Has anyone had mutiple surgeries to repair labral tears in their shoulders??

[Badburns77]

What shakes people?

I'm comin' at ya from Calgary, Alberta Canada!!! I underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a large labral tear in my posterior (back) lower 2/3's of my labrum in November of '05. It was a work related accident and I'm covered for everything through Workers Compensation. I was progressing with PT and everything was going well. Then started to to get a flaring up of the front part of my shoulder around my bicep tendon along with popping and snapping sounds and feelings. Scaled down the training and it went away. Started scaling it up again and it came back. Tried this a few times with the same results. I then started getting a grinding feeling and a "catching" sensation in the top portion of my shoulder and a slight amount of pain.

I went to my surgeon looking for answers and he couldn't give me any definitive ones. He scheduled me for an ultra sound and a second MRI. The ultra sound revealed that everything looked fine including my bicep tendon. The MRI however revealed yet another tear!!! This one's near the top posterior area of my labrum. They can't tell me when it happened, how it happened or if it was there before or happened after surgery. I don't know what to do. If I have yet another surgery I'm scared that I'm going to have a substantially weaker shoulder or cause more damage in the future, or even develop problems in my good shoulder due to overuse and strain. However as of right now I can't progress with PT and I'm a person that can't push papers for a living and needs to keep active through sport as well.

Has anyone had multiple surgeries on one shoulder???? Need some advice here. Sooooo confused and in a state of limbo. Thanks

[Vinman]

As long as the new tear is in a different spot from the first, you should be able to have it fixed.

As for long term consequences, you should discuss that with your doc.

[Badburns77]

As long as the new tear is in a different spot from the first, you should be able to have it fixed.

As for long term consequences, you should discuss that with your doc.

Believe me, I've discussed it with my doc. He has no definitive answers. All just maybe's and no guarantee's which I guess is understandable but frustrating as hell. That's why I was hoping that someone here might have gone through something similar and be able to let me know how everything turned out.

[Badburns77]

I should also mention that this doc is a highly regarded shoulder surgeon. He works in the research end of it as well as teaching courses in the USA on shoulder related injuries.

[Dr 4est]

I don't have a good answer for you, but I can say you're way better off having a doc who tells you the truth and says "I don't know" than one who lies.

[UNIBONGER]

i would research that with some of the better sports med/orthos across the nation for more input..dont see DR.BUTCHER M.D.

[descender]

Having the Labrum tear show up on an MRI is a good clue, but the real test if is your shoulder is functional and stable. If you don't feel you can get a functional shoulder with PT then surgery may be the way to go.

FWIW I have skied all season (70+ days) with a torn anterior Labrum. My doc doesn't want to cut me unless I dislocate.

[sea2ski]

I had two surgeries. First one was open and the second one wasn't but it seemed to do the trick. The second tear was created by the staple that was suppose to keep my shoulder in the socket.

What I found was the most important thing for me was the PT. I went with almost 9 months of PT after the second surgery just to make sure. I was very sure that I strengthened opposing muscle groups evenly. I also found push ups on yoga balls to be one of the best exercises for creating the muscle strength to keep the shoulder in place.

Four injury free seasons of skiing since then and really the only thing that I do differently is I now ski with a shoulder brace which prevents me from putting my shoulder in certain positions where it is likely to pop out. I was very concerned that I would have to give up skiing since my shoulder popped out with pole plants and not even falls. Hope you will be able to say the same thing four years from now.

I think there is another good thread on shoulders if you do a search.