Injured Shoulder Help? (Please Read)

[ImAuNatural]

Hello Eveyrone,

I will try not to make this along wall of text and keep it short and sweet. (its kind of long but please red it, I need advice)

So May 15th this year I went to my girlfriends graduation party and there were some guys wrestling in the backyard ,we were all drunk, there was this big guy who was real cocky and he wanted to wrestle me so i did. I had him in a guilltine underhook choke (whatever you call it) and I was tiptoeing and stretching up to get more leverage, we were standing up, until he grabbed my legs and body slammed me onto my back.

I immediately tapped our from the pain worse pain I have ever felt in my life. My right shoulder was slanted down and I couldnt move my arm or anything. Well i took two more shots to make the pain go away which did nothing at all so i finally fell asleep for about 4 hrs then went to the ER because the pain hadn't eased up any and this pain was about an 8/10.

ER did an x-ray and said it wasn't dislocated but that it may have popped back in in my sleep or something. He told em to put it in a sling for 3 days. I kept it in for 5 days and still couldnt raise my arm or hardly move it at all. So i called an ortho trauma clinic. Scheduled an appointment with and ortho surgeon but it took 2 weeks before they could get me in, when they did i still could barely move my arm they did more x-rays and found nothing so they put me in PT for 6 weeks.

Well the 6 weeks is up and I can raise my arms and move it freely without pain most of the time. The problem is I cant even do a pushup without extreme pain so I have not been able to work chest or shoulders in 3 months.

My PT Therpist thinks its an AC Sprain. I went to my follow up app with the Surgeon and he says now we can do an MRI (insurance wouldnt cover it unless i did PT first). I have an MRI Thursday the 13th.

At this point we are not sure what is wrong with my shoulder but I just wanted any input or advice from anyone who may have had a similar experience or shoulder injury.

I want to know when I can lift again and how long it will take to heal, its killing me not being able to lift.

The pain is located in the front portion of my shoulder in between my front and medial delt.

I can do all back workouts with no pain, I can do DB concentration curls and preacher curls and I can do triceps press downs, and any leg exercises as well.

Before my injury I was benching 285lbs for 6 reps now I cant even bench the bar by itself without very bad pain 5/10.

 

[halfwit]

I'm really surprised that they forced you to go through PT without knowing what's wrong. That's really retarded and backwards.

Shoulder recovery is going to depend on what they find. Mine was about 6 weeks before I could start lifting again, but I only had a lump removed with tendon scraping. My friend that had a reconstruction of his supraspinatus was out for 4 months.

Hopefully it's an easy fix and you can get on with recovery soon.

 

[Transporter]

I am on the same boat as you bud and halfwit is right. How can you go through PT before knowing what is wrong ?? Then again insurance companies will never change. It's hard to say how long any injury will take to heal without knowing exactly what it is. Get the MRI done and then you will know for sure what is going on. I have an MRI scheduled as well and I been out for 2 months so far. My pain is in the front as well. Good luck with your findings !!

 

[bigtimechief]

I got in a motorcycle wreck in 06'. Same thing. I started PT and it did not get any better. I ended up getting an MRI and showed several tears in my labrum and my "tendon had slipped off the bone" (however that happens.) With all that going on I asked why in the hell they sent me to PT.

Basically the surgeon said that I had "so much muscle" that it stabilized the joint. Basically, I had enough strength to assure them it wasn't serious, when in fact it was.

That's why i'm always weary of doctors saying it's good to go without an MRI.

 

[ImAuNatural]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I had my MRI done last Thursday and my follow up appointment is this Thursday with my ortho surgeon to discuss the results. I'm hoping I don't have to have surgery but if I have to then so be it, I just want to be able to lift again and even do other activities without pain.

I'm not sure why they put me in therapy but insurance wouldn't cover an MRI unless i did PT on my shoulder for 6 weeks first. I believe the therapy may have been hurting my shoulder and just aggravating it more than actually helping it, i did get an increased range of motion and my chest is much less tight now though lol.

