I am sure most remember the Rugby World Cup Final against England in 2019. In the first quarter of the match Lood de Jager (age 26) dislocated his right shoulder after making a tackle on an English player.
The Springbok lock underwent surgery to his right shoulder. He had a remarkable recovery in under 12 weeks.
We often hear of Shoulder Dislocations in sport, especially rugby but what is a shoulder dislocation?
Let’s start by explaining how the shoulder joint look and function.
The Shoulder is a ball and socket joint. Most shoulder movements occur where the ball at the top of your arm (Humerus) fits into the socket (Glenoid), which is part of the shoulder blade (Scapula). The arm is normally held in the socket by soft tissue.
A dislocated shoulder is when the ball is wrenched out of its socket. The force can also tear or partially tear the ligaments, muscles and shoulder capsule surrounding the joint.
Once the shoulder has been restored to its normal position in the socket, this is just the beginning of the rehabilitation process, that can take 6 to 12 months to complete. It is very important for you to strengthen your shoulder and to be able to move it through a range of movements without experiencing any pain.
The Rehabilitation process can be split up into 3 phases.
Phase 1 – The phase starts after the shoulder has been put back into it’s socket.
You will have to wear a sling and can experience pain for up to 2-3 weeks.
Your Physiotherapist will give you some gentle movements for the arm and assist in treatment of soft tissue.
Phase 2 – In this phase your Biokineticist in conjunction with your Physiotherapist will focus on increasing your range of movement and start to increase your muscle strength in your shoulder
Phase 3 – The aim of this phase with your Biokineticist is to make progress towards functional and sporting activities, helping you to regain the neuromuscular control of your shoulder and re-trains your proprioception.
Your Biokineticist will give you exercises that are as similar as possible to the movements you do during your sporting activities.
