Torn Labrum Surgery Recovery Journal

How's everyone's slap tear repairs doing? I'm going into surgery next week. I figured I can dig up an old thread for the fun of it

 

I know this is an old thread for sure but I saw it come up as I was browsing Google for SLAP tears.

I personally believe I have a SLAP tear in my left shoulder for sure. A few years I ago I decided to do the monkey bars at the gym for the heck of it. As I was swinging I felt a pulling sensation in the front of my shoulder. It wasn't excruciating by any means but I was definitely aware of it. The next few weeks I "self-rehabbed" it to see if it would get better on its own. Sure enough it did. I pretty much got back to my regular lifting in the gym. This all happened I believe in like the spring of 2021.

During the summer of 2022 I had arthroscopic hip surgery. I was on crutches for 6 weeks with at least a 6-9 month recovery. Well, about a month after getting off crutches my left shoulder started to ache pretty badly after my upper body workouts in the gym. It would settle down and then flare up again after another workout say a few days later.

Well, 2023 in the summer I had another hip surgery on my other hip for basically the same thing as my first hip, my right one. So back on crutches again for 6 weeks. Well, I remember that first night going to bed after this second hip surgery that my left shoulder really ached in the front, really badly. Like an eight on the pain scale. I was really concerned I'd have to put up with this for the 6 weeks being on crutches. Luckily I did not.

So here we are in March of 2024 and my shoulder has never felt the same since that monkey bar incident in 2021. For the most part the pain/discomfort is a general ache in the front of the shoulder after more strenuous activities like working out. I seem to pretty much be ok working out but I'd say pulling exercises seems to affect it more than say pushing exercises (definitely like lat pulldowns or pull-ups, I have to be conscious of those). I will get pain in the back of the shoulder but that is rare and usually subsides pretty quickly. Sometimes when I go to pick my baby out of her crib I will get some immediate pain in my shoulder in the front. The pain generally seems to be in the front and more medial, towards the inside of the shoulder. I seem to have pretty good stability, strength and range of motion, a lot of times it just seems to be pain/discomfort.

I know everyone is different but those of you, specifically with SLAP tears what were your symptoms before going in to have your shoulder evaluated? What activities seemed to limit you more than others? Does this sound like something you were dealing with before you got evaluated?

Thank you.