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Thread: Shoulder injury

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
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    Los Angeles
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    Shoulder injury

    I'm looking for feedback from any of you who have or had shoulder issues.

    For a year I've had a bad left shoulder. Grew worse over the summer. Would wake me up a lot at night.

    Got to the point it was difficult to put on a shirt or jacket. And certain movements would cause a lot of pain for 30 seconds - 1 minute.

    Physical therapy for 8 weeks didn't help. In fact my wife thinks it made it worse.

    So last week the orthopedic surgeon sent me for an MRI. I have a SLAP tear. Seems they are very common. (a tendon that comes up off the bicep has partially detached from the labrum)

    The surgeon gave me a cortisone injection today and I'll do another stint of PT.

    Anyone successfully avoid surgery?

    My primary form of exercising is on a road bike. When I google this all the forums talk about recovering from surgery.
    My question is - does riding a road bike tend to aggravate this injury? or is riding in fact perhaps good for the healing?

    This injury has me worried to be honest. I need to have good physicality for work, and I'm now mid-50s, so recovery is not what it would have been 20 years ago, but I'm hoping for a successful outcome.

    thanks, Mark

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    NW Indiana
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    3,078
    My advice is to find the best orthopedic surgeon and get another opinion. Do your research about your doctors to find the best one. I had to have my wrists rebuilt and found a well respected surgeon with many papers and awards who did miraculous work on my wrists.

    I would also ask your PT about the effects of riding the bike.

    If you have a tear, you likely need surgery. The risk of course, if you do not get surgery is that you get a complete tear. In addition, you may cause other problems by favoring the injured shoulder.

    If it were me, I would get it fixed as soon as possible.

    Note: my shoulders are one part of men not falling apart. It is just hips, back, wrists and others.

  3. #3
    The longer you delay surgery, the longer recovery will be.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh, Australia
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    2,700
    My experience

    Cortisone injections give temorary relief and prevent for surgery for some time after the injection

    Find a really switched on physio and have him assess whether the issue is actually in th shoulder or Thoracic neck/upper back issues as this can often be confused, DAMHIKT.

    If an xray/CT scan/MRI do not show evidence of injury I would have a really hard look at back/neck issues

    I had two ops on my left, the first was to repair the Rotator cuff injury and the second was not necessary as the problem was in my neck. I had a very robust discussion with the surgeon who want to give me Cortisone shot and then he admitted that it had only a small chance of working for any length of time.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    Mark I have no authority on the subject of riding but since riding places the muscles, back and shoulders in a constrained state for extended time with a limited range of motion then I would be dubious of road biking as proper rehab.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Griswold Connecticut
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    Don't be afraid of the surgery. I lived in pain for almost two years with both shoulders. Adhesive Capsulitis, arthritis, and bone impingement. I could barely dress myself prior to the first surgery.
    Oh yes, and Orthopedic will know you've been engaged in cycling. I was a USCF CatII rider and the doc said it was obvious based on muscle development and density.
    Don't buy that "Low Impact" label they put on bike racing. You are going to have some very developed anterior shoulder muscles.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Therapy has always done it for me. I get certain "injuries" when I slack on my exercise routine. One tends to keep doing things as if he does exercise when he doesn't and sooner or later something gets ticked off. If the PT is being done religiously and is not helping, it is time for the next step. I too vote for second opinions on anything that involves the knife. I have avoided surgery that was recommended on three different body parts.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  8. #8
    I had a shoulder injury years ago, everyone thought it was a torn rotator cuff, but it turns out that, for some reason, my bones just seized. I couldn't lift my arm at all, physical therapy didn't help, the MRI and xrays showed no muscle damage. Wound up going in for surgery, they just wrenched the bones apart and broke out the seize. Works great today. Nobody has any idea what happened.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Cutler View Post
    Adhesive Capsulitis
    Had that also. First one arm, then the other, and I can only say I never want it again. Was living with it for quite a while until one day I was waiting for the school bus with my son, and slipped on some ice. Reached out quickly to grab something to stop a fall, and just about blacked out from the pain. It was blinding.
    Fix for me was cortisone then lots of working the arm(s) to get it to stay gone. One shot was enough to allow movement, so I got lucky and avoided surgery.

  10. #10
    Had torn rotator cup surgery and had a great result. It got to a point I had no other choice. 4 years out and it feels great. Downside,it put me out of commission for 3 months. Not crazy pain during recovery, but long recovery. Your injury sounds like an easier fix perhaps than a rotator cuff.

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    What I get from your replies is that if it can go wrong, it will, but there's a way to repair that.
    I'll give the physical therapy another go but I'm encouraged that surgery helped a lot of you too.

    My dad used to sing that song if the left one don't get you the right one will.
    Don't know how the song ended exactly but let's hope it was happy

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    E TN, near Knoxville
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    I developed severe shoulder pain in the late 90s, got to where I couldn't raise or lower my right arm without assistance from my left. I got the cortisone injections and lots of PT which didn't help and may have actually made it worse. In my case it was a severe tear (near separation) requiring rotator cuff surgury and a stainless steel pin. Months of PT. That was 18 years ago. Today I still have pain but have plenty of strength and can lift and stack bales of hay and muscle slabs off the sawmill.

    I'd also get a second opinion. If there is a tear that's not too bad yet, they may be able to fix it with orthoscopic surgury. I think the problem with cortisone is it might make you feel better then you use it and tear it more. I'm certainly no MD but I got the impression that some cortisone might be ok to treat pain from inflammation but not useful for a tear.

    JKJ

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    I have a bad shoulder also Never heard of Slap tear until I just looked it up. My symptoms are exactly as the they describe. I did go to a orthopedic doctor and he gave me a cortisone shot that did not work. I will be going to a different doc after Christmas.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
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    Modesto, CA, USA
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    Since you live in LA I would check around University research hospitals to find the best doctors for this kind of stuff. Here I would recommend Stanford for most stuff. I would assume LA has. at least one world class university research hospital in this field
    I know it does not really apply but everyone I know who had a joint replaced says they should have done it 5-10 years earlier.
    Alieve is your friend, naproxin sodium is the generic.
    Bil lD

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    I'm following this as I injured my left shoulder two months ago and have been doing PT. Some improvement, but still not right. My ortho guy specializes in shoulders. Initial X-ray didn't show anything. I go back Thursday for a re-evaluation. Initially he said he would do an MRI if PT didn't do the trick. We will see. Not looking forward to 3 months of recovery if I need surgery.
    NOW you tell me...

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