Old thread, but a new problem to me.
I'm a student S/L jumper and was moving quite nicely thru the progression until this past sunday.
I have a bad left shoulder from a skateboarding accident over 10 years ago. At the time, surgery was reccomended but I had no medical insurance and no disability either, so it was not really an option. Since then, I have dislocated 15-20 times, usually while reaching or streching my arm in a similar position to the freefall arch i've been learning.
Being stubborn, I streched and worked my arm prior to my skydiving training and hoped that I could get it to the point where it would be stable. I passed my 5-second delay jump on Saturday morning and went into my first terminal freefall, 10 second delay jump. I released from the cessna, arched hard, fell into belly-to-earth and potato chipped a little as I got the feel for the new sensation. I watched the altimiter and as I hit 3750', I began my wave-off and my left shoulder came out of socket. it bacame useless and as i reached to pull, i began a slow spin to the left of 360 degrees between pulling & deployment. as my body swung down under canopy, my limp left arm caught the silver handle on the way down and pulled it out of its velcro holder. I was able to set my shoulder back into place under canopy, check my steerability and land as usual. The fact that i caught the silver on the way down really scared the crap out of me, as i dont know how i would have handled a PLF on my left side had i needed to do one. I thougth i was pretty lucid and performed well under pressure, but in retrospect I realize that i probably shouldn't have been jumping in the first place if i had any idea that my shoulder might come out.
My instructor had no idea what happened until i told him, his observation was that he thougth i was just not holding position well and that caused the spin. when i told him about dislocating and the re-setting my arm in flight, he said 'well that explains it' :-)
so I actually passed the jump and with my sore arm managed to land on target & check another accuracy off the list on my A-card. I'm off to the doctor on saturday and my jumping season is obviously over until next year, and i will not be out of any airplanes until i have the rotator cuff surgery. I now do have both medical & disability so i guess it's time.
Big bummer for me, i was really begining to fall in love with this sport. Just thought i'd share my experience for the next guy who ends up searching 'dislocated shoulder' on the forum. Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.
