Amber Leidig
Dr. Glumac
PT 100
16 November 2011
Shoulder Dislocations
Since the shoulder is the most moveable joint in the body it is the most susceptible to
injury. One type of injury is a dislocation. In the book 20 Common Problems in Sports Medicine
it says “Shoulder dislocations account for more than half of all major joint dislocations that
require medical care.”5That is really high for any medical problem. You would think that a
shoulder injury would be caused by an older person falling but it can also happen in younger
people to. In the article called “Surgical Versus Non-Surgical Treatment for Acute Anterior
Shoulder Dislocation” it states “Rowe found that there were as many initial dislocations after age
45 as before age 45”.3This is so because the ones under 45 years of age may have gotten the
injury from sports or falls just like in the age range above 45 could be from a fall. In the article
“The Current Approach to Anterior Shoulder Dislocations” it states “Dislocations show a
bimodal pattern, with a peak in men 20-30 years of age while playing sports and another in
women at 60-80 years who have fallen in their homes.”1This means that both sports and falls are
causes of shoulder dislocation. In the article “Emergency Case-Reducing Anterior Shoulder
Dislocation-Easy is good” says about how long it would take for recovery it states “The
prognosis for full recovery within 3 to 10 weeks” 6
There are several methods used in management of a shoulder dislocation. According to
the article “Emergency case - Reducing anterior shoulder dislocation - Easy is good” reduction
methods “should ideally be quick, effective, and as painless as possible for patients; they should
not exhaust physicians: and they should not cause further injury”.6That should be how any
method of management should be. When working with shoulder dislocation there are surgical
methods and non-surgical methods. From the article “Surgical versus non-surgical treatment for
acute anterior shoulder dislocation” it describes the two types of methods. It states “nonsurgical, involving placing the arm in a sling followed by exercises, or surgical, involving repair
of damaged structures or cleaning up the joint space”.3Normally the exercises would be
performed by a Physical Therapist. This article also states that “there is no evidence available to
determine which treatment is better”.3This means that it is hard to say what a good treatment for
shoulder dislocation is but both surgical and non-surgical methods work.
One way that someone can dislocate their shoulder is in sports. One thing a lot of people
do not know about shoulder dislocation and sports is when a person can go back in and play the
sport after this sort of injury. From what the article “Shoulder Dislocation Maneuvers Lack
Evidence” says “it’s safe to return to activity when the patient has little or no pain, regains nearnormal range of motion and near-normal strength in the affected arm, an when the patient is able
to perform sport-specific activities”.2 This is smart because if the patient goes back to their sport
and they still have pain or do not have the range of motion they did before they have a higher
chance of re dislocating their shoulder. Also in the book “20 common problems in sports
medicine” it states “return to play should be individualized based on the skill level of the athlete,
the type of competition, and the intensity of the sport”.5“Chapter 19 “How Should you Treat an
Athlete with a First‐time Dislocation of the Shoulder” from the book “Evidence-based sports
medicine” states “Even though patients may not have a recurrent dislocation, their quality of life
and quality of sporting life may be diminished following a shoulder dislocation”.4It is important
that people know this when wanting to return to a sport.
Works Cited
Brennan FH Jr. (07/01/2007). "The current approach to anterior shoulder dislocations.". Family
practice recertification(0163-6642), 29(7), p.21.
FINN, R (07/01/2006). "Shoulder Dislocation Maneuvers Lack Evidence". Family practice
news(0300-7073), 36(13), p.46.
G, Handoll, H H (01/01/2004). "Surgical versus non-surgical treatment for acute anterior
shoulder dislocation". Cochrane database of systematic reviews(1469-493X), (1),
p.004325.
MacAuley, Domhnall (11/12/2007). "How Should you Treat an Athlete with a First‐time
Dislocation of the Shoulder?" in Evidence-based sports medicine(1-4051-3298-1, 978-14051-3298-5), (p.361).
Puffer, James. (2002). 20 common problems in sports medicine. New York, New York: The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Schubert, H (03/01/2002). "Emergency case - Reducing anterior shoulder dislocation - Easy is
good". Canadian family physician(0008-350X), 48, p.469.