missile meister

I've been off my bike for almost three weeks now and I'm going nuts. MRI showed a full-thickness tendon tear in my shoulder and it's been hurting like hell. I don't see the ortho for another three weeks to find out for sure if we're looking at surgery (primary care doc thinks so). Wife thinks I should stay off the bike. I want to give it a try and see if I can handle it.

The shoulder works it just hurts - so I don't think it's really a safety issue. In fact, I'm pretty sure the injury happened on the 4th of July playing sand volleyball and I started commuting in August. I use a Specialized Crossroads Sport so I'm very upright and don't really support any weight with my arms. I didn't ask the primary doc (honestly, don't think a lot of him but not much choice as I'm active duty), but he did restrict me from push-ups and lifting more than 10 lbs. What do you all think? Give it a shot now or wait and see what the specialist has to say in a couple more weeks?

snowranger

That sucks. I did the same thing two years ago and had to have rotator cuff surgery. I figured that the damage was already done, so what more could happen? I was able to get ten more powder ski days in before going under the knife and enduring the ensuing miserable physical therapy.

porq

I tore mine a few months ago and was back commuting a few days after the tear. According to my physio it wasn't going to damage it any more than it already was.

roadfix

I'm scheduled to see an ortho in a month. I've been seeing a PT to treat my frozen shoulder but my range of motion hasn't seen any additional improvement in several weeks. I have been riding my bike all during this time though as it's been good the stretch that arm out.

dalmore

If you have a full tear in one of the tendons, you're not going to do more damage by riding. If you can handle the pain, it's all a matter of whether you have enough strength for handling the bike. That would depend on what is torn.

In my case, I had a razor sharp bone chip floating around in my shoulder so I was constantly doing damage from random and sometimes almost imperceptable motions. I did not ride then and I don't think I could have ridden. The pain was immediate, unexpected and extreme when that chip moved and sliced into something else. I typicaly dropped whatever I had in my hands when that happened. I would not have wanted to deal with that while navigating a major intersection ...