My doctor thinks I have a labral tear. It may not be torn too badly since apparently it wasn't obvious on the MRI. I took three months off of swimming before seeing the doctor - I figured it would get better on its own, but it didn't.
I've done about 4 weeks of physical therapy and will do another two before seeing the doctor again. My range of motion and rotator cuff muscle strength have definitely improved, but the impingement pain and shoulder clicking during freestyle recovery motion is still there. My doctor suggested that after 6 weeks of physical therapy he'd have a better idea if surgery would be necessary. Two weeks to go...
In searching this and other forums, it seems that physical therapy doesn't do the trick for most swimmers with labral tears, and they end up in surgery. Or maybe those that choose surgery just like to post more about it?
If you've recovered from a labral tear without surgery, let me know! I'm willing to do many more months of physical therapy if I think I can avoid surgery!
Brian
Parents
Former Member
I had surgery six weeks ago to repair a badly broken finger. I still can't move the finger, and my hand and joints swell up each morning and I spend the rest of the day stretching them.
Surgery is awful so please, please try to recover without it if you can. Otherwise, whatever you do post-surgery, make sure you take those anti-inflammatories for a long time, and keep icing the site as needed, and start with a (very experienced) physical therapist as soon as you can afterwards or you will have permanent issues. Always get a second opinion from a different surgeon too. It's worth the extra $200 for an independent consultation. If I had done this, I likely would have avoided a more complicated hand surgery and had a better recovery (it turns out that my original hand surgeon was wrong about needing to do a bone graft on my finger).
I had surgery six weeks ago to repair a badly broken finger. I still can't move the finger, and my hand and joints swell up each morning and I spend the rest of the day stretching them.
Surgery is awful so please, please try to recover without it if you can. Otherwise, whatever you do post-surgery, make sure you take those anti-inflammatories for a long time, and keep icing the site as needed, and start with a (very experienced) physical therapist as soon as you can afterwards or you will have permanent issues. Always get a second opinion from a different surgeon too. It's worth the extra $200 for an independent consultation. If I had done this, I likely would have avoided a more complicated hand surgery and had a better recovery (it turns out that my original hand surgeon was wrong about needing to do a bone graft on my finger).
