Shoulder Instability
What is it?
The shoulder has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body, but this comes at the price of potential instability. You can dislocate your shoulder at any age but the problems you experience afterwards are often dependent on the age you are when you first dislocate it. Young individuals often have problems with further dislocations whereas older individuals often have problems with damaging their rotator cuff tendons.
What is it?
The shoulder has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body, but this comes at the price of potential instability. You can dislocate your shoulder at any age but the problems you experience afterwards are often dependent on the age you are when you first dislocate it. Young individuals often have problems with further dislocations whereas older individuals often have problems with damaging their rotator cuff tendons.
What causes it?
When a shoulder dislocates it can cause structural problems to the shoulder which make it more likely for ongoing instability. The structural problems are often related to ‘the labrum’ which is the ‘washer’ which deepens the cup of the ball and socket part of the shoulder joint. This is often due to a single big injury but can be due to repetitive smaller injuries such as can occur in swimmers and throwers. Other individuals who have increased laxity in their joints, can sometimes dislocate their shoulders without causing structural problems due to poor muscle patterning.
What happens if you do nothing?
What happens after you dislocate your shoulder is highly related to the age at which you had your first dislocation. If you are under 25 and have a traumatic dislocation it is more than likely that you will continue to have problems with instability. If you are older the chances reduce significantly, although the chances of having a rotator cuff tear increase.
What happens if you do nothing?
What happens after you dislocate your shoulder is highly related to the age at which you had your first dislocation. If you are under 25 and have a traumatic dislocation it is more than likely that you will continue to have problems with instability. If you are older the chances reduce significantly, although the chances of having a rotator cuff tear increase.
What treatments are there?
Physiotherapy is often the first intervention to try and stabilise your shoulder and is the mainstay of treatment when there are no structural problems identified. When there are structural problems surgery can be helpful (these are normally identified on a MR arthrogram). This is normally performed as a key-hole operation with a success rate of roughly 90%. If you are older and sustained a rotator cuff tear which does not settle surgery may be beneficial to you as well to repair the damaged tendon