Hopkins: Separation vs Dislocation

I've been saying this in other threads but I thought I'd make my own. Sorry in advance for the long post...

Hopkins did NOT dislocate his shoulder. It is an AC separation, for some reason the doctor labeled it an AC dislocation but it's normally referred to as a separation. When you say someone dislocated their shoulder it involves the glenohumeral joint (sorry for the big words), not the AC.

A dislocation is incredibly painful and he couldn't have continued if it was the glenohumeral but it wasn't, it was the AC. You can actually see the difference between the two injuries because with a real dislocation the arm just hangs like a piece of meat.

I've worked on the sidelines for high school football games as a trainer. I have a lot of experience with these type injuries. More often than not a high school player would run off the field after a low grade shoulder separation. Sometimes they would play an entire series and would try to hide their injury. More often than not, they want to get back in the game.

A couple of things I used to ask with a shoulder injury was "Can you roll your shoulders?" and "Does it hurt when you let your arms dangle?" Well, Hopkins rolled his shoulders when he tried to show Kellerman the injury. He also held his shoulder down by his side and not in a sling position. Gravity is a ***** and tweaks the AC bad. The fact that he let his arm dangle shows me he wasn't badly hurt.

If he were a high school football player I would have cleared him to play.

 

Yeah was asked if he could fight and he said "With one arm?" as a rhetorical question. He could have at least stood up and let the doctor check him out. I've never seen someone squirm that bad from a separation.

 

His age really has nothing to do with the extent of the injury. A separation isn't any worse initially if your 46 or 17. Recovery time and long term effects vary but not the initial diagnosis.

I would expect a veteran fighter and world champion making millions to deal with the injury better than a high school football player playing in front of 150 people for no other reason than pride and love of the game.

 

Yup, grades 1-3 are treated pretty much the same. I can say with 99% certainty that it was a level 1 or 2 just by the way he was standing and moving.

Separations are almost as common as sprained ankles in football, hockey and lacrosse. I had a grade 2 in the first quarter of a lacrosse game in college but managed to finish the game (I'm not trying to sound tough just putting things in perspective).

I agree no one knows for sure how bad he was injured but I'm going on what I've witnessed first hand hundreds of times. Of course separations hurt and yeah it would affect his punching (to what extent I don't know) but I would have liked to see him at least try to continue.

 

Forget the millions then... what about pride?