The ‘Glass shoulder’: individuals’ perspectives of living with at traumatic glenohumeral dislocation – a qualitative study

Abstract

Fear of movement or re-injury is an unsurprising and rational response to the injury, influencing decisions for return to sport, work, and daily and social activities. The Injury had shattered their lives, with immediate influences on their self-identity and confidence in their body, sleep disturbances adding to stress levels, grief and loss, and some describing bouts of severe depression and social Isolation. Over time, some individuals accepted the re-injury risk, learned to head warning signals, or compromised by avoiding specific social and recreational activities, changing their sports or to other roles in their preferred sport, and adapting work-related and dally tasks wherever possible.