Was it a partial tear or a full tear? I got hit by a car about 3 months ago. Got my shoulder checked out by an ortho a few weeks after because it was hurting bad and had limited motion. After a couple MRIs I have a partially torn labrum and 2 of the rotator cuff tendons are partially torn. I’m not opting for surgery yet. I got 2 cortisone shots that after a few days REALLY helped, and continuing PT to strengthen the rest of the shoulder. It feels better for the most part, but again, trying not to do too much, too fast, and have a big setback.

That many anchors it was a large tear!
I've had 3 labrum repairs over the yrs one being a 360 and It didn't take to many more than you got. Plan on a yr till you feel normal. I was able to go back to the gym at 7 months but it didn't last. Tried again at 9 months... No dice.

Swimming will be ur best friend when ur ready and just make sure u avoid any ballistic movements for as long as humanly possible.

Sounds like the surgery was a success. We see the ortho on Tuesday for the 4 month checkup. So far, so good. Son followed the PT protocol to a “T” and is progressing nicely. Full ROM, now working on strength. Still waiting the full 6 months for skiing, but he has been running and biking for a while (4-6 weeks).

Best of luck on your recovery.

drn92

Sorry you are hurting like this my friend. Totally sux. I have a friend who is extremely active 6+ days a week (teaches cardio classes) and she injured her back/neck really badly lifting a heavy pumpkin - of all things. It figures the most in shape people hurt ourselves on something so small.

If it makes you feel better... I've miraculously gained 7 pounds in this short off season. That's half of what you gained and I am mobile plus puddling around with different exercises. Ridiculous. Feel free to grab me for lunch anytime - you can cry on my good shoulders <knock on wood>.

The labrum itself wasn't actually torn, it was torn off the bone. Sounds semantical but it's not from my understanding. I also had to have my joint capsule fixed. The labrum separation from the bone was kind of unexpected. That wasn't picked up by the MRI. So I ended up with a bit more surgery than anticipated.

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Yeah, I think the surgery was more than anticipated. I heard it’s somewhat common for them to find more issues once in there. Unfortunately, that was my good fortune. Like I said, the labrum off the bone was unexpected. I signed up for IMWisc and IMLou for next Sept and Oct with the hope I can get back into the pool in May or June but I'll pull the plug if things don't feel right. Hopefully I can start running and biking (trainer) in the next month or two. I'm definitely not going to push it though. I'd rather not deal with this again.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I had my second follow up with surgeon. Things are progressing well. Range of motion and strength, at least at this stage of the game, are above average.

He went far more in depth into what exactly he did during the surgery and it really was much more than I bargained for and much worse than anticipated. If you looked at my right shoulder from a side view and think of a clock with the top at 12, bottom at 6, direct posterior at 3, and direct anterior at 9... my labrum was torn off the bone from about 1:00 to 7:00. MRI didn’t show this from my understanding. Surgeon said that basically none of my ligaments on the posterior of my shoulder were attached. He was actually amazed my shoulder wasn’t completely dislocated, and how I went over five months without it dislocating. He said he was able to easily dislocate my shoulder when I was on the operating room table.

Doc said four anchors was average and I have seven, so it was more on the significant injury side than most.

He said I could try running at about the 10 week mark. Stated the up and down bouncing motion from running is going to be problematic until about three months in. Not that it’s going to damage anything but that it would be sore as hell afterwards. His question was, “Is a 30 minute jog worth two days of pain?” Um, nope.

He said swimming was going to be real tricky. He won’t let me take a swim stroke until May or June. I signed up for IMLou in October and he said I will be fine but that my swim “muscle memory” on my right side will sort of be gone and I will kind of need to relearn things on that side. He said he really didn’t know how long it would take for my swim to be back to normal.

I guess it’s me and the recumbent bike for the foreseeable future.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Son had torn labrum surgery repair earlier this summer with a projected 4-6 months to full recovery (i.e. full contact ice-hockey).
Happy to say he was cleared to play at the 4.5 month mark, and he's received and dished out hits in games. Things are holding up :-)

I wouldn't recommend some of what he did (or didn't do).
- He got bored trying to maintain cardio, and his fitness totally slipped.
- About 3 months post-op he was allowed to return to ice and team practices but no checking. They gave him an orange jersey and called him the traffic cone during that time. He took full advantage that they couldn't hit him, including trash-talking, so they made sure to "acclimate" him back to contact once he got fully cleared. (Immature)
- One day he also asked the largest guy on the football team to check him into the school lockers to see if his shoulder holds up. Dumb.

Stuff I would recommend
Carefully selecting the "right" PT group, that is
- Close with the surgeon's group, so exact nature of repairs is known, and surgeon got regular reports.
- Deals with athletes -- which sounds like you've got.
- Track and measure all activity at PT, and at-home (Sets/reps of exercises, ROM, strength, icing sessions, etc.), That way benchmarks, and progress can be objectively seen. ...Just like logging workouts.


Best of luck with your recovery

I've been cleared to start riding on my trainer after January 1st. Looking forward to doing something resembling SBR again.

I haven't been on a bike in like six months so my lack of power and fitness is going to be humbling. :-(

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How is recovery going? I am getting ready to have an MRI for a suspected labrum tear. I was getting ready to sign up for IM Cozumel in November when I injured it. I am still hopeful I can get back, but am looking for some experiences.

I had a 360 degree labrum tear in my left shoulder, took 7 anchors to fix it. I can confirm that yes, recovery is an absolute bitch. I am about 10 years out from the surgery and I can still feel tightness and stiffness every day. Range of motion is mostly fine but nothing near my other shoulder.

That said, I can still bust out sub-1-minute 100s in the pool and do whatever I want to do mostly. Just be careful you don't go back to lifting heavy weights and getting into compromising positions on the bench press and shoulder press.

Another thing that has really bugged me ever since surgery was that the rotator cuff, collar bone, neck, and chest on the surgery side are all very tight and "different". You may end up starting to inadvertently use other muscles in that area to make up for your shoulder weakness and pain. It's been years and years of PT and massages to try to loosen the area up. It affects my running as this area doesn't allow me to swing my arms like I should. I also get really tight in the aero position on my tri bike.

Biggest piece of advice is to keep up with PT and don't let your other muscles in that area compensate for your shoulder. Try to get back to normal.

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Nourish - Sports Nutrition Made Easy

I ended up with bronchitis at the beginning of January so that was two weeks before I felt better.

Riding on a trainer was no big deal. Didn't bother me at all.

I still haven't ran yet, partly due to the illness, partly due to weather, partly due to laziness. I am going to try it this week.

Still no swimming for another three months.

I signed up for Wisconsin and Louisville in Sept and Oct. Right now, as I reflect on how I feel on February 4th and how things are progressing, there's almost zero chance I think I can be ready for either of those races. Getting back into swimming seems like it's going to be a difficult and long term task. I don't want to push things when I can just defer to next year. We will see how things feel once I'm able to get back into the pool. Aero position might also be an issue but a lesser one. So I might try a couple of 70.3 races towards the end of the year.

If you have surgery soon I don't see how you'd be back in time for Cozumel. The earliest you'd be back in the pool would probably be around September, and that's just swimming from one end of the pool to the other. Not 2.4 miles.

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