well after battling shoulder pain for well over a year, finally gave up on PT and got an MRI: SLAP, long had bicep tear, and full thickness supraspinatus tear
My PT has been all about posterior scapular stuff (chest on the ball WITY exercises and int/ext rotation with bands)
I just went through hip arthroscopy this year, and the navy PT sort of set back what was a nice recovery at first. I am active duty so don’t get to just go to someone good unless i want to pay for it myself, although i think this is less a concern as shoulders are very common
anyway, anyone have any success with platelet rich plasma or other prolotherapy? I dread 6-8 weeks of downtime, but want to be able to swim again
I am curious about your hip did you have a labral tear? I have a mild tear on my left hip labral that I am thinking about getting repaired. I just got back from Kona and PR my run so I am reconsiderering my options. Other than the hip I am healthy and want to continue racing. How was the recovery and now that is is done how does it feel?
PRP might help, but not at this stage of the injury. PRP is mainly used when the healing process has stalled for some reason-it gets it going again.
Your best bet is surgery. The labrum is cartilaginous and doesn’t heal on it’s own, so the SLAP tear is going to need to be fixed. You could get lucky and just need some of it cleaned up/shaven down. A full thickness tear isn’t going to heal itself either.
Surgery doesn’t mean you wont be able to swim again, just make sure you stick to the PT/rehab!
well after battling shoulder pain for well over a year, finally gave up on PT and got an MRI: SLAP, long had bicep tear, and full thickness supraspinatus tear
My PT has been all about posterior scapular stuff (chest on the ball WITY exercises and int/ext rotation with bands)
I just went through hip arthroscopy this year, and the navy PT sort of set back what was a nice recovery at first. I am active duty so don’t get to just go to someone good unless i want to pay for it myself, although i think this is less a concern as shoulders are very common
anyway, anyone have any success with platelet rich plasma or other prolotherapy? I dread 6-8 weeks of downtime, but want to be able to swim again
I had a severe SLAP tear in my shoulder and a tear in by bicep tendon. Surgery was the only option for me.
My recovery was on the slow side but included 12 weeks of very limited use, weekly therapy for another 12 weeks, then was back swimming 7 months post surgery.
Good luck! It sucks but IMO it’s best just to bite the bullet and get it sorted.
As an active duty Army surgeon, I may take issue with the fact that “someone good” has to be a civilian…
My phrasing might have been bad, but my point is unlike Tricare, many have insurance that allows them to go to Phillipon or Sampson or whoever is among the best at a particular surgery. There is a reason many SF guys are going to vail–funded by SpecWar rather than tricare. It is not often because their injuries are unique or complex. It is because they are viewed as tactical athletes and want the best. Sure, I am just a wannabe athlete, BUT, I want to be doing it for another 40 years.
I think it is much harder to get ratings on the surgeon’s skill within the MTF, not to mention in the navy the big ones have residents. I understand training and see one do one, but I prefer they learn on someone who just wants the pain to go away–i want to swim and run and max the RPT etc. I had a good friend die on the table at Balboa doing a shoulder scope. I admit it colors my perception. And having 2 navy ortho hip guys look at my MRI and tell me in their experience I did not have a labral tear, when I had already sent it to 2 civilians, with excellent reputations, tell me i did, well it gives me less confidence that they are the ones for someone who will be doing the types of activities i enjoy. And I had a tear, a big one, 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock.
If you know someone good in san diego, please let me know. I don’t mean to offend, I would just prefer to go to someone good, and that seems harder to figure out within the military system. I’d happily go no cost TAD to have a skilled MTF surgeon do it.