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Shoulder Injury - Dealing whether to do surgery or not (reading MRI report)

1,334 Views | 2 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by BAT2007
rngr06
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Hi All,

I've had shoulder surgery back in Mar 2013 for a Slap II labral tear. The surgery was successful and I would say i got back to 90-95% within a reasonable expected time post surgery. At the beginning of the year, i re-injured my shoulder climbing. I felt a crunch, initially the Dr thought i tore my rotator cuff. He recommended PT so I started PT and 4 wks later Range of Motion is much much better but still have some discomfort, tightness and can't lift much weight on it.

I had an MRI done because i was starting to get a lil depressed about not being able to do high impact activities and wanted to have better guidance on my shoulder. The original dr wrote the MRI referral, was able to get the images + the MRI report. The original Dr (1st Doctor) is gone for a few wks so i decided to go to a 2nd orthopedic surgeon to look at my MRI. The 1st Doctor actually saw the report come through and was very nice enough to call me to discuss the MRI over the phone.

The tricky thing here is that the two dr aren't fully unanimous on the issue. They noted what was on the MRI report ( I doubt they looked at the images). Has anyone gone to two Surgeons and left you kind of feeling two different wants? How did y'all deal with it? If y'all care to read on what the shared with me:

1st Doctor: Said it's a SLAP tear again. Didn't think what the radiologist saw was related to the previous SLAP surgery in 2013. He said there's a 50/50 chance i could climb again after PT.
2nd Doctor: He said there was some abnormality to the SLAP. Couldn't point it if it's a new tear or if possibly i tore the scar tissues from the previous surgery, hence the pain. He also wasn't sure if this was the same injury as before or if it a new location. The doctor said there was signs of potential 'dislocation' in the shoulder but nothing evident of anything breaking. He also recommended PT but if it's a new injury location, he recommended surgery in case my shoulder slips/instable. He couldn't re-create the slipping when doing shoulder tests.

On the MRI, it does say there is some Labral abnormality to the intensity and configuration. The MRI also noted Labral Edema but no visual fracture is seen.

I really want to be able to keep climbing for a while, but I'm not sure what to do. The MRI report has notes of issues but nothing that stands out that would suggest Surgery as the best option. I asked both dr if i could climb again w/out surgery. They both said see how my shoulder does with an additional 6 wks of PT.

Worth getting a 3rd opinion? Or anywhere online i might be able to get some quick help on this.
shano0603
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AG
Try hanging. Pull up bar or whatever. Hang for as long as you can and about at the end, retract your scapula a few times. Do this a few times every day and see if it helps.
bigtruckguy3500
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I don't think there's anything wrong with trying PT for a month or two and seeing where you're at. Both docs are probably similarly trained and more or less equally competent, but your first doctor was actually in your shoulder and probably has a better understanding of your shoulder than the second one. If your 1st surgery did well for several years, then the new injury probably didn't have anything to do with a poor job on the 1st surgery - in other words I don't think the 1st doc is trying to cover for doing a bad job by saying you just need PT.

My recommendation would be to go for PT. You can always get surgery later.
BAT2007
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AG
If you have an Airrosti location near you then you could look into them to see if they can help with the situation. They are located mostly in Texas, but there are some in Illinois, Ohio and Virginia.

https://www.airrosti.com/

Rotator Cuff injury info
https://www.airrosti.com/injuries-we-treat/rotator-cuff-injuries/

I've personally had success with them when it came to working on a lower back sprain that kept flaring up. They explained to me what was causing the pain and then went through some intense manual therapy to work on the soft tissue and my hip flexors. I was pain free and discharged after only 2 visits and they usually try and treat you within 3-4 visits total.

I've been recommending them to everyone that is dealing with an injury or nagging pain!
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