Shoulder Pain - Possible Labrum SLAP

[KennyRogers]

Afternoon Guys,

I am a 36 YO male, 5'-11", 212.5 lbs, little pudgy, 375 lb squat, 250lb bench, 165 lb press, 500lb dead lift. I have been having this pain inside my right shoulder. As far as I can remember, I slept funny while out of town on a crappy mattress and this is when I recall my shoulder start to hurt. It has gotten progressively worse and tonight I tried doing some very light presses and light bench presses (65lbs) and I had this same acute pain that caused me to stop; i did not want to aggravate anything, but figured some light work might help. I did do chins with no problems.

I do not recall any trauma that would have caused any damage. I have had some partial dislocations in the past, but that was in my mid 20's when I was still riding dirt bikes like an idiot, but I never had any pain from it. The dislocations were nothing I couldn't reset on my own.

My friend is a PA and has worked in orthopedics for several years. He did some simple tests and he thinks its a SLAP tear in my labrum. He was thinking it might slowly go away if I ease off a bit, otherwise I might be looking at an MRI and surgery. He also mentioned coming into the office and getting an injection.

Any experience with these? Do I get into an Ortho right away? Strengthen it a little and see if goes away? Injections? I think the Wolfman dealt with one of these; what was his trigger? Do I just work through the pain?

In terms of the pain level, I didn't sleep well the last three nights because of it; I'll give it a 3 or 4/10. During the day it's not too bad, maybe a 3/10. Last weekend it was a 5/10. Yesterday afternoon I was lifting my son into his car seat and I almost screamed; I'll give that one a 7/10.

Thank you!

[Tom Campitelli]

You have two options here, get a diagnosis, or chill a bit and see if it calms down. A SLAP tear is a specific type of labral lesion. It stands for "superior labral tear from anterior to posterior." You may or may not have torn the whole thing through. If you do have a SLAP tear, surgery is probably in your future. These things don't always require an acute trauma, either. It can be general wear and tear on an already weakened labrum. Shoulders are very poorly designed.

[ChrisRozon]

I've had tears on both labrums over the years - no real cause other than use and age, like he said shoulders aren't that great to begin with.

Cortisone shots work for a while, light rehab works if the damage is small enough to repair itself, but MRIs and arthroscopic surgery were inevitable after a while. Turned out for the best, on one shoulder they found other tears and some clavicle problems that they cleaned up all in one shot.

[KennyRogers]

I think my reply may have timed out, so I'll send it again. It was late and I've been sick and making a lot of mistakes lately...the mods can feel free to delete this one if its a double.

I did cease pressing and benching and my shoulder has felt a hell of lot better. I think I will go the route of trying to let heal up/calm down a little. I was going to press, bench, and do chins as long as everything was feeling good; obviously starting light and working heavier. Are their any lifts I can do that would strengthen my shoulder muscles? On a previous thread, I read that Rip was recommending presses and chins. Anything else recommended?

Ultimately, I think I will plan on getting this thing checked out and fixed this winter when I have more time. Though that will be depressing since that is when I have time to make some gains.

[Tom Campitelli]

If pressing and benching make it worse, let things calm down. Then, reintroduce those lifts with lighter weights. Curls won't do a lot for your shoulders, but they are fun. Chins, inverted rows, and their variants are all fair game. Check to see if any of the dumbell raises hurt. They might be an option. Sometimes these things do scar down and allow you return to training and normality. Sometimes they don't.