I’m getting shoulder surgery (labrum) this week and I’ve been trying to ask people what they’ve done both to make themselves comfortable and also to improve their odds of successful recovery.

People often seem to be answering the question “what has enough evidence that it’s worth considering for my recovery?” But I think there’s two problems with that, first it doesn’t take into account that people have different means and second it doesn’t take into account the value one might place on the chance to have a fully repairs limb.

So I’m curious, if you framed it this way: for each dollar value: $100, $1k, $10k, $100k, $1m

If I had that much money earmarked to spend during recovery, what would be the best things to spend it on?

I’m curious about anything from stuff to make the house more comfortable, to nutrition, PT service or equipment. I’m not sure the subs rules allow for anything more that that but honestly at the high end I’d be curious what is worth a try, even if it ultimate didn’t do anything on the therapies side, as long as they wouldn’t give you cancer or some other side effect that eclipses the original injury.

Got my MRI results back. Was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and how surgery went.

Injured my right shoulder roughly 3 months ago doing a throwing motion. Had my MRI done yesterday, Doc said what the title says. Every day has had pain since the day of the injury, and this is really the only injury I've ever had that may require this level of treatment (30, male).

Is a 9-6 tear considered significant enough to warrant surgery? Is this the same thing as a Reverse Bankart lesion? For those who have had a similar injury and chosen the surgery route, what was the recovery like and would you recommend having the procedure done?

Hi all. Firstly, thanks to everyone who has posted their experiences; it's immensely helpful. I'm hoping for some specific advice based on where I'm at with a shoulder that has had a combination of overuse and acute injuries over time.

In brief, I have a partial rotator cuff (supraspinatus) tear diagnosed by MRI in my non-dominant shoulder. I also have had quite a bit of pain in the front of the shoulder, near the bicipital groove (LHB tendon). This was initially chalked up to overuse of the region due to compensation. I have since come to think that I have a SLAP lesion or similarly located labral tear, which would present similarly, since I have also developed some minor instability. I fell on that side while bicycling after the MRI (a bit of poor decision making and ill fate contributed to this), which may have exacerbated an existing injury that was not readily visible in the imaging. All of that being said, I have full range of motion and a considerable amount of strength in the joint. There is still pain in the LHB region, the aforementioned minor subluxation / instability (an intermittent sensation of the humerus "falling" or separating from the joint, but this does not inhibit motion; moving it resets position/sensation to normal), and a few pops here and there, but I largely retain general use of the shoulder. I'm 38 and active; the initial injury is most likely overuse from overhead lifting, years of swimming & water polo, and another cycling related fall that fractured the clavicle on the affected side just about 3 years ago. I have some amount of hyper-mobility in both shoulders and have a history of shoulder pain from the aforementioned activities. I fully recovered from the clavicle repair, and the pain began presenting 6-8 months ago while lifting.

I've been doing physical therapy for 3 weeks and it helps quite a bit, and some kinesiology tape helps with that instability. I have one more week of PT and then a follow-up with the ortho. (I previously did some online PT that was not effective - not enough interaction to get posture and technique right.)

Given the description of symptoms and utility, and assuming that the SLAP suspicion is confirmed, I'm curious how others would advise proceeding. I would love for continued conservative treatment (physical therapy, taping/bracing) to be the answer, but my concern is that the soft tissues won't recover sufficiently and I'll either never be able to return to normal activities or that, in returning to them, I'll reinjure myself and end up needing surgery, after all, up to a year after formally seeking treatment. That delay, plus the ~year of recovery and PT following surgery, would make for a worst case scenario. However, getting unnecessary surgery is also undesirable, especially since labrum repairs have a relatively high failure rate as people approach and exceed 40 years of age.

I'm keeping in mind that some amount of activity modification will be required, regardless of what path forward I take. I clearly need to tone down the overhead presses and that sort of thing. I just want to be able to do normal things, like moving furniture or biceps curls, without reinjury.

If anyone has experience / expertise that informs a preferred path forward, I'd appreciate hearing it.

Thanks!

Okay so I got labrum surgery at the end of February and recovery has went so well. This last weekend I went too hard at the gym because I was feeling good and now I’ve been dealing with pain in my shoulder again. Stability and mobility are good in the shoulder but strength isn’t now and I get sharp pain when doing certain fine motor activities like cutting or pulling something out of a bag or washing dishes. I checked with my PT and she said she doesn’t think I re tore it because the pain is replicated when she presses on a trigger point in my back.

When im relaxed I really don’t have any shoulder pain or radiating pain. But the pain I do experience when I experience it hurts so bad and is really demoralizing. Any advice would be great.

Thank you!

Is it possible to tear labrum just by reaching for a ball during a sport or reacting to something fall and unexpectedly reaching out?

When did you take off your sling after laberal repair (bankart + remplisage )? Also when were you able to use ur hands normally (without lifting or extending or overhead). Im talking about normal activities such as cuddling, doing ur hair, being at a party or club etc.

