Slap Lesion Tear in Shoulder, 100% recovery possible?

[sowilson]

Read your own post. You have a SLAP tear - IT WILL NOT HEAL ON ITS OWN. The best that can be done is train other muscles to take over some of the function of the labrum, this is what you would learn to do in PT. Or you can waddle around in self pity and inflated ego and try to be a professional musician in a great deal of pain. I'm sure the public is going to love supporting someone who can barely play and only does so in great pain. If you don't take care of this it will end your career. So pop that inflated ego of yours and take care of the issue. It may cause you some down time from gigging, a whole lot if you let your ego make decisions on not using a support, very little if you suck it up and use whatever crutch you need while you heal.

And don't bring up some sad story about the music business, I was a gigging musician for most of my life. I don't presently gig because I'm still dealing with the effects of having multiple trigger release surgeries on almost all of my fingers. Each surgery takes me about 8-10 months to get my dexterity up to the point of being able to play my instruments at a high level. Try being out of the scene for a decade - so quit whining. There have been many musicians who have had accidents, surgeries, and other malady's where they've had to take to the stage with slings, crutches, and other devices - get over it. Heck, when I was young a friend of mine (and fellow bassist) broke his hand and wrist in a motorcycle accident and he had me sub for him on bass while he sang background vocals.. It was a hoot being the only white guy in a hard core funk band (heck, only white guy in the clubs we were playing in).