yeah no worries, I agree, very difficult to describe. I find if I'm on my back & roll to that side, the movement kind of grinds things inside, whereas if I stack pillows for my head, then position my shoulder squarely on my side, then I avoid those internal movements. upper arm is straight at my side tho the forearm is bent at the elbow. once in place I avoid any "rocking" back & forth. but again, it's only good for about 30 minutes tops, then I'm sore. so I mostly avoid it altogether

Just got back from the GP who has referred me to the Ortho (again). Said most likely course of action will be a 'keyhole' surgery to repair the torn labrum. I'm now wondering if 1) I can afford the surgery 2) How I will support myself taking 3-6 months off work.

yikes that stinks. one of our sales reps had shoulder surgery. he timed it during his slow months & did a lot of work from home for a while. I guess it helps to have a job like that. maybe talk to your employer & see if they have any ideas that can help?

Isn't everything free in Oz?


Why would you need to be out of work for 3-6 months? (My recovery was much faster than that)

I'm currently researching that now. If I go as a public patient, I think the surgery is 'free' but I don't get a choice of surgeon or location (also get put on a waiting list and will have no idea when a spot will become available). If I go private I have to pay for it but can get it done where and when I want.

But perhaps more so than the hospitalisation costs is the time off work. I'm not sure of the exact timelines, I more or less made 3 months up, but the fact of the matter is I'm just a labourer and lift things for a living. Now that I'm getting older. the last thing I want to do is rush back to work too soon and do further damage. I want to go the conservative route in that regard and try and get back as close to 100% as I possibly can before I return to work...

I guess you don't realise what you've got till it's gone. Before I injured my shoulder I didn't even consider my job 'physical' - thought it was easy just moving tables and chairs around a stadium and bagging groceries a few nights a week. Now these tasks seem almost insurmountable...

My 15 year old grandson just had labrum surgery. He might be out of sports for almost a year.

sympathies. football?

Yep, days before the first game of the season. His other sports are bowling and baseball. And it's his throwing arm.

sorry to hear that. this will be a learning / growing experience that will live with him forever. a challenge for a Dad too, no doubt. hang in there

If it's any consolation, the only other operation I had was on my knee from playing football when I was 12 or 13. A fairly minor procedure I think involving an arthroscope, but I have no lasting effects from it...

Just got back from the ortho (again) on my birthday. I've been referred to surgery in the public system after what he describes as a "pretty impressive" torn labrum. He said surgery is not strictly necessary but given I have 2 physical jobs and I'm sick of feeling like s**t all time, I've decided to get the ball rolling.

He said the Grade 2 AC joint was probably a 'red herring' and it is very unusual injury. He thinks I may have briefly dislocated my shoulder when I fell off my bike, only for it to pop straight back in. And looking back, I think that's what's happened.

He's put recovery at 6-9 months months, given I'm a blue-collar worker.

Going to be an interesting 12 months coming up for me.

drats. It is what it is hmmm gotta wrap your head around it. You’ll get thru it. Might want to start your own separate thread for torn labrum?

for my own record, 11 months out, today i increased the two shoulder press stations another 5lbs. funny how so little, can feel like so much.

how’s it going w you?

just got back from the gym where it dawned on me, for myself, looks like it's been exactly 1 year. I guess I'm as recovered as I'm gonna get. I would not say I'm good as new, but I can sleep on my side for extended periods before discomfort sets in. that seemed like the biggest benchmark. I'm not limiting any activities. my weight training seems on track with a cpl new small incremental increases, recently

Don't give up on further improvement. I had a mostly recovered joint that I didn't quite trust after a year. I was white water kayaking at the time and it just wasn't completely a sure thing when I did certain moves. Mine gradually improved over a LONG period after the initial recovery. Ballistic motion was the slowest to come back for me (like throwing). I thought that would never come back, but eventually it did. I had similar surgeries on both shoulders and another surgery on one shoulder.

