Do seperated shoulders ever truly heal ?

I seperated my shoulder about 3 years ago.

It was not a serious seperation, and didn't require surgery or even the use of a sling when it was healing.

But it feels like it never truly healed. If I sleep on that side, my shoulder will get really sore for as much as a few weeks again.

And if I am rough-housing and use my effected arm to brace my fall, my shoulder will get all sore for a few days to a few weeks.

Do these injuries ever truly heal ? Or are they always with us in a latent form, ready to come back in some form if we aren't careful ?

All seperations/dislocations weaken the involved structures and make repeat seperations/dislocations more likely...unless surgically corrected. Lift carefully.

Shoulder injuries are very tough to deal with, and can take forever to heal. Google for 'Wayne S. Hill', 'Bob Mann,' and 'shoulders' or 'rotator cuff.'

You know what's cool? I can dislocate my right shoulder at will. I don't think it's any weaker because of it. Maybe it's not really dilocation...

...but I can pop it right out of its socket and pull the arm partway around my neck. I can touch my right ear with my right hand, by reaching around behind my head, under my neck and back up on the right side. And not just the bottom of the earlobe - I reach right past the top of the ear.

Now that's a talent to be proud of - and I've been able to do this all my life. I've heard of others with this talent as well, but I've yet to meet them.

I should take a pic and post a jpeg somewhere.

I separated my left shoulder about 10 years ago, never had surgery. The strength came back fine

I'm sure some of you guys are familar with the ' 7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution ' book by Jerry Robinson.

In this book, Robinson sayd that a person who has had a shoulder seperation should not do parrallel bar dips because of the stress on the AC joint that dips cause.

Do you guys agree with this ?

I used to love doing dips and want to get back to doing them again when I'm able.

I wonder if Dips are only bad for the AC joint at certain points but not others.

It seems to me that at full extension ( at the top ), would be the point where Dips had the most chance of re-injuring a previously seperated shoulder.

I've done dips after a shoulder separation, although I left it a long while before I got back into them. I doin't go quite as low as I used to to pre-injury, and I've had no recurring shoulder problems. But one example does not a case make!

The top of the dip would be full *contraction*, not extension, no? The full extension position, when your body is lowest, would be the most risky to the shoulder joint. As I noted above, I don't go quite as low these days as I used to, just for that reason.

Do 'em slow and careful, maybe start off only going partially down until you see how your shoulders are handling it, or maybe even start off with bench dips.

HTH, G.

Thanks, Glen