Anyone here had shoulder surgery? Possible torn labrum...

[14Accent]

As the title states. I met with an orthopedist yesterday to finally get my shoulder pain diagnosed, and his opinion is I have a partially torn labrum in my left shoulder. I have an MRI scheduled for next week, depending on the damage I'm hopeful I can skip surgery but given the symptoms my doctor is fairly confident that I'll need some type of work done.

Just wondering if any of you had any stories you could share. I have no qualms about having surgery, I just don't want to be blindsided by the after-effects.

 

[Passport1]

I had my right shoulder repaired for that. Took a fall and tore the labrum.. Couldn't raise my arm above shoulder level. Got a good result. Complete ROM, no pain. Post-op PT is key. Don't skimp on that. Average time to healing probably several weeks to several months. You must take care not to reinjure it. I don't use my right arm to start the mower with the pull cord. Don't need to go through this ever again.
Post-op pain level is moderate. Wear the sling and pay close attention to the medical instructions you will get.

Good luck.

 

[gfh77665]

Coincidentally I was just diagnosed with a significant rotator cuff injury. Surgery next week.

 

[harbor]

I had torn rotator cuff surgery in 2020 and agree with everything that Passport1 said. The docs have the procedure down to a T, and adherence to PT is key. I still do the cable PT to this day to maintain flexibility. Sleeping is tough as you can’t get comfortable with the sling. My surgeon advised me to never throw a football, baseball or frisbee again. You’ll be fine - Good luck with the repair.

 

[Cujet]

While not the same, I damaged my shoulder splitting firewood with a maul. MRI and Xray showed a damaged socket and torn rotator cuff muscle. Although I am not a chiropractic believer, I was persuaded to go to a good one. He used the TENS machine to reduce pain, then rubbed hard as (insert bad word here) with thumbs. It was excruciating. I followed up with a few visits and did the simple exercises. It healed and has been trouble free ever since.

 

[alarmguy]

Once the surgery is done, dont wait to feel pain before you start taking the prescription pain medicine. Nurse warned me, I didnt listen and waited until I started to feel pain, once it starts it is like trying to stop a freight train. She was right. I cried *LOL*

 

[John Galt]

Yes. - right shoulder but I’m a true lefty at everything except music where I play guitar and violin as a righty would. I knew something was wrong with my right shoulder for many years but put off seeing a doctor. I knew surgery would affect my music playing for at least a year and might have made returning to violin (bow hand) playing impossible - so I was told by others. If I rested my right arm above my head while lying down or reclined for over 5 minutes I could not bring my arm back down over my head to my waist. I had to reach up with my left hand and slowly bring my right arm over my head while wincing in pain. I was mostly ok if I kept my right elbow no higher then my shoulder.

I waited way too long and one day while watering a overhead houseplant my right shoulder clicked and locked up. An emergency visit diagnosed frozen shoulder which was temporarily remedied with a cortisone shot and manipulation by the orthopedic doctor.

Surgery was required and the surgeon said I had put off the surgery for so long that my body had compensated by forming a paste of calcium in the rotator ball. He said he had never seen anything like it and took pictures since I was in a teaching hospital and he was the head orthopedic there. He removed about a toothpaste tubes load of this calcium and then had to snug up all the shoulder tendons since they had loosed up to accommodate the calcium goo my body made to lubricant the joint.

Made my repair much more complicated then a normal rotator cuff repair. Anyway, by putting it of I made it worse and it took well over a year before I could resume violin. So don’t be stubborn like I was - see a doctor and follow the advice. And do the PT as mentioned above. It will hurt but it is necessary.

And be aware that those magic pain pills you will get a R/x for are highly addictive so don’t get used to them or your life will go off the rails in a different direction that can’t be remedied by surgery. Switch over to OTC pain meds as soon as you can.

 

[oldhp]

Have torn mine twice. Both times physical therapy fixed it. I'm lucky.

 

[Fitter30]

Tor rotator cuff with a bicep tendon torn in too and tendon wore a groove in the cuff. Shoulder surgery wasn't to bad with drugs but rehab was rough. Tens unit helped alot.

 

[walterjay]

I also had a torn one. PT cured it. Thankfully I was able to avoid surgery.