My Posterior Labral Tear Thread
My original injury was in October of 2007. I was unracking 185 lbs on military press and had it slightly behind my head/back. As soon as it was unracked, I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder and the weight fell. After sitting there for a few minutes, I still had some discomfort, but nothing too crazy.
In November of 2007, I went to the ortho because my shoulder was still sore and kept cracking/popping/grinding. He ordered an MRI. About two weeks later, the MRI results came back negative other than some fluid around my biceps tendon and I did 12 weeks worth of rehab.
April 2008 - I went back shortly after completing the rehab and told the ortho that my shoulder didn't feel any differently. The PT's diagnosis of my shoulder hadn't changed, either. I was told it just might be one of those things that gets aggravated every now and again... just stay away from lifts that piss it off, stick with anti-inflammatory medication, and keep doing at-home stretching and strengthening exercises.
October 2008 - I went back to the ortho again after gradually feeling more discomfort (I'm careful to say discomfort rather than pain because I only experience sharp pains occasionally - the cracking/popping/grinding is constant). Sleeping and driving became annoying. An arthrogram was ordered and it showed a posterior labral tear. Despite this, my doctor did not want to perform the surgery and referred me to his colleague (who specializes in shoulders).
January 2009 - I finally see the ortho who specializes in shoulders (damn him and everyone planning their surgeries around the Holidays). He goes through an eval, talks to me about posterior labral tears, how MRIs are horrible at diagnosing them, how things might actually be worse than what is being seen (biceps tendon), etc. He recommends surgery since I've done plenty of PT and at 15 months post-injury it feels like its getting worse. I'm getting surgery on Friday (1/23/09).
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Cliffs:
Oct 2007 - Hurt shoulder trying to unrack 185 lbs on military press.
Nov 2007 - Have MRI; nothing seen other than some inflammation.
Dec 2007 - Mar 2008 - Physical therapy.
Apr 2008 - Return to doctor; tells me to stay away from motions/lifts that aggravate and to keep doing at-home PT.
Oct 2008 - Return to doctor; arthrogram shows a torn labrum; recommends me to another ortho.
Jan 2009 - Return to another doctor; getting surgery after 15 months.
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I'll update this as time goes by (surgery, post-op eval, rehab, etc.). I've searched and found a few good threads on here concerning labral tears, but most stop after only a few posts. I'll also try to answer any questions, but my information is mostly limited to my specific problem.