude towards the situation does half of the job (if not more)!

I feel important to mention that I've recently been taking really good care of my eating habits and that I'm spleeping a lot better at night (and also on the job, but that's another story).

junglelord

hey ben for your injury that is very fast recovery with stability and strength and ROM. I am very glad to here this.  i am nursing my boxer/dalmation (Conan). he is 3 yrs old but hurt his tail so they had to amputate yesterday!. man that must be so sore. he can not tolerate the funnel on the neck, so i need to keep an eye on him so he does not pull at the bandage or stitches, so far so good. again Ben you are way ahead of schedule. enjoy the gig, and take care :D

mudpuppy

Ben, Glad to hear you are doing so well. We'll be thinking about you on Sunday night. BTW, my name also is Ben.
Junglelord,                                                                          
I just read your post about a hundred times to try to figure out what you were trying to convey to me and after a while I understood. I tried the stretches the way you described and WOW!!! At first, it was pretty uncomfortable but after a few sets my shoulders feel warm and loose - unbelievable!! It is great to have a "Med Head" among us. Also I hope you and your dog are OK.
Thanks so much for sharing your professional insight, and God Bless YOU.
Ben aka mp  8)

junglelord

good morning ben and mudpuppy. sorry for being so long winded on that post. AIS aka active isolated stretching is very easy to teach in person, more effective then any other stretch techique i know of, and very practicle.  it is great for both bens.  i always told my students the rotator cuff is as easy as riding a bike, just learn the turn signals, do them on both arms.  the rotator cuff has four small muscles to perform the different ROM.  adduction is seldom lost, so i focus most of my patients on the other 3 movements.  2 seconds at a time, exhale forcefully, return to rest position, repeat for set of 10. do the opposite arm then come back to the first side for another set of 10, second set is very flexible! simple yet amazing results!  so glad to be of service.  my leg is fully drained and Conan is not as sore today. thanks for asking. take care my friends  ;D
i also don't want to hijack any threads but if i can give any information on this forum, please feel free to ask, yours truly Junglelord.

mudpuppy

junglelord,
Thanks again for the info. I practiced for a couple of hours last night after the stretching and felt great this morning. (Certainly not 100% but much better than before) I am going to keep doing these stretches but I have a question. I was doing both sides at the same time. Is this acceptable?
Also, I noticed that if I change the position of the palms of my hands on the right and left signal stretches (palms parallel to the floor or turned slightly up or down) I feel different muscles being worked. What is correct? Thanks again for your expertise and I am glsd you and your dog are doing better.
mp

junglelord

hey that was the first time i have been ever asked about palm placement in 9 years! good question. the answer is due to impingment issues at the supraspinatus (the left hand turn signal muscle). go palm up for the supra stretch especially above 90 degrees (above the shoulder).  for the right and stop hand turn signals stretch with the palm parallel avoids any impingment.
i always do one side at a time, Arron Mattes suggest the same (originator of the technique)
glad to hear that it worked (i knew it would)

mudpuppy