Men's Journal

Q: I dislocated my shoulder and tried to snap it back into place like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 2, but it didn’t work. What’s the trick?

A: As a doctor, I should know what to do in this situation, but like you, I learned the hard way what not to do by trying to jostle my shoulder back into place. While I was filming an episode of Dr. Danger in Yemen, I decided to do a little bouldering. After I’d gotten about 30 feet up the rock, it started crumbling and I fell, dislocating my left shoulder upon impact. No amount of maneuvering got it back into place. I’d wasted so much time trying to do it myself that once I gave up and went to a doctor to have it professionally relocated, the muscles had seized up, I was in excruciating pain, and they had to give me a sedative to relax the joint enough to slip the ball back into the socket. Lesson learned: Do not try to relocate your own shoulder or let an untrained person attempt it (on top of it not usually working, you could cause nerve damage). Instead, get to the closest doctor — fast.

—-

Email your questions for Dr. Bob Arnot to dr.bob@mensjournal.com.

This article originally appeared in the June/July 2010 issue of Men’s Journal.