Should I be worried that my 7 year old can...

[CC dad]

...pop both of his shoulders out of joint? He can bend his arm unnaturally far behind his back and he can sit still with his arm at his side and seemingly pop his shoulders out of joint. It doesn't hurt him at all. He plays baseball and I am worried that one day he is going to throw his whole arm out of whack throwing a ball.

[LisaS]

I'm not a medico so this is anecdotal not medical - both my nephews had a lot of laxity in their joints - esp. the older one. One of them (I'm sorry, I forgot which one) as a quite young boy (maybe 4 or 5) dislocated his elbow just by being contrary and pulling away while his hand was being firmly held (you know what I mean). Once it happened the first time, it was easier to happen at odd times. When the older one was in high school and playing sports (water polo and wrestling) his shoulder kept slipping out while playing WP - he had it surgically "tightened up" over one summer so that he could continue but missed that next wp season and ended up finishing out the last two years doing just wrestling.
I'd not worry about it - but it is something that it is good to know about and keep an eye on I think -- but that's my amateur opinion - I also think it is something where it can't be a good thing to keep doing it at will - but again, I've got no medical reason for that, just a hunch - shoulders are supposed to be stable after all.

[Jean-Paul]

I was the same way when I was a kid. I could dislocate both shoulders, which at the time everyone refered to as "double jointed". My shoulders never bothered me as a child, but I didn't play baseball so I didn't grind down my joints with a lot of repetitive motion. My shoulder problems as an adult resulted from not getting proper training on weights when I started out. There were no resources like this when I was a kid.

It's probably not too early to start teaching him good mobility exercises, much like the ones in Inside Out.

[bryanc]

You say that he can "seemingly" pop his shoulder joints out. Can he actually voluntarily dislocate his shoulders?

[Waittz]

Originally Posted by Jean-Paul

I was the same way when I was a kid.

now you should be worried.