People are funny. They will keep looking for someone whose opinion agrees with their own, and then take that advice. And often have a very strong opinion of something they know nothing about or base their opinion on having had a singular personal bad experience. Here is a second orthopaedic opinion... have an MRI and let a shoulder surgeon see it - Joe de Beer is good. To dislocate your shoulder you have to tear ligaments and maybe some tendons. In younger people/patients, its often the capsule of the joint, the labrum (cartilaginous rim like meniscus in the knee) or the attachment of the capsule to the glenoid. Older patients typically tear their rotator cuffs when dislocating shoulders. If something is completely torn, it needs to be reattached surgically. It will not heal properly by itself. It might be ok for a while with strengthening but the instability will remain and it will re-dislocate. It will have accelerated degeneration (arthritis) and it will be too late to have surgery then. Physios are great, but are not qualified/trained to decide whether you need surgery or not. PS: 'the head' refers to the head of the humerus - the ball part of your shoulder joint. PPS: It is very good practice to XRay a dislocated shoulder before reducing it. If they XRay afterwards and see a fracture, they would not be able to tell whether it was from the reduction or the fall... PPPS: You can only see bones and joint congruity on XR, not soft tissues like ligaments and capsules. This is why you need a MRI or at least an ultrasound.
