- Mar 18, 2010
- 356
- 0
- 9,280
Re: Re:
Is anyone interested in the experiences of someone (me) who has had a subluxation of their shoulder joint perhaps 30-40 times (I've lost count) over the last 3 decades since the initial incident? There's no guarantee that my experiences mirror Contador's, but what I can tell you is a heck of a lot more relevant than "My friend told me..." or "I read somewhere that" or someone's one-time experience. Instead, this is a first-hand sampling of many, many such incidents.
First and most important, these generalizations about whether it is or is not "serious" are not well-founded, in terms of the degree of pain or discomfort it might be causing Contador or how much it may or may not be impeding him. Quite frankly, we just don't know.
Hurts like a b***h for the brief amount of time until the shoulder joint pops itself back in, enough pain to effectively immobilize for those few seconds, instant relief once it's back in, then the soreness building up rapidly over the next 1-2 hours.
MILD: I've had a number of incidents where all I had was a sore shoulder for 1-2 days, and probably could have done a decent job on a road bike (with the shoulder joint in a stable and known low position). Would I want to try to perform mano e mano with some of the best in the world during this time? Absolutely not. Even if Contador's incident was on this most mild side all credit to him for riding through it and matching his rivals.
SEVERE: I've had a very small number of incidents where I had pain and discomfort for a number of weeks, one time even a few months, during the early stages of which it would have been almost impossible to ride a bike at any notable level of effort. Formal physio and rehab was required to regain anything approaching normal strength and range of motion. So to all those saying this type of injury is no big deal, that's complete BS. It can actually be very debilitating.
MODERATE: The rest of the incidents fell in between these two extremes, where the inflammation and discomfort lasted anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, and especially painful (to the point of affecting sleep) for the first couple of days. Although I can't personally imagine competitively riding a bike during these times, I suppose with medication, treatment, and enough determination it may be possible. It would be exceedingly important to keep the shoulder in a low and stable position, preferably without any sudden jolts or forces applied through to the shoulder or at least those that apply the force through a range of motion rather than simply bracing (against handlebars). Should probably get way better within 2-5 days after if he can make it through that period.
My ligaments are somewhat stretched now so that it is more likely for me to have a mild incident. The first few of times, occurring when my ligaments were more normal and undamaged, were the worst. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd place Contador's incident somewhere between mild and moderate as I have described them above, given that he is able to perform decently on the bike, but that it is his first incident of this type that we know of, with no previous incidents mentioned in any of the reports.
As for my own situation, in the past decade or so I've revised my slate of recreational activities to mostly avoid the ones that were causing incidents, but still happens infrequently (once every couple of years) in spills on the bike, mostly while mountain biking, but a couple while road riding also.
The_Cheech said:LaFlorecita said:FWIW there were plenty of people who said they had had a shoulder dislocation and had issues for weeks, massive pain etc and couldn't move arm, so there is clearly a big difference between individual cases.Maaaaaaaarten said:Nice win by Beñat!
By the way; let's now finally agree that dislocated joints are usually not very serious - like everybody who has experience with them has been saying all the time already - and Contador is more or less fine so we can stop making a drama about his shoulder........
Noooot true!
Dislocations alone are not that painful. It´s the inflamation and/or infection that can be really painfull.
Maaaaaaaarten said:LaFlorecita said:
True but you could see Contador dancing on the bike and his his shoulder already multiple times, so clearly it wasn't that bad.
I also have a friend who got a dislocated shoulder and needed serious painkillers a few days after and couldn't really use his shoulder for a couple of weeks. But he actually damaged some stuff and his shoulder because of the dislocation and that was also the diagnosis of the doctor. If Contador had said 'I dislocated my shoulder and I damaged a ligament' or something, I would've been inclined to take it more seriously.
But anyway, for whatever doubt remained, it was good to see Contador is indeed not hurt too bad and we still have a nice three way battle in the Giro.
(Although, to be honest, I still don't believe Porte can be consistent for three weeks. So I suspect it will be just between Aru and Contador)
Is anyone interested in the experiences of someone (me) who has had a subluxation of their shoulder joint perhaps 30-40 times (I've lost count) over the last 3 decades since the initial incident? There's no guarantee that my experiences mirror Contador's, but what I can tell you is a heck of a lot more relevant than "My friend told me..." or "I read somewhere that" or someone's one-time experience. Instead, this is a first-hand sampling of many, many such incidents.
First and most important, these generalizations about whether it is or is not "serious" are not well-founded, in terms of the degree of pain or discomfort it might be causing Contador or how much it may or may not be impeding him. Quite frankly, we just don't know.
Hurts like a b***h for the brief amount of time until the shoulder joint pops itself back in, enough pain to effectively immobilize for those few seconds, instant relief once it's back in, then the soreness building up rapidly over the next 1-2 hours.
MILD: I've had a number of incidents where all I had was a sore shoulder for 1-2 days, and probably could have done a decent job on a road bike (with the shoulder joint in a stable and known low position). Would I want to try to perform mano e mano with some of the best in the world during this time? Absolutely not. Even if Contador's incident was on this most mild side all credit to him for riding through it and matching his rivals.
SEVERE: I've had a very small number of incidents where I had pain and discomfort for a number of weeks, one time even a few months, during the early stages of which it would have been almost impossible to ride a bike at any notable level of effort. Formal physio and rehab was required to regain anything approaching normal strength and range of motion. So to all those saying this type of injury is no big deal, that's complete BS. It can actually be very debilitating.
MODERATE: The rest of the incidents fell in between these two extremes, where the inflammation and discomfort lasted anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, and especially painful (to the point of affecting sleep) for the first couple of days. Although I can't personally imagine competitively riding a bike during these times, I suppose with medication, treatment, and enough determination it may be possible. It would be exceedingly important to keep the shoulder in a low and stable position, preferably without any sudden jolts or forces applied through to the shoulder or at least those that apply the force through a range of motion rather than simply bracing (against handlebars). Should probably get way better within 2-5 days after if he can make it through that period.
My ligaments are somewhat stretched now so that it is more likely for me to have a mild incident. The first few of times, occurring when my ligaments were more normal and undamaged, were the worst. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd place Contador's incident somewhere between mild and moderate as I have described them above, given that he is able to perform decently on the bike, but that it is his first incident of this type that we know of, with no previous incidents mentioned in any of the reports.
As for my own situation, in the past decade or so I've revised my slate of recreational activities to mostly avoid the ones that were causing incidents, but still happens infrequently (once every couple of years) in spills on the bike, mostly while mountain biking, but a couple while road riding also.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram