Ok, so info dump time. About 2 years ago i was drinking while wife was out of town. Got pretty hammered and went to bed. Woke up with alot of shoulder pain. I thought i slept on it wrong and it would go away in a couple days. It didnt, it kind of dulled down, but is still here 2 years later. Havent wanted to go into a PT cause i just kept thinking it would go away with stretching and what not and i would just ignore it. Fast forward a bit, i was playing with my son on a playground and he asked if i could do the monkey bars, i said of course and proceeded to try. As soon as i started to hang the pain was horrible and i subconciously dropped immediately. The pain is worst when i try to lift something over my head or put my arms up and try to rotate my arm. This week, though, i have started swimming and biking to get ready for a triathlon. The pain has started to get worse and i am noticing my pinky and ring finger on the hand on that side of my body kind of feel off, not quite numb but kind of tingly. also i am making alot more typing mistakes that i used to not make ( Im a software developer) as well as it hurts just to have my arm resting on my desk. Im starting to think my shoulder may be out of socket. Could this be causing the problems i am suffering? Could it stay out of socket that long? Any advice would be appreciated, and i know people are going to say go see a PT, but i am in the process of switching jobs and am currently labeled as a contractor with no benefits until december so i really want to treat at home if possible.

I have tried daily stetching but it seems like the more i stretch it, the worse it is the next day.

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like a possible partial tear in your rotator cuff.

If it was out of socket you would know for sure. You might have some damage in there - but it ain't dislocated.

Anything i can do for this at home besides heat, cold and tylenol?

Gotcha, ya the pain is no where near something where i would "Just know it" I would say when im doing something it doesnt like the pain spikes to a 7 or 8 but normal dull ache is a 4 to 5 out of 10

If it's rotator cuff which sounds like it is , surgery is probably your only option to get pain free and back to full use.   Even then maybe not.  Sorry

Mine is torn I elected not to have surgery.  The constant pain went away but I have to be careful what I lift and how I reach for things to avoid reinjury

A visit to an orthopedic surgeon is in order ASAP. This is not something to cheap out on as it could affect your career.

If it is your rotator cuff, without an MRI it is impossible for a doctor to determine a correct course of action to take. I had torn mine several years ago due to a head-on collision with another vehicle. The doctors recommended surgery, but I waited until it healed on its own, taking almost two years. Due to the injury, I could no longer perform certain physical tasks and stopped lifting weights, it permanently ended my competing in MMA etc...I finally recovered, began exercising/weight lifting and am now back to where I was before the accident, but I will say that while I was healing, it was a very unpleasant time in my life. The pain was 24/7, and no matter how I placed my arm, the pain was there, many sleepless nights.

With the little bit of numbness, it kind of sounds like "subacromial bursa impingement", and that your drunken night with you not even knowing what you may have done to hurt yourself, may be coincidental.

If you want to try a little bit of PT on your own, the book "Bulletproof Your Shoulder" has some very easy to do exercises.  It also gives a lay man's description of how shoulder mechanisms work.

Oh yeah, I dislocated my shoulder the first time back in the early 80's, playing basket ball, and lordy, yes, you will absolutely KNOW that you dislocated it!

Thank you! i will get this book ASAP

That sounds alot like where i am at, the pain is constantly there, a dull aching. Nights it gets a bit worse depending on how i lay, but no matter what it never really goes away

I'm going with Ebola.

Yep, based on what everyone has said here it definately sounds like i need to schedule a visit. Just sucks that i cant till December 1. Thank you for your advice!

How long do i have doc!

It's not out of its socket -- you'd know that.

It may be subluxating though.

I dislocated my shoulder, and sprained my AC joint playing high school football. Neglected surgery, and did PT for 8 weeks instead. Ended football for me, because it would pop out pretty easily any time I put the arm in a vulnerable position (think rebounding a basketball, or reaching out to try and grab a running back, eating shit on my motocross bike).  Sometimes dislocated and I had to pop it back in, but other times just a subluxation, where it would pop partially out, hurt like a mofo, pop itself back in, and just be semi-numb and sore for several days.

It's been 10yrs now since I messed it up. I got in to lifting like a year ago, so I'm in the best shape I've been in over that 10yr span, and it hurts much less and I feel more confident in it than I have before. I've subluxated it a few times lifting (once on overhead DB press, once on flat bench DB press, once on high pulley cable crosses), but it was very minor compared to what it felt like years ago when I did that. I assume that weight lifting has improved the strength of the surrounding muscles enough to keep it from popping out as far as it used to.

Maybe nerve damage from sleeping on it really weird/wrong? I had one time a couple months ago where I fell asleep in a really awkward position, and my entire arm (on the bad side) was numb when I woke up. I had some residual pain and very minor loss of feeling like you describe, for a couple days after.

I hope thats all the minor loss of feeling is. Its driving me nuts, i feel like im being sloppy when typing or even just moving the mouse around.

spent two years on college with dislocating shoulder, 70% tear of the labrum and rotator cuff structure. it'd dislocate in games, wedge into my rib and I'd have to run off the field and get it put back in place.


Sounds like you have a minor labrum tear from probably falling and putting your arm down and catching yourself.  It doesn't grow back, requires surgical intervention. It's definitely not dislocated, you'd know, and see it, immediately.  

because of the labrum tear,  it may be sub-luxing,  which means partially sliding out of the capsule,  and it kind of impinges on the rim of the little crater in the bone that holds the backside of the joint.  When it pinches the edge of that bone ridge it hurts real bad. If you wiggle your arm around and tighten the capsule with muscle, it'll push it back in place and you'll feel relief almost immediately.



you can actually control it with a very strong muscle capsule and exercise, but it'll always hurt when you rotate the shoulder to that position or try to hold weight.


go see an orthopedic surgeon.  And do your therapy after. It's super important. The shoulder joint is pretty weak.

Your rotator is fucked.... Welcome to the club.

Sounds like a labrum tear.

ETA I had one. Elected to forgo the surgery and concentrated on strengthening my muscles around it (buddy is a physical therapist) and 7 years later it's pretty much fine.

Yay, didnt expect to start falling apart at 27 though.

Mine started at 26.

I'm 28 now and it's healed fairly well, but lifting heavy tears it about every 3-6 months.

Surgery is the only answer. After 2 years you probably have atrophy.  It will never go back to being the way it was

Yep, I did the same thing while asleep years ago

You can have surgery to fix it

I let mine heal on its own.  I learned not to raise my arm over my head

Yep, sounds like a labrum tear to me as well.......almost feels like a toothache inside your shoulder....

Are you overweight?  Pre diabetic?  Could be frozen shoulder. Either way, it's the rotator...

not pre diabetic, a little overweight yes. Stocky kind of build