A short essay on dislocated shoulders and weak side carry.

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PJ11B3VF7

New member
A couple of weeks ago I managed to dislocate my right shoulder three times within 4 days.

How does this affect me? Well I now have severely limited range of movement and strength in my right arm which has forced me to re-examine the way I train.

I can shoot decently with my left hand, but I've never carried on my left. All my previous training involved drawing from strong side carry, but even when training for it my assumption was that my right arm would be out of play. I carried a knife on my weak side just in case my primary would be "busy" and I needed to access a weapon, but never gave a thought to dedicated weak side carry.

I hate to admit this, but I don't have any left-hand holsters, so I've been carrying mexican style. Thankfully, I have a holster maker who understands and is quickly building me a couple of left handed holsters.

Moral of this story is to never become complacent about your training and never, ever ignore training on your weak side. I know I won't in the future.

Just for reference, I carry a full size 1911, a P7M8 or a Glock 26 depending on the weather, and after surgery next week I'll be spending even more time on the range.
 
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Bulldog44

New member
I agree with you about continuous training. I can handle a firearm right or left-handed. When I was around 11 or so, I broke my right arm and couldn't use it for a long time. Thus, I learned quickly to handle rifles and shotguns left-handed as well. When I moved on to handguns too, I practiced repeatedly with using both hands, left hand, and right hand. I'd hate to be well-practiced in using a handgun with only my right hand and a BG manage to clip me in that arm.
 
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PJ11B3VF7

New member
Yep, the other important thing I've learned is that I NEED to have lefty holsters for all the firearms that I carry.
 
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45Rookie

New member
I have no idea how you managed to dislocate you shoulder that many times in that short period of a time. Depending on how old you are and what previous traumas that you have had I would definetly have that baby xrayed to make sure that there were no avulsion fractures. IF you can find a good chiropractor or physical therapist in your area that can help you restore the range of motion in your shoulder. To make a long story short the shoulder girdle is comprised of your collar bone (clavical) shoulder blades (scalpula) and the gleno-humeal joint (shoulder) All of these structures have an attachement to the rotator cuff muscles in your shoulder and your pectoralis (chest muscles).
Dislocation of you shoulder is due to some mm instablities or major trauma. Babing your shoulder 2 long will lead to the development of frozen shoulder problems or the build up of scar tissue in your joint capsule.
Also this lack of motion will also lead you to compensate in other areas, too much to explain for the reasons of this article, but you will notice that your training of the weak side will be more difficult and your breathing will be slightly off due to the muscle shortening and lengthening of the upper extremity. Loads that were once 50/50 on each side of the body will be compromised.
Conclusion: Get the damn thing rehabed as soon as possible so you can shoot properly. To a fast and healthy recovery:D
 
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Blue Heeler

Moderator
Just an aside,for anyone who carries a gun in a shoulder holster.
If you happen to have a fall,even from a small distance,try like hell not to land on the side you are carrying on.The the result can be painful,cracked or bruised ribs.I know,I've done it,and it's no fun at all.
 
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BrianBeretta

Guest
Dislocated shoulder

I was just curious as to how exactly your shoulder dislocated, and if you had done it before. I am only 21 and have had surgery on both my shoulders (left and right) due to dislocations and have gone through almost a yr of therapy for each shoulder no longer allowing me to play contact sports, however I seem to be able to shoot fine. I know form experience that when you get to the point of being able to dislocate 4 times you have likely done damage that is only correctable by surgery, that is if you dont want it to dislocate anymore. Once you TEAR, rather than stretch the shoulder girdle, the idea of the shoulder healing itself is unfortunatelty unrealistic.

I wish you the best, and hope it stays in place.
Brian.
 
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PJ11B3VF7

New member
I dislocated it when I bounced off the ground on a recent jump. That's what happens sometimes when you have gusting ground winds on a DZ and you're jumping a T-10C. It popped out again an hour after it was "relocated" and then two days later when getting dressed. I'm working on strengthening it with a physical therapist and getting surgery soon.

Surgery is on the 11th of March. I have an "anterior instability to bony Bankart lesion". Should be interesting since this will be the first major surgery in my life.

On the plus side, my ability to shoot left handed is improving rapidly. Now if only my holsters would arrive. :rolleyes:

PS. Thanks Tamara :D
 
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