I have always been weary of doctors honestly i believe the vast majority are idiots and don't truly care about their patients problems.

 

[ImAuNatural]

Could you describe more about your pain?

Is it more pronounced when pushing vs just raising your arm?

Does it hurt to lay on that side sometimes?

and also does it hurt to flex your trap associated with that side?

 

[ImAuNatural]

I also wanted to add that the pain is VERY bad when i try to flex my right trapezius. The pain isn't felt in my trap at all but rather on the front of my shoulder between my front and medial deltoid muscles. Its like a very tight and extreme painful feeling.

I can flex my left trap all the way up just fine.

I know most people don't care but i figure if i make this log and someone else has the same symptoms maybe i could get some help/advice and when i do find out what is actually wrong I can post it up in here as well and someone in the future may benefit from this post.

This is one of the most depressing things in my life next to watching my mother die and watching my grandmother who raised me my whole life have a massive heart attack right in front of me. Im pretty depressed and have been for the past 3 months, I have been doing what i can but my physique is slipping away after all the hard work i have put in.

 

[bigtimechief]

With my labrum, when i'd hold my arm up like i'm about to wave at someone, and then start moving my hand back while keeping my elbow stationary. That motion killed me. I wouldn't have even tried it, but that's the first movements they tried on me.

I could still pull good weight and pushing wasn't a big deal, but I had quite a bit of clicking and popping going on.

Laying on the side was impossible at first, but was able to eventually. I wasn't trying to lift, however.

Keep me posted. Hopefully it's inflammation.

 

[ImAuNatural]

Thanks man I really appreciate it.

I talked to a guy at my Gym who actually went to the same PT as me and he had surgery on his labrum about 16 weeks ago. He described his pain as deep and to where you couldn't touch it.

My pain doesn't feel deep at all i can place my fingers on the area that's hurting and it doesn't really hurt to move my arm around or anything its just pushing movements.

You don't truly appreciate what you have until its gone. I wish i could order a new shoulder off of ebay or something

 

[ImAuNatural]

View attachment 562572

The black line a drew is about exactly where it hurts.

If your just raise your arm straight in front of you its in that little dip of your shoulder, shit hurts so bad!

 

[ImAuNatural]

Coronal T1 Fat Supressed MRI of right shoulder

Here is one of the images from my MRI just in case anyone knows how to read them.

View attachment 562573

 

[Transporter]

Hey bud, I got my MRI results as well and in my case there are three partial tears on my rotator cuff. Have the appt with the ortho on the 24th about my options. My pain was exactly in the location you describe but it would go around back. Kinda weird and not easy to locate probably cuz of the multiple tears. The doctor said on how this were old injuries that just kept getting worse and it was not acute. I feel the same exact way since I been out of the gym for 6 weeks now and it sucks cuz I had just started some tren and had to stop. But the way I see it is, don't matter how depressed we get, that is not gonna help. Have to let nature do it's thing and take one day at the time at this point. So just try to be positive, go to the gym and do some lower body/cardio instead. I am sure that we both will be lifting at no time

 

[ImAuNatural]

Well mine does go around the back as well sometimes. My appointment is tomorrow and i cannot wait to find out the results.

I wish you the best man and I hope all goes well with you. I will update this once I hear from the orthopedic surgeon.

 

[ImAuNatural]

MRI Results were discussed with the surgeon yesterday.

I need help in making a decision, I have no family and barely any friends so if anyone could just give some advice or input i would appreciate it. I may make a thread titled "Labrum Surgery" or something so people with past experience can help.

So the doctor says I have a tear in my Labrum from about the 2:00-4:30 postion. I have not felt any pain in my labrum (like a deep pain inside of my shoulder joint) but I have felt extreme pain in my bicep tendon. This is due to its attachment to the labrum on the top portion.

I think I have what he said is a bankhart lesion and where its up so far it has effected my bicep tendon which usually occurs with a SLAP lesion. So its like im right in the middle of the two tears.

