Multi-directional Instability is something that I was born with. It is a hereditary disease that in my family skipped a few generations to me. The disease causes mainly your shoulders to dislocate, but as the years go on... your hips, fingers, elbows, and knees start to. You might be asking, " Isn't there a cure for this?" The Doctors I have advised that physical therapy is what will make it better. With physical therapy it will strengthen the muscles around your joints so they don't dislocate as often. Strenuous movements can cause it to happen while you are doing your work outs, and more often then it should be. There is another procedure doctors have recommended. It is an operation where they shorten the ligaments around your shoulder and limit your rotation. However, you cannot control when you have muscle spasms and dislocate. If your ligaments are shortened and you dislocate, you rip out all the stitches they created to shorten it and you stretch it back out.
How can people live with their joints popping out all the time? Its painful and people don’t understand how one day you can get up and have and active day, then come home and be in bed all the next. I feel like... a collapsing toy. You know those little wooden toys held together with string, once you release the pressure they fall apart at the joints. This all started I was 12. I just moved to a new place and on the fourth of July was the first time I ever dislocated. I was dancing of all things, and there it went! We thought it was just a freak thing and didn't think of it till that December when it happened again. We went to a orthopedic specialist and he diagnosed me with M.D.I. No more softball, no more horseback riding, no more PE.( I guess that was one thing to be grateful of.) I then had to have special accommodations in the school. Being allowed to leave class five minutes early so no one bumped it out, extra sets of books in classes so i never had to carry anything but a notebook and a pencil. The kids, being in junior high weren't to....open-minded and didn’t respect my accommodations. They made fun and thought I was weird, so I started leaving class with all the others, and what happened...... I got my shoulder knocked out in the middle of the halls. Home schooling was what had to happen next. I liked having to be at home for a while, but then it became quite boring.
Things to do if you have M.D.I
- Drink Joint Juice. It works wonders and you can go about your day without excruciating pain.
- Ice pack the dislocated area for as long as you can stand it.
- Avoid carrying bags and other objects that are too heavy.
- Aleve is a great pain reliever.
- Avoid strenuous work.
- Get a pet. They are great company when you are in bed for long periods of time.
- Limit over your head movements.