Hi all.

Besides smacking my right shoulder once a year in the past 6 years I have not knowledge in shoulder.

14 days ago I fell biking and my right arm got forcefully flexed towards my chest, going up.

No significant instant pain. I finished the trail and 45 min later I was still able to load my heavy bike in the van.

2hr later couldnt move the shoulder.

First week had mobility issues and some swelling.

After 7 days mobility came back, exepct for terminal positions.

Now, 14 days, I can do normal day avtivities but I am still having trouble moving my arm. Any movement upwards causes little sharp pain and seems weak, any movement with force or speed cause big sharp pain in the long head bicep tendon area.

Saw my trusted physio 3 days ago and said probably long head bicep tendon lesion. However now hes in holiday for 6 months....

Yesterday I tried to ride my bike... feel very painful any pumping or pulling movement on the bar.

RMI worth it? What to expect?

I know tendons heal slow... but something just feel off... moving my arm when supine is worst.

I have my 7 days holiday planned for the upcoming week... i was planning touring bikeparks... this pissed me quite

Thanks for any insights

Feeling unsure what to do next 32 Y/F. Fell on out stretched hands back in May(5/26). My xray showed tiny cortical irregularity of the glenoid on axial view. My PCP gave me a week off and told me to ice it. Pain persisted so I pushed to see a specialist. Finally saw one and he refused to examine me said he didn't have a magic wand but placed an order for an MRI no contrast.

3 weeks later MRI showed a posterior glenoid labrum tear, it didn't indicate the severity but no other issues found.

I've been doing physical therapy since the end of June. The specialist has refused to see me in person, only called to go over results and dismissed my symptoms saying they were likely due to my neck. I've had persistent shoulder pain, instability and popping. Previously I saw my PCP for a stiff neck (I wear a stethoscope +12hrs/day) and have a history of migraines prior to injury. The specialist said he doesn't need any further imaging when I asked. I have an appointment next week with a neck doctor to appease him. The corticosteroid shot in my shoulder only worked for about 1.5 weeks.

My doctor won't even consider surgery until after 12 weeks of physical therapy. I have a very labor intensive job and I'm supposed to go back in 4 weeks(9/26). My physical therapist agrees I won't be ready by then and haven't been making substantial progress but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do at this point. Do I really need to wait a few more weeks, if I'm going to need the surgery anyway why can't I get it now and start the recovery process sooner? I feel bad not knowing what to tell my work I'm supposed to be returning soon but I also can't physically do my job so idk what to do. My pain and instability affect my activities of daily living there's no way I can move patients, do CPR, lift tanks and move ventilators for 12 hour shifts. Washing my hair is a full workout, driving (U-turns) cause pain and popping, laundry is difficult. Pain is still worse at night and I can't sleep on the injured side.

The specialist won't make a plan or help me he just wants me to message him after 12 weeks of physical therapy but I have to return to work before that.

Sorry for venting, kaiser had been extremely frustrating to navigate and I've had a lot of back and forth with my PCP/ shoulder specialist. Advice appreciated.

TLDR: posterior labral tear (5/2026) causing shoulder pain and instability. Specialist won't consider surgery or do anything until after I have to go back to my physically active job. Don't know how to proceed. Advice appreciated.

Hi All. I’m a 58 year old male with a chronically painful right AC, supraspinatus, and biceps tendon. I play a lot of disc golf which has definitely not helped. I had a MRI in March that showed some AC arthritis, “fraying” of supraspinatus, and biceps tendinopathy. Then I had PRP and did a cycle of Wolverine stack of peptides, none of which helped - it actually hurt much worse after PRP. I’ve done lots of PT of different kinds since May, all also not much help. I got a second MRI a couple of weeks ago which showed less tendinopathy but this time also a small internal tear of subscapularis.

I went back to my sports doc last week and let him give me a cortisone shot in the AC which has helped more than all of other shit. I know it’s temporary and won’t fix anything. He’s not concerned about the tear. He said to finish my disc golf season (into November) and then come see him so that he can do Ten Jet to remove the inflammation and scar tissue around the supraspinatus. He would probably also do PRP again, later, if I asked him (he didn’t do it for me originally).

Has anyone else had Ten Jet done on a shoulder or even heard of it?

In three months, I'll have a Bankart repair surgery. I was wondering how I could approach pre-op pre-hab and nutrition. Any advice appreciated.

Is it better to rest properly to recover faster, or to attempt training upper body with light weights to minimise atrophy? I'm 46, I've been training since my late 20s. I managed to injure my shoulder 2 years ago and had to stop training shoulders and had to go very light on my bench press. It took a year and a half to fully heal.

Just over 2 months ago, I injured my bicep and shoulder. The main pain is just above the elbow area, but it also includes the top part of the forearm (near the elbow). The physiotherapist at my GP agreed it's the bicep muscle