So this is a weird one. After avoiding the doc for 6-8 weeks (dreading another shoulder surgery) I finally gave in because I was still unable to lift my arm above shoulder height without immense pain. Got an MRI scheduled and it showed major inflamation in rotor cuff tendons but no tears. However there was a bunch of fluid build up in my shoulder all the way down to my bicep head. They schedule me to an ortho. Ortho says he thinks its a slap tear due to the fluid build up but doesn´t see anything on the MRI (done without contrast). He wanted me to do a month of anti-inflammatories and physical therapy. So I´m nearing the end of that now, I´ve been doing Estim and ultrasound with them twice a week. I´m getting some range of motion back but no where near 100%. Putting on a jacket, shirt, backpack, laying on my shoulder etc. all causes extreme pain. I can be sitting still and it feels like my shoulder pops slightly out of socket then gets sucked back in. My PT said the labrum is like a suction cup and imagine tearing a hole in one and you lose suction. Also have pain in my bicep which is indicative of a labrum tear. It pops and clicks all the time also.
My point to this nothing is showing on the MRI and there seems to be no plan to fix this. I went from praying avoiding surgery to now wanting to just get it fixed. However this was back in october and I was thinking I could recover during the winter. Next appt is on the 27th and who knows when surgery will be if I need it. Complete bummer because I missed the first part of last season due to a shoulder surgery. I can still ride it´s just super weak and kinda sketchy when things get dicey. Also afraid of a major dislocation in the event of a crash. I know this has to sound familiar to some on here, just curious what your experience was like.
Sorry for the super long post, been avoiding making it for months. Just ran out of patience and frustration is sitting in. Over injuries.
Artrogram MRI.
Dont let no ortho go ripping around in there without a clear picture of the issue.
I had a suspected Slap tear, Torn Supraspinatis and sever Bicept tendon tenosynovitis
Ortho want to chop my bicept tendon and screw it to my humerus.
I went with PRP and Stem cells.
Still kinda weak, but no pain.
Yes. You need the Arthrogram part of the MRI to see tears of the labrum and rotator cuff tendons well.
In 2005, I dislocated my left shoulder, resulting in a slap injury among other things. I didn’t get it repaired for three years. My shoulder kept dislocating itself to the point where I couldn’t hold a 2 pound weight in my hand, and I had to walk my hand up the wall in order to get it to the top of my head to wash my hair. I thought I was done for sure. I had a supraspinatus tendon repair and biceps tendon resection at the same time. I also have a Hill-Sachs deformity of my humeral head (basically a divot in the humoral surface, where it made contact with my labrum). I had an awesome surgeon, Scott Ficsher, and I did, and still do, extensive PT exercises, almost daily to maintain my strength and mobility.
After my surgery, my surgeon commented on how messed up my shoulder was and he question how It could get so bad. “Motocross!”
Since my surgery, I am 99.9% recovered. I don’t wear any extra braces for support and I have done 100+ races since then…and I still send it….at 58y/o!
Good luck on your recovery journey! There is life after a SLAP tear.
I had that biceps tendon resection, and it worked to perfection. Obviously if it’s not needed, don’t do it, but my bicipital groove in the humeral head wasn’t stable enough to hold my tendon. Not having that one bicipital tendon cross the shoulder joint is not a big deal. There are other accessory muscles that work to flex your shoulder.
My shoulder doesn’t have pain, I have full range of motion, and full strength.
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Did you dislocate also? I did and tore the labrum, massive tears in rotator, bicep tendon but the bad one was axillary nerve damage. They couldn’t understand for several weeks why I had no deltoid strength. Finally they diagnosed an axillary nerve injury after an EMG nerve conduction test and the visible atrophy.
Maybe look at a second opinion. Everyone says that their ortho is good, but you need to find one that is great. The shoulder is a complicated joint. Also, in the mean time you may want to look up TB500 if used it multiple times with very good results.
Same here…
had anchors installed for bicep tendon and labrum. The therapy was rough, but it I did off… that shoulder is 100%
now my other shoulder needs a time up too. This motocross stuff will beat the body up.
Thanks for the input fellas. Injuries are a frustrating part of this sport for sure. I just got back from PT. He had me do some wall stretches today and I couldn't get any kind of stretch going, just severe deep pain. I did about 3 and told him and he told me to stop and we just did Estim. He's almost sure it's torn. It's just frustrating because last year I had a way worse injury. Type 5 separation in which basically everything holding my arm to my body was torn. At least then there was a clear plan with two surgeries and recovery. This one they are like well we don't see anything so do a month of useless physical therapy. I've known from the start something major was going on or I wouldn't have went to the doc. I'll have wasted another 6-8 weeks by the time they schedule surgery, if that's even what will fix it. If they say no surgery I guess I'll just live in pain the rest of my life
I had same injury. A little ortho surgery to tie into bicep and anchor to shoulder. After therapy, no complaints at all. I was very happy with the result.
You needed demand a MRI with contrast I've had the same situation! I'm currently going through this also one MRI showed only labrum and slap tears and osteoarthritis and AC joint and bicep got a MRI with contrast and it showed a full thickness tear which is a complete tear of the rotator cuff plus multiple tears in the AC joint and bicep! And yeah they made me do almost 2 months of physical therapy before I could get this approved pretty stupid!
I hope they get you fixed up. Gotta fight them to do what needs to be done unfortunately. Mine was a little more obvious… SUCKS! This will be an entire year recovery. Just did an ACL 2years ago. I got a solid year of motos in and now did the shoulder….
My suggestion is another opinion. Not sure if the other one specialized in sports. But I went to a great place in California called DISC. They have a contract with Red Bull for their athletes. My doc was very straight forward, honest and did a great job. Got me back on the bike in 4 months.
I’d opt for a 2nd opinion as others have suggested. I recently had a labrum tear from the 12 o’clock position to 6, thankfully no rotator cuff or bicep issues. I thought I could wait it out at first so kept riding but, it’d pop out occasionally on a hard hit. That progressed to my shoulder coming out doing little things like putting on a jacket or even sleeping on it wrong. Ended up getting the open laterjet surgery and 5 months later I’m about back to 100%. Zero regrets on getting it fixed!
Seek a 2nd opinion. A decent doctor/surgeon would scope it if you were still in that much pain after 3-4 months regardless of what the MRI showed.
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