Dislocated Shoulder (or how not to Ski)

In February 2012, I had a trip to Mayrhofen, Austria to take the 4 years of dust accumulating on my ski boots. Come to think of it, a duster would have been a quicker and cheaper option than wiping them in the fresh snow of the Austrian Alps.

The first 4 days of the holiday went amazing sweet. Perfect flight (Innsbruck airport is one of the nicest airports to land) and the ski resort had a good dollop of snow the week before.

[Update... I couldn't be bothered typing this blog post in, as I was starting to bore myself, I'll get down to the nitty gritty...]


I made the mistake of looking up a mountain while skiing down. This cause me to land shoulder first from a 10 foot drop, resulting in a dislocated shoulder. The right picture is after the accident, the left is after they slotted my shoulder back.

Unfortunately, I was about 30 miles away from the ski resort when it happened. Top tip, no matter what a "friend" says about you'll okay be skiing back, don't believe them. Skiing back to the resort meant skiing down numerous red and blue runs and the occasional chair and button lift. Using a button lift with a dislocated shoulder is painful.

When I finally got back to the resort, I couldn't find a doctors. I found plenty of trees (remembering Lethal Weapon, a swift hit to the tree can relocate it), I decided to find visit our hotel and talk to the guest services. They pointed me in the direction of a local medical centre.

After about 6 hours since dislocating my shoulder the kind medics finally popped it back into place. It took about 15 minutes and cost £700. They advised on having a MRI scan when I got back home. I also got a fancy looking sling, pain killers and ice bag. For the next few days I had to be careful taking off my t-shirt and washing my back in the shower.

When I got back home, it was proving impossible to get an appointment at my local doctors. To get an appointment you need to call between 8am and 8:05am, if you miss, all the slots will be booked up. I missed my slot for 2 days. On the third day I got an appointment with the doctor. They said skiing was a dangerous sport and could I call back in a week or so when my usual doctor is back from holiday. WTF!

After several weeks I got a physiotherapist. The doctors said a MRI scan isn't needed on someone my age (37), as I should make a full recovery. The physio gave me a few exercises to do. No exercises should be done within 4 weeks of dislocating a shoulder.

It's been 5 months since dislocating my shoulder. Most of the time it feels fine, but I get the odd twinge every now and again. It's not a painful one, just "odd". It mostly occurs when I'm cycling.