Help Finding Great Shoulder Surgeon

I've had 3 surgeries by Gordon Nuber at Northwestern in Chicago, he's great (Bears team MD as well).

Do you lift weights? My left shoulder has fully dislocated a dozen or so times since 1993 and has given me trouble continuosly and I have never had surgery. It's happened so many times that I've learned to reset it myself. It also has changed how I sleep, my activities, even my appearance (left shoulder chest and back muscles look much different than the right). One thing though, it has not popped out of socket since 2001 and even though every single freestyle stroke is on the verge of disslocation, the swimming actually helps it. Even if I overdo the swimming it's usually my other shoulder (right) that becomes painful. The most advantageous thing I've done for it is weight training. If I didn't, I probably would have never started swimming last year, something I enjoy passionately. I also do several specialized shoulder workouts every other day with light weights that strengthen supporting muscles. My main point is not to discourage finding a surgeon, you probably know better than anyone what you need, but my own personal testimony of how weight training help me out. I don't know how many more years I have before I will need to do the same but for now it's in much better shape than before. Good luck

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback. I have been looking at local surgeons, especially checking out the Johns Hopkins team who also are sports medicine and Orioles team doctors. There are three to choose from in the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery area who all look good - my wife suggests using the one with 'shoulder' mentioned the most times in his interests - Steve Petersen www.hopkinsortho.org/steve_a_petersen_md.html I was also suggested by a friend to go to Dr Anand Murthi at the University of Maryland www.umm.edu/doctors/anand__murthi.html If anyone has any feedback on any of these doctors, good or bad I would love to hear it. I am back in the pool now swimming very gently - my AC joint hurts a lot, but as it is apparently due to arthritis I will just ice/NSAID it and ignore it. I want to lose some of the weight I have gained since stopping swimming so that the doctor will believe me when I say I need to be able to use the shoulder for competitive swimming once they finish working on it... I will let you all know how it goes. Paul

Thanks Steve, yes I do weight training and some cardio work, especially as I did not swim for most of the last year! I learned the exercises to strengthen my rotator cuff, and use them as well as some for the bigger shoulder muscles. It does help, although building up weight training once I stopped swimming is what started the AC joint to hurt more. You can't win when you get older... Paul