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When I was a sophmore in college, I was crossing some train tracks when I slipped, fell, and dislocated my right shoulder. One of the risks of dislocating that particular joint is that it will be permanently weakened and the joint will have difficulty staying in place. But I recovered without incident, except for occasional issues with muscle weakness and being able to tell when it's about to rain.
Until today.
I was walking up the stairs in my apartment, about to head out the door for work, when I tripped on something. My own feet, a stair tread, the cuff of my pants, who knows? All I know is that I fell, and landed badly. And I immediately knew that I had knocked the shoulder out of joint. It didn't hurt, not in comparison anyway (the original injury is my benchmark for pain, the "at least it doesn't hurt as much as when I dislocated my shoulder" mark), but it felt wrong. I could just tell that something was not where it belonged. T helped me up off the stairs and down to the living room, and after some pushing and prodding, I felt and heard a crunch as it popped back into place. And that's when it started to hurt. Naturally, this is the day I'm driving to an important morning meeting in Sacramento (about 90 miles each way). So I stuff myself with drugs and go. Not the easiest drive I ever made. Reaching for my coffee cup was really awkward. Fortunately traffic was pretty light in both directions.
Now I'm not quite sure what to do. The joint is clearly weak and probably will be for several days, but I'm certain that everything is back where it belongs, and I don't think a doctor could do anything other than give me medicine for the residual pain. I'm already taking megadoses of ibuprofin, which seem sufficient. If I don't lift any heavy boxes or do anything else too exerting for the next few days, I should be okay, right? But I am concerned that this shows permanent weakness in the shoulder. Worth getting it looked at, or not? Hmm.
Until today.
I was walking up the stairs in my apartment, about to head out the door for work, when I tripped on something. My own feet, a stair tread, the cuff of my pants, who knows? All I know is that I fell, and landed badly. And I immediately knew that I had knocked the shoulder out of joint. It didn't hurt, not in comparison anyway (the original injury is my benchmark for pain, the "at least it doesn't hurt as much as when I dislocated my shoulder" mark), but it felt wrong. I could just tell that something was not where it belonged. T helped me up off the stairs and down to the living room, and after some pushing and prodding, I felt and heard a crunch as it popped back into place. And that's when it started to hurt. Naturally, this is the day I'm driving to an important morning meeting in Sacramento (about 90 miles each way). So I stuff myself with drugs and go. Not the easiest drive I ever made. Reaching for my coffee cup was really awkward. Fortunately traffic was pretty light in both directions.
Now I'm not quite sure what to do. The joint is clearly weak and probably will be for several days, but I'm certain that everything is back where it belongs, and I don't think a doctor could do anything other than give me medicine for the residual pain. I'm already taking megadoses of ibuprofin, which seem sufficient. If I don't lift any heavy boxes or do anything else too exerting for the next few days, I should be okay, right? But I am concerned that this shows permanent weakness in the shoulder. Worth getting it looked at, or not? Hmm.