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
Anyone out here have successful labrum repair surgery and now back to awesome satisfying swimming?
My swimming is not quite awesome, but ...
I dislocated my shoulder playing HS baseball in 1986. It ended my scholastic baseball career and messed up my last two years of swimming, though physical therapy made me a decent swimmer my senior year. The injury made me prone to dislocation, which I'd do regularly -- water polo, volleyball, moving furniture, etc. Doctors were no help -- just recommended I keep doing my exercises. This kept me from swimming in college, though I swam well enough to lifeguard, and I could throw a ball well enough to play softball.
Fast forward to 2002, and I was taking care of two kids and renovating our house. My shoulder started aching at first and then my arm just felt like it would fall off any time I relaxed it at my side.
I found a good orthopedic surgeon. He put me through x-rays, several MRIs, and strength tests. He could tell something was wrong but could not see exactly what on the images. There was tendonitis and bursitis and a little fraying around the joint. He wanted to go in arthroscopically and clean things up, and while in there thoroughly examine the area. Then if he found something he could not fix, he wanted to do it again after three months of PT. I told him I did not want to wait that long to be better and convinced him to do whatever it took to fix whatever he found the first time. In July 2004, he went in.
It turned out my labrum was completely detached in front. It required open surgery (I have a 4-inch scar) and several metal anchors to fix.
PT was supposed to take 3 months to be back to normal, but I was functional after 3 weeks, and after 2 months I could throw a ball like when I was 16. After 3 months, I could swim, though I only swam once in a while for fitness.
Various things got in the way of me swimming between then and now, but I decided about a year ago to start swimming again. When I got in the pool, I was not so good, but it had nothing to do with my shoulder. After a few weeks of stretching thing out, I was on my way to swimming well again. No problems with my shoulder. I am also coaching little league, and I can throw hours of batting practice.
I am pretty sure that if I had the time and made the effort right after surgery that I could have swam right after about 6 months -- three with therapy and three more with easy swimming and weights.
If the technology was there for me in 1986, I am confident I could have played ball or swam in college after this procedure.
If they can do it all arthroscopically, even better -- the hardest part for me was waiting for the incision to heal and then getting that scar tissue broken up.
Get this fixed, as it won't get better and might get worse. Trust your doctor, and take your time with recovery.
Good luck!
Anyone out here have successful labrum repair surgery and now back to awesome satisfying swimming?
My swimming is not quite awesome, but ...
I dislocated my shoulder playing HS baseball in 1986. It ended my scholastic baseball career and messed up my last two years of swimming, though physical therapy made me a decent swimmer my senior year. The injury made me prone to dislocation, which I'd do regularly -- water polo, volleyball, moving furniture, etc. Doctors were no help -- just recommended I keep doing my exercises. This kept me from swimming in college, though I swam well enough to lifeguard, and I could throw a ball well enough to play softball.
Fast forward to 2002, and I was taking care of two kids and renovating our house. My shoulder started aching at first and then my arm just felt like it would fall off any time I relaxed it at my side.
I found a good orthopedic surgeon. He put me through x-rays, several MRIs, and strength tests. He could tell something was wrong but could not see exactly what on the images. There was tendonitis and bursitis and a little fraying around the joint. He wanted to go in arthroscopically and clean things up, and while in there thoroughly examine the area. Then if he found something he could not fix, he wanted to do it again after three months of PT. I told him I did not want to wait that long to be better and convinced him to do whatever it took to fix whatever he found the first time. In July 2004, he went in.
It turned out my labrum was completely detached in front. It required open surgery (I have a 4-inch scar) and several metal anchors to fix.
PT was supposed to take 3 months to be back to normal, but I was functional after 3 weeks, and after 2 months I could throw a ball like when I was 16. After 3 months, I could swim, though I only swam once in a while for fitness.
Various things got in the way of me swimming between then and now, but I decided about a year ago to start swimming again. When I got in the pool, I was not so good, but it had nothing to do with my shoulder. After a few weeks of stretching thing out, I was on my way to swimming well again. No problems with my shoulder. I am also coaching little league, and I can throw hours of batting practice.
I am pretty sure that if I had the time and made the effort right after surgery that I could have swam right after about 6 months -- three with therapy and three more with easy swimming and weights.
If the technology was there for me in 1986, I am confident I could have played ball or swam in college after this procedure.
If they can do it all arthroscopically, even better -- the hardest part for me was waiting for the incision to heal and then getting that scar tissue broken up.
Get this fixed, as it won't get better and might get worse. Trust your doctor, and take your time with recovery.
Good luck!
