Dealing with Joint Dislocations: How Do You Cope?

I am not sure, but I have thought that I have temporary dislocated my wrists, jaw and shoulders at different points. There’s always pain, but the severity varies, including when they pop back into place.

I had my jaw pop out of place the other night after a particularly strong yawn and that was so scary! It was like I cracked my knuckle except the right side of my jaw just totally dislocated for no reason. I was able to pop it back in but WOW was that painful.

Seeing everyone’s responses to this question is so helpful. 💕

For me, it depends. My knees are probably the most painful ones I’ve ever experienced. My knee will go completely on the side of my leg. For my shoulder, sometimes it feels like it popped out of place for like a second when I’m changing. It’s not out for like a long time so it’s not incredibly painful, but it definitely feels like it’s not in the right place and then pops back in. It doesn’t happen to me as often as my knees though.

Ive disocated the same elbow 8 times and every time its always a sharp pain that ebbs away to a dull thudding pain for days afterwards and it always hurts nowadays but is usually worse following a subluxation or dislocation

for me, it’s usually my ribs. it starts out like stomach pain, all my muscles get super tight. it feels like something is very wrong, but i cannot tell what or where for the first hour or so. then it narrows down to rib pain, and becomes a more dull, annoying pain. sometimes it’s really painful, never has it been like “omg” after the first hour. i can’t pop them back in (think of a sublox as being jammed and stuck in the back, rather than dislocated our the front) and usually they resolve themselves with the right support band and stretches after about a week or two.

Yeah I put mine in too, the pain is uncomfortable to unbearable for me. It feels like th joint is floating about.

so, i believe there are different levels of eds (1-5 i think?), and in lower levels the subluxations may be less severe even though they're still sitting out of place. they'd be easier to put back in place that way too. my OT thinks i'm level 1, and i didn't think i'd experienced any subluxations until recently, when both she my chiro said i had a rib slightly out of place. told me that it was likely the cause of the pain i've been having with my shoulder on certain otherwise normal movements. understanding this now, i've noticed more and more times where something's out of place and causing pain. sciatica and hip pain, for example - i get it every time i walk for more than just a few minutes, or when i sit for too long. i've had (for years!) a "weird thing with my knee" where it just feels painful and like i was holding it at the wrong angle, but then changing position doesn't fix the pain (good gentle stretches can though). all of those are at least a 3 when at their most intense but i've had up to about a 6. not much of my pain from anything else goes past that either. i have fibromyalgia as well and that may affect my experience with subluxation. i have others that just feel uncomfortable or like i have muscle tension, and with that i would be stretching to try and fix it anyway, but i notice the joint pop and suddenly it's better, which i find suspicious too. ::P i've never had a subluxation bad enough that i needed emergency care so i don't think i've had any dislocations (and i think i'd be able to see it if i did too, haha - i've only ever seen my joints look noticeably out of place a handful of times and it was never by much. dislocations tend to look very out of place, as i understand it)

I get the sensation that it’s not “installed right”, like I’m a Barbie doll that had its leg attached backwards; and then lots of discomfort and muscle spasms. Sometimes it’s sharper, almost tearing and then it just hurts like I lifted too much too fast