Shoulder Injury : Input Appreciated

[jpcampbell]

hi everyone ,

im 26 now .. until i hurt my shoulder i was playing alot... well alot for someone working 60hrs a week. i was playing enough to consider playing tournaments again. entered a mens open @columbia U. turned out to be a strong draw but i hung in and made it to the final. along the way my shoulder got sore and felt some clicking ... basically i had trained the hell out of my groundstrokes and conditioning so i was in shape but not my serve... after the 5 matches to the finals my shoulder was hurting.

it was sore but not really injured.... i took the next week off and rested.
the following weekend i went to hit lightly with a friend & hit a hi volley and BAM!!! felt like a whole bunch of pins were let loose in may shoulder.

been 8 months of solid rest & still no tennis or gym.
its feeling alot better but still cant use it without pain and the thought of playing any serious tennis is no even in my head right now.

i have full motion but it still get very sore from daily use.. i was working on a cpu all day and that has not helped it get better.i cut back on that a whole lot... run my own biz so its hard for me to not work

now the pain is more in the upper back right below the shoulder.
the teres minor i believe. been getting massage and acupuncture which def help the pain but only temporarily.

the doc said i have 2 partial tears in my labrum & tendonitis.. got mri and xrays

the doc never diagnosed anything in my teres minor... im giong to see another doc i guess.

ive done exercises but i get very sore the next day.
im not sure what to do...

do i keep doinf the exercises thru the pain or am i hurting my shoulder more?

it is getting better with time & rest. but im not sure the best way to handle it.
wnat to get back to playing.. its driving me NUTS!
and ideally at my previous level....
any input is appreciated.



thanks
- jp

[Marius_Hancu]

I would not do anything on that shoulder in your situation and get see another doc

>i was working on a cpu

what is a CPU? I only know Central Processing Unit in computers

anyway, suggest moving the mouse to your left hand to reduce the stress on that side

do a search in this forum on "shoulder" and "labrum" perhaps you get some more ideas

[Marius_Hancu]

Partial shoulder capsule, labrum tear. HELP
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=91987

agassi fitness
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=26829

[jpcampbell]

thanks for the reply.
by cpu i mean computer. :)

im going to see the surgeon tomm.
i will see if they can just get in and look at whats going on.
i want to avoid surgery if i can.

for the first months i didnt give it rest becasue of my job.
im hoping with more rest now it will get better on its own.

thanks
- jp

[Andres Guazzelli]

thanks for the reply.
by cpu i mean computer. :)

im going to see the surgeon tomm.
i will see if they can just get in and look at whats going on.
i want to avoid surgery if i can.

for the first months i didnt give it rest becasue of my job.
im hoping with more rest now it will get better on its own.

thanks - jp
The tears in the labrum won't heal, since cartilage don't regenerate itself.
The best thing you can do, it's surgery. Maybe not a open surgery, but an arthroscopy. Plling, pling, two one-inches cuts, fixed, and you'll be playing in two or three months.

Don't overuse it, because your injury will be even worse, and you may need open surgery, and reconstruction.

Try NOT to avoid surgery, because, that kinds of injuries, it's the only way to repair them. It's different than a rotator cuff injury.

To make it simple: You have TWO holes in your labrum, which is the cartilage supporting the shoulder articulation. If you don't get those two holes repaired, the holes will be bigger, and you'll dislocate your shoulder each time you move ur arm in the direction of the holes, and that's going to injure your ligaments, your tendoms, and you'll tear the capsule of the articulation, plus you'll have Hill-Sachs, which are compression fractures in the head of the bone.

Don't be afraid of the surgery. Sometimes, it's the only way out.

[jpcampbell]

thanks for the input.:mrgreen:
im starting to feel that surgery is the only way to get this better.

the mri ppl said that i tore my labrum.

but the surgeon said that he wasnt so sure i did.
the pain is in the back of the shoulder... almost in the back side of my armpit... wher the arm meets the back. im going to see another doc and maybe another mri.

i think it was the posterior labrum.

from what ive heard surgery is not a good option as i might not get backl to 100%. ... but from what ive been reading on this site everyone has had a good result with surgery.

i am considering surgery. its been months of rest and its still very painful.
especially overhead. i did it on a high volley... not even swinging.


- jp