Yet Another Shoulder ? (Capsulitis/Bursitis)

[saligia 0]

I screwed my right shoulder up many, many moons ago in taekwondo and the doc told me I had a nasty case of both capsulitis and bursitis. It got so bad at the time that I had absolutely no range of motion, couldn't move my arm at all, and couldn't pick up anything for a while... Surgery was a possibility but as they couldn't guarantee anything with that, I went through therapy instead, and then a few years later eventually hit the gym to build up the muscles in that area (extra bonus as I was trying to pack on some weight!).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I made my first jump (tandem). We were instructed to notify them of any health conditions, of which I have a few, and I really hadn't thought about my shoulder as it doesn't give quite as many problems present day. The DZ informed us that we should notify them of any old injuries and gave us an example of a guy who had recently jumped without telling them of a history of dislocating his shoulder.... He dislocated his shoulder during the jump. Reportedly, they told us not to scare us but so they could make appropriate adjustments to the gear so that it would be less likely to occur if we had similar past injuries.

IS THIS TRUE? Can one make "adjustments" to one's gear so that there's not as much pressure on one's shoulder? I ask because my shoulder was fine immediately after my jump (I also admittedly was still on quite the high!), but later in the day, I started experiencing the same pains/issues in my shoulder that I recall having from years ago. As I have another tandem scheduled in not quite a month and I'm hoping to start an AFP course soon, I'm hoping that this isn't going to be a constant complaint. (Granted, I suspect I may need to simply drag my ass back to the gym for more regular time again as I've been slacking...) Just not sure if this will be adequate, or if there are other things that I can do to help?

Anyone had issues with these particular shoulder issues (capsulitis/bursitis)? I used the search function but most of the results seem to be either general shoulder pain or dislocated shoulders. Suggestions welcome!

Cheers,

saligia

[dragon2 2]

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Can one make "adjustments" to one's gear so that there's not as much pressure on one's shoulder?

No, you just are told to keep your arms in front of your body for the freefall part, not "fly" as that puts pressure on your shoulders.

IMO, if you're having pain now, jumping freefall by yourself might not be a good idea. Definitely tell your instructors about your issue, for your own safety.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[saligia 0]

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No, you just are told to keep your arms in front of your body for the freefall part, not "fly" as that puts pressure on your shoulders.

IMO, if you're having pain now, jumping freefall by yourself might not be a good idea. Definitely tell your instructors about your issue, for your own safety.

To clarify the pain, it wasn't nearly the same intensity as I experienced in the past and only lasted for those few hours much later in the day of the jump--more like a deep soreness, if that makes any sense; until that jump, I've not had ANY issues for YEARS, and no further problems since the jump. Just not sure if it will be a reoccurring problem, which of course I suspect no one is really going to be able to answer for me.

In the meantime, think I will start frequenting the gym more regularly again, as I was previously instructed that I *technically* should lift on a regular basis anyway. Then, I will see how the next tandem jump goes (definitely plan on keeping the instructors apprised of the shoulder just in case!), and hope that I simply need to restrengthen my shoulder area as I've lost some muscle mass, especially in that area, in the past 6-12 months.

Thanks for the response! This is something I have always wanted to do and something I have every intention of pursuing, but I have no desire to frak my body up even further (er, at least too much!) in the process.