He told me that my shoulder joint is actually sitting where it is supposed to be so that is good. The problem is a torn labrum usually reattaches after about 8 weeks. Well I have been hurt for 12 weeks now and just go the MRI so its obviously not reattached itself yet and since it is caqrtilage and has poor blood supply it may not reattach.

He told me having surgery is completely up to me.

I really need help guys this is such a huge decision and i have no one to help me out on deciding, i know ultimately it is up to me but i am hoping to get some advice from others who may have had similar situations.

 

[halfwit]

Here's the thing; an MRI, as amazing as the technology is - cannot tell the whole picture. I've had multiple surgeries on my knees, and while the MRI showed nothing terribly wrong, the surgeon found some serious issues at one point or another.

If it hasn't healed in 3 months, I'd certainly think really hard about it. If the tendons themselves are fine - then he's not going to start cutting into them (longer recovery), but leaving a muscle with a potential lack of blood flow - could cause problems down the road.

It's not an easy decision, but if it hurts and impairs your quality of life - that's enough justification in my book. I'd also talk to your PT about what the findings were, and see if they can give suggestions to prevent this from happening again in the future.

My .02c

 

[Trevdog]

I injured my shoulder (labrum tear was diagnosed) last July. I took some time off work (physical job), got a bunch of PT, and missed a lot of workouts. I went back to work and then back off for a while to try to rest it more, quit the gym almost entirely and got more PT. I tried very hard not to have surgery, talked to a doc that decided to live with a similar injury (although he can't play catch with his son any more). It wasn't in the cards, no way could I live with that pain and weakness forever. I chose my doctor carefully and he was excellent. He gave me good advice and wasn't cut happy at all as many surgeons are.

I had surgery in February and it turned out the labrum tear wasn't that bad, the doc trimmed some excess off there. However, there were some body spurs, some loose bodies floating around, and lots of arthritis from 30 years of lifting so some other stuff got cleaned up while the doc was in there. He took a bit of bone out from the top of the shoulder joint that was taking up too much space (there really isn't much room in the shoulder joint). It just took 3 tiny incisions so there is really almost no visible scarring, not that I really care.

Halfwit is totally correct that even an MRI is limited in what it shows. The doc just didn't know exactly what all the issues would be and how they would be addressed until he got in there with the scope for the actual surgery - it was pretty open ended what exactly was going to happen and I understood that going in. Fortunately my bicep tendon was intact. I had a buddy with a rotator cuff tear whose bicep tendon had to be severed and reattached elsewhere and his recovery was brutally painful and long.

My recovery hasn't been too bad but being weak for over a year has sucked. I was back to work after 10 weeks. The pain is gone when I don't use the arm and much better than before surgery when I do use it. However, it is a nuisance since doing anything with that arm does hurt some. More importantly although I'm good enough to get by at work I'm still weak by my own standards. I can now barely bench 200 (with a lot of pain) when I was well into the 300s before the injury. I can't quite military press 100 lbs. when I used to warm up with 135 and press up to 185 overhead. I tried TB-500 before surgery but it can't reattach things that are torn so I'm back on it again. I am also on 3 ius of GH 5 days per week. We will see.

Here's a tip if you do get surgery (and it sounds like you probably need it) - there is a machine you can get that you load up with ice and water and it has tubes that go to a pad that wraps around your shoulder under an ace bandage. It pumps the chilled water through the pad and it will minimize your swelling and reduce your pain. It makes the week after the surgery a hell of a lot better. Your insurance may or may not pay for it but I would have gladly forked over the $200 or so for it if mine hadn't. The buddy that had his bicep severed insisted that I get the ice machine. The doc applied it while I was under the anesthetic and I didn't unwrap the whole thing for about 5 days.

I tend to agree with the general advice that surgery should be a last resort. However, in my case if I could do it over I would get it done right away since the delay was just a waste in hindsight.

If there is a silver lining it is that since I couldn't really lift and was climbing the walls I bought a road bike and now have another healthy hobby that I love. Wish I had done that many years ago.