I Dislocated My Shoulder During Boxing… Now What?

Shoulder injuries are probably the worst in the boxing industry, as they take a long time to heal and can limit a lot of your punching ability.

Sometimes you might just get hit there, get a bruise, rest a week and you’re good to go, but sadly shoulder dislocation, or in other words, popping out, happens, thankfully there are ways to treat it, if you do it correctly.

Once you get it

As soon as you get your shoulder dislocated, get it relocated back by going to the emergency room, or by your coach or anything in the place who knows how to do it. Once it’s back in do not continue boxing in any sort of way, as your goal after that is to consult your doctor as fast as possible.

The doctor will examine the injury and determine whether or not send you to a physical therapist or an orthopedic surgeon, depending on the severity.

I know that once the shoulder is set back in it can definitely reduce the pain and make you think that you don’t have to go to the doctor, but you definitely should. First of all, if you get your shoulder popped out even once, it’s not uncommon for it to happen again, not to mention that it can be dangerous to not get it checked out, as in some cases serious damage to the arm or shoulder can occur.

If there is no need for a surgery, you might just have to apply ice compress to the area, take some pain killers, do specific mobility exercises, wear a sling and rest. In case that you need to get a surgery, it might take months until you can get back to boxing.

Reasons

Simply put, normally people dislocate their shoulder when boxing is because of improper technique. Most of the time it happens during a fight or a sparring session, but it’s also seen in people who might have never actually trained in a boxing gym , and just hit the heavy bag or shadowbox at home.

More specifically, overextending the jab is one of those things that can easily pop the shoulder out of it’s socked, and also there’s a possibility of additional elbow pain because of it. Sloppy and loopy hooks, such as the lead hook or the rear hook, “haymakers” are often also seen to cause such an injury.

I’m treating the injury, but i still want to train

Well, the only thing you could possibly do in the mean time is cardio. Jumping rope is probably out of the equation as it does involve some shoulder movement, but basic walking or even jogging could still do the trick.

Preventing it from happening in the future

Make sure to always stretch before any training. There are all sorts of warm ups you can do before your session, but i would suggest looking them up on YouTube as there are quite a few to choose from.

Gain some muscle in the shoulders and upper body area. Overhead press, pike push-ups, regular push-ups, they all will strengthen up the areas and help you reduce the chance of getting the same injury (do these exercises only if the doctor has allowed).