Another Torn Labrum For the Books....More Frustrating and Depressing Than EVER!

[WeightLiftinFun]

Well, where to begin....for about a year and a half I've had on again and off again problems with my left shoulder. It happened originally when I slipped on a mat in a kickboxing class and landed on my left arm with it across my body. It made this disturbing crunching sound, and in hind site I'm just about certain it was a subluxation. It felt very inflamed and painful for weeks after.

Then it went away and has been popping up again every few months ever since. There have been three major episodes since then:

1) Doing bench presses, where my shoulder basically "gave out" and made the crunching sound again.

2) When I was drunk and on Maui, I did one of those jumps over a fire hydrant but put so much horsepower into it that I got too high off the ground and ended up posting my left arm to break my fall, leading to another crunching sound, and without a doubt the most painful of the lot.

3) Most recently (about two weeks ago) I injured it doing push presses with only 135lbs. My left shoulder gave out AGAIN and made the crunching sound.

In all three cases I think I suffered shoulder subluxations.

At this point I figure enough's enough. I'm getting an MRI done (with the dye I hope) and meeting with an orthopedic surgeon. It sounds like this is something only surgery can fix, and as ****ty as that is, I'd rather do it asap than invest 3 months into PT sessions only to find it didn't do **** for me.

The most frustrating part about this injury is it doesn't really affect my daily life, and often doesn't even hinder my training, which makes me pissed off and reluctant about surgery. I was snatching 70lb dumbbells with the left arm just a few months ago without bothering it at all. But then again there will be times when it feels like its going to dislocate just trying to put my shirt on. At this point I know its just plotting its next big chance to **** me.

The worst part of all is I'd been planning this big trip to Thailand to live at a Muay Thai camp for an extended amount of time. I was hoping to go within the next couple of months, but now I'll have to push it back like 6 months, assuming I can get the surgery done within the next few weeks. Its just so depressing, I literally just finished college and had been desperately looking forward to this trip for months, and now I have this **** to deal with.

I plan on never doing another upperbody pressing movement again, which is fine for me since I don't really NEED them to achieve my goals. I just hope my shoulder will be able to hold it together when I punch and clinch, that's all I ask. If I can't practice my hobbies with full intensity, its like I no longer have any desire to do them.

Had to just let all my fears and frustrations out.

[WeightLiftinFun]

Well, update:

Just realized I only have catastrophic coverage, so I can't even afford an MRI much less surgery. Woooohoooo. Looks like the best I can do is external rotations with my mother's resistance bands. I can't wait for the next shoulder episode!