None of the three surgeries were that bad for my riding or kept me off the bike for too long.

Feeling strangely fine.

I played cricket on the weekend (similar to baseball). It survived a couple of dives and I even bowled a couple of overs. I pulled up pretty sore in the shoulder for two days after, and I still have no hope of actually throwing a ball with any great force, but right now I feel fine.

The past month or two the pain has really come down. Right now, my biggest concern is loss of strength. I'm still a lot weaker in my right arm which is my dominant side (1 year on).

This also coincides with my third and final meeting with the ortho on Monday (27/3). Maybe this is why they haven't been pushing for surgery? Just a couple of months ago I would have crawled onto the operating table, but now I'm having second thoughts. My ROM is close to 100%, I would say my strength is at about 75% and I do pull up a bit sore after any sort of rigorous activity - such as playing cricket or a big day at work.

So, right now I'm wondering if surgery will be worth it. Will it make the pain go away completely? Will I get my strength back? And perhaps more pressingly how I will support myself during recovery. Long-term, it might actually be better, as I feel I have to 'baby' my shoulder in most things I do.

good. maybe take up some light weight training

It's only the past month or two I've felt strong enough to get up to the 'workout' stage of exercising the shoulder. Prior to that I was struggling with just two sets of any weight bearing exercise, and was definitely more in the 'rehab' phase than 'workout phase'.

I've been given yet another appointment with the ortho (in 6 months time). Given I've been in a lot worse condition two times prior, I'm guessing surgery wont be going ahead. I've never injured my shoulder before, I didn't realise how debilitating it can be and affect all aspects of your life. I feel I've got to the stage now where I can live with it and its about as good as its going to get without surgical intervention.

good
our mantra: don't give up, persevere
I remember one trainer video said the worst thing we can do is stop working out. even if we are exercising a different joint, it benefits the area around it. for example light curls

for my own reference, approx. 18 months later, since about 2 weeks ago, I've made a significant increase to the weights I'm using on the gym circuit I use. so far, so good. I do favor the left shoulder as I make the 1st lift getting the bars up from their resting place, but then use both shoulders equally during the set

currently dealing w/ a strained back that came out of nowhere & using muscle relaxers, so will be taking this week off from the gym, I think. gotta settle everything down

for my own reference, this is going well. I no longer favor the left shoulder as I make the 1st lift, getting the bars up, from their resting place. considering another move up w/ weights

maybe just for my own reference, I consider the fall quite the whallop. would have been much better NOT to crash

this past Fall & into the winter I ramped up my weight training & was doing pretty well, I thought, getting the weights higher

then February came around & I got a little lazy & started eating bad & spent less time training

also noticed the injured shoulder (left) was a little cranky. didn't seem to be from the weight training tho, which is good. the past few days, maybe a week, I decided to monitor the shoulder & discovered something interesting. despite being right handed, I use my left arm for quite a lot, such as opening house doors, car doors & lots of other stuff. I might hold something in my right hand but I do all these other things w/ my left. so I'm trying to lay off the left & use the right more. I remember this shoulder acting up like this, years before the crash

And just for my records, I've just ticked over 2 years (!) since I injured my shoulder.

I had another meeting with the Ortho a few months back who said if I have good ROM and the shoulder's not frequently dislocating, then surgery is not necessary.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but my shoulder still feels janky. I can do most things I used to do before I got injured - with perhaps the exception of throwing (forcefully) overarm, but I am certainly much more aware of how things will impact my shoulder these days. I quit my job bagging groceries at Safeway in part - but not totally - because of my shoulder. At my other job, where I am required to 'lift things', I can still do it, but pull up sore in the shoulder, particularly if its been a busy day, whereas I never used to before.

Anyway, even I'm getting slightly sick of listening to myself complain about my shoulder, when all the professional medical advice I have received has suggested that surgery is not going to improve it significantly. Guess I will just have to live with it.

I hear ya man!

word to the wise - DON!T CRASH!

your complaining is safe w/ us!