Shoulder Axillary nerve injury from high side crash. Best therapies?

EricZ38
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EricZ38
Edited Date/Time 6/27/2022 8:54pm
High sided and majorly dislocated my shoulder. “Massive” tears to rotator cuff, torn labrum, dislocated bicep tendon were repaired. Axillary nerve was also damaged requiring a nerve graft. In recovery from that and making pretty good progress but it’s been a very long road. Hopefully none of you ever had to experience this but if you have and recovered pretty well what therapy motions/treatments did you find most effective?
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TXDirt
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TXDirt 6/26/2022 7:30pm
6/26/2022 7:30pm
Damn bro that’s some serious shoulder trauma. I hope you make a full recovery. I would ask your PT team. I’m sure they have some good ideas hopefully.
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EricZ38
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EricZ38 6/26/2022 8:57pm
6/26/2022 8:57pm
Yep been working extensively with PT. It’s not a common injury though except for serious trauma from bike accidents etc. Just wondering if anybody else encountered it and what they did.
jmc2
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jmc2 6/26/2022 9:00pm
6/26/2022 9:00pm
Sounds like quite a bit of damage. How long ago was the surgery and what activities did the doctor prescribe? Passive range or active. Internal/external rotation, shoulder flexion?
soggy
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soggy 6/26/2022 9:20pm
6/26/2022 9:20pm
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DrinkMoreWater 6/27/2022 9:43am
6/27/2022 9:43am
DMSO will help with the healing for sure, same claim it can repair things like nerves I'm not sure about never had nerve issue, but it certainly speeds up injury recoveries for me..
147leeman
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147leeman 6/27/2022 12:41pm
6/27/2022 12:41pm
My condensed version from age 23. Close to same damage as yours, zero surgeries (coming off of 2 acl reconstructions). Several unrepairable nerves left me with hardly any deltoid muscle. The same sports orthos that take care of indycar and indy colts put me through workouts to build any muscles nearby to "make up for my shoulder"...really the trapezious did wonders. With unrepairable nerves, the muscles won't fire. The nearby muscles have to be utilized for any sports movements. Now I was lucky that at an angle of say a bench press, no weakness. Above that angle, we call it my barbie arm. All in all, racing without crashing is normal. Other sports, throwing etc....I'm a joke. Crashing in mx took a weird turn of events. In a split second crash I will not ever ever put my arm out or elbow out. Guess what? I've had 11 emt diagnosed concussions from helmet slap to the ground.
I somehow still can't get that right arm out to the dirt and the slight head smacks now do me in. Sorry I'm not of help, but please lift the angles you can lift with muscles that make up for your loss....and due to my age and weight now...I should've never quit. Photos show my right shoulder joint (Thor pants).

JaredPartridge 6/27/2022 1:26pm
6/27/2022 1:26pm
I completely damaged my left deltoid when I was 8 and spent a lot of time in PT learning how to re-use my arm. I have no muscle or feeling from the top of my shoulder to the middle of my bicep. I couldn't lift above my head for quite a few months until I learned to use my back muscles more. If I focus on it when I do use my left arm (right handed), I can feel which muscles fire. I cant have my arm too high or my shoulder will fall out of its socket and its not pleasant getting it back in.

Lots of upper back and trap exercises are really your best bet. Obviously strengthen the shoulder back up the best you can, but the surrounding muscles will help a bunch. Band stretches are good to start with no weight, and my therapist way back then put me on the electric shock thing to relearn/focus on what muscles to use. Good core strength will help you feel a bit more stable on the bike as well. Swimming is almost always a good bet for any major limb injury if you enjoy that.
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Mxkid823
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Mxkid823 6/27/2022 1:28pm
6/27/2022 1:28pm
I actually sustained this injury when I was 11 years old without any other injuries or trauma to my shoulder. My family sought answers for a year or so with local doctors back home in NY and they all lead to tendon and muscle issues but I had little to no mobility when raising my right arm up in a chicken wing position. Finally after two years we located a specialist that diagnosed me with this after two nerve tests, but they said it was unrecoverable due to time since trauma. My deltoid deflated to nothing after about 1 year so I've had to build up my bicep and triceps to help keep up. The doctors told me to really just focus on that as there was nothing to do for the deltoid. 15 years later I ride as if nothing ever happened, if anything it affects me more doing stupid things like driving with one hand or picking up a heavy bag of groceries with a stiff arm. I wish I had more help for recovery from a surgery I wish I was able to have, but I hope it's reassuring that it can be done either way!
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EricZ38
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EricZ38 6/27/2022 4:31pm
6/27/2022 4:31pm Edited Date/Time 6/27/2022 4:52pm
Wow. Thanks for the replies. I’m sorry to hear what you guys have experienced and commend your spirit to push on despite it. You guys have really stuck with it and take some big risks to keep riding. My short story is I’m 52 and l quit riding dirt for 10 years after I tore my acl, mcl and meniscus at 40 while riding. My job depends on my health and I didn’t want to risk another crash.

Fast forward to 2 years ago I developed a cancerous tumor. It was successfully removed with no sign of spread. I’m not super religious but I was scared and do thank God daily.

Three months after the tumor was removed and I was scheduled for CT scans every 3 months to check my lungs I thought f-it, who knows how long I’ve got so I’m gonna start riding again and try some woods racing. Went good until the 5th round when I crashed. Kind of forgot that maybe I could survive this tumor but still really screw myself up. ; )

Fortunately I’ve had really talented surgeons and a reasonably quick diagnosis of the nerve damage so the nerve transfer is expected to be successful. They’ve told me that “believe it or not you are one of the lucky ones.”

The injury was 6-13-21, shoulder surgery in August and the nerve graft 1-04-22. From what you guys have described I have a better prognosis and I’m reversing the atrophy but its been and will continue to be a long road. I’m done riding until I’m ready to retire because my employer has been fantastic and I don’t want to put them or myself in another bad situation.

What really saved me was I kept pushing and asking questions and getting more opinions. Finally a surgeon put me in touch with a nerve surgeon at OSU who immediately upon examining me said “you need another surgery ASAP or you will never recover any more than you have now.” It’s my understanding that it needs to be done within a year of injury or the damage becomes irreversible just as you’ve said.
147leeman
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147leeman 6/27/2022 5:27pm
6/27/2022 5:27pm
In the racerx mags they called it "the reason for being". Great life you have here and I admire what you have been through. Ride again another day is what dad said and I still believe. I've raced now for 28 years, mainly motocross and now to offroad...when I "feel it" I ride like in my twenties. When I struggle, I laugh and help other riders...we do have a small group of seniors racing and they are family whether they know it or not. Some put in two laps per offroad race, and they're the best friends ever. I admire you won't stop. Put in the work, but most of all have fun. Thank you for staying in our race community.
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EricZ38
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EricZ38 6/27/2022 8:52pm
6/27/2022 8:52pm Edited Date/Time 6/27/2022 8:54pm
Thanks for the kind words and the same back to you. Honestly I was always more of a pavement/sport bike/supermoto guy who would ride dirt periodically on and off. Wasn’t allowed to ride as a kid and snuck rides on my friends dirt bikes so I never been that good or competitive but I do love it.

Even though I’m not riding now I support it as much as ever, go to national MX, Supercross and woods races to spectate and stream moto content all the time. I won’t let this sour me on the sport. I’ll get back riding someday just wanna recover as much as I can for now. Good luck to you and thanks for sharing your stories.

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