Shoulder Dislocation (Subluxation) and Ligament Laxity Question
Hello everyone. Recently, I was in the gym doing heavy skull crushers. Due to fatigue and heavy weight, I was getting to failure on a set. On my last rep of the set I was doing, my form collapsed and I didn’t notice. My shoulders likely began flaring to the side and then when i tried to move the bar up, i felt my right shoulder slip out of the socket and then slip back in immediately. Truly a terrifying experience.
Anyways, after getting it checked out, I was pretty surprised that I regained a full range of motion only within 5 days. My x ray showed that it looked like the shoulder was never dislocated. Initially, the doctors said that I may have torn my rotator cuff, but based on the healing, I don’t think this happened. Yes, I still felt some discomfort during certain movements or a bit of stretch in certain areas, but the range of motion was roughly 99% back. I thought that I recovered so quickly due to a very minor subluxation, high protein diet, lots of sleep, strict adherence to all prescribed physical therapy and taking any prescribed medication.
When I followed up with my doctor, he performed a few tests on me and said that I seemed to have “some moderate ligament laxity”. This was surprising news to me as no one in my family ever had this said to them. This means that my ligaments are a bit more loose/stretchy than the average person. The doctor strongly believes this contributed to my injury. It appears to be a really double-edged sword based on the research that I’ve been doing, as it can result in a higher chance of dislocations/subluxations, but if they do occur, a faster healing time is possible. It can also help reduce the severity of injuries if I was going to get injured anyways.
I was wondering if there’s anyone in the fitness community that has a similar condition and how it affects your gym or fitness routine. For me, when i return to gym, I’ll be doing more work on the stabilizers and rotator cuff to really strengthen up the muscles surrounding the shoulder to better hold it in place. Would love to hear your experiences with this and how I can better approach gym with this new information.