Who has NOT had their SLAP tear operated on and how did you fare?

[samrozay3]

After complaining of shoulder pain, I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon and shoulder specialist and I was sent to get an MRI scan. The MRI report says that I have a suspected SLAP tear and a suspected subacromial impingement. Since I'm 28 and I feel pretty much zero pain during the day and my ROM is 95% as good as in my left arm and pain free, the surgeon advised against surgery and sent me to PT and told me to keep working out at the gym but to leave out exercises that cause me discomfort. PT has helped a lot and showed me how to a) mitigate discomfort and b) exercises to strengthen my rotator cuff muscles.

It's been 3 months and 8 PT sessions now since my first visit to the surgeon and my shoulder is feeling fine given the circumstances. I get a tight feeling every now and then during workouts but it's not necessarily a discomfort, it just feels a bit tight. I went to the surgeon again last week for a check up and his word were: "I will not operate on a shoulder like this".

Here are some of the exercises that I have either replaced or tweaked:
No more BB bench press --> only DB bench press or chest press
No more behind the head or BB overhead press --> Using the Athlean X suggested variation instead
No more dips
No more pull ups --> at least for now, until I feel more comfortable again
Replaced squats with V Squats --> again just for now, until I feel more comfortable again

How many of you have dealt with similar problems and how successful were you? Keen to hear your stories.

[sowilson]

so you've cut out bb bench press and squats. This is an improvement??? So, you have a torn labrum. The best that rehab will do is recruit other muscles (the minor ones) to perform the function of the torn labrum. If you want the labrum fixed you'll need surgery. If you don't have surgery, no problem but you will be more susceptible to dislocations and subluxations especially if you engage in contact sports (including pickup basketball games). If you use PT make sure that you continue to use the exercises that your PT taught you - you will need to do them for the rest of your life. You may want to see an orthopedic surgeon who works with athletes and is well know for their work with athletes. It use to be standard that rehab would be first used instead of surgery but in athletes surgeons are tending to recommend surgery from the start because of the risk of reinjury if you only do rehab. My son went through this as a HS football player. He ended up having surgery (after being reinjured), the problem was fixed, and he went on to have a successful college football career.

Myself, I have shoulder labrum issues (and hip issues) from playing baseball, football, and swimming competitively when I was young. For me rehab has been fine, but then again I'm not trying to bench 385lbs or squat 600lbs. I'm just trying to enjoy my 60's, throw batting practice once in a great while, and go backpacking. It depends what you want from life.

[ProgrammerHunch]

I have a SLAP tear in my left shoulder. Doctor suspects a minor one, but there is a possibility it is major. Anyhow, I opted the non-surgery route.

I am currently benching 200 on it. Basically I have to massage the **** out of it beforehand. The pec, the whole bicep region, the anterior delt, etc. Then warmup and stretch. Do warm-up sets to determine if there is still areas I need to massage (with a baseball). If I massage it enough, I feel NO pain during aggravating exercises. If I don't do this, my shoulder will hurt pretty badly.

I've been doing this for years. Shoulder hasn't gotten any worse. Not only does the massage make it painless, but I feel no pain between workouts either. But I do have to spend a good amount of time pre-workout massaging every square inch thoroughly. Plus stretch and warm-up.