Shoulder Injury - To Cut or Not to Cut

[Justin Clark]

I messed up my shoulder pretty bad over the years. It probably started with a motorcycle accident as a teenager. The last few years it feels like it pop out of place. More like the muscles are twisting over each other. I finally went and got an MRI done.
I got the results from last week’s MRI arthrogram on my shoulder. It showed a tearing of the superior and anterior labrum with hill-sachs deformity. There is a note in the report of Bankart lesion of left shoulder. I don’t remember him using this term. The surgeon of course has told me that surgery is the option to fix it. He said it was pretty ground up inside.
I began the Starting Strength program about a month ago to get my shoulder stronger (and the rest of me as well). I cannot overhead press at all right now. Anything above my head has a chance for my shoulder to feel like it pops out of place. As I was swiftly reminded during the first session. Benching has also been a struggle as it causes a pain deeper in my shoulder. Squatting has been slightly challenging since I can’t get the bar low enough due to my shoulder.
All around my shoulder is pissing me off.
So the main question, is surgery the only option to get this fixed permanently? Or could I strengthen my shoulder muscles enough for this not be an issue?
Thanks in advance!

[Mark Rippetoe]

If I had that labrum tear, I'd get it fixed.

[tate]

I walked around with a SLAP tear and Bankart lesion for a couple of years, needlessly. Getting it fixed was a good decision. I wish I'd done it earlier.

[Kyle Martin]

For what it's worth I've had 3 labrum surgeries over the years, and it sucks bad, but it kept my shoulders from painfully leaving the socket at the slightest bump, so I'd suggest getting them fixed.

[Justin Clark]

Thanks for the responses.

Can you point me in a direction for rehab? I've watched Rip's video on his shoulder rehab. I'm not sure if it translates to this type of injury and procedure. Thanks!

[novicejay]

Thanks for the responses.

Can you point me in a direction for rehab? I've watched Rip's video on his shoulder rehab. I'm not sure if it translates to this type of injury and procedure. Thanks!

Here's what I did:

Try to move arm up day after surgery - this sucks bad but I tried to move it up.
Same thing for several days.
Finally, it started moving up.
I then used a broom stick to try and press overhead - this sucked really bad.
Took forever & then I finally got the broom stick overhead.
I put buckets on the end of the broom stick.
Got better and started putting dirt in buckets.
Got better and used a bar.
Added weight.
And continued on.
The main thing is getting that arm moving after surgery which totally sucks but you have to do it.

[Joe Heisey]

I had an anterior labral tear for about a year and had to get surgery, since it just got worse from wrestling and football. Apparently pressing movements directly aggravate an anterior tear; that's what the doctor said. I started pressing and pulling (pushups and pullups) about 3 months after surgery, very carefully, and it got better--but never healed fully until I started SS.
The bad news is that pre-surgery, you can't lift. The good news is that post-surgery, you need to lift.
Occasionally bench press aggravates my shoulder a bit, but that's rare and it always gets better within 20 minutes.

[Kyle Martin]

I had my labrum repairs before finding SS so I just did the standard PT route. I was strongly cautioned not to do much for the first two weeks until the internal sutures set, not sure if that is BS but it was scary enough for me to not do anything those first two weeks. Afterwards my biggest problem was range of motion. They really tightened up my labrums and once I started SS it took me about two months of the Horn stretch to get into low bar position.

[Brent Carter]

+1 The last exercise you will be able to do again is the low bar position squat. I had a circumferential tear, no bueno.

PT will give you massage and ice packs and such. Give it a week or two to let swelling go down and sutures heal up. Then start aggressively rehabbing that thing. Skip the I,Y,T,W bullshit the PT will have you do and use the broomstick protocol. It works better than anything else.

Let it be known: your life will suck after shoulder surgery for a time. Sleep will be problematic. But having a fucked up labrum will lead to bigger harder to repair issues down the line so get the thing fixed.

[David Clark]

Justin had the surgery Thursday. He's home with ice packs and pain meds. He sees the PT Monday and then we'll go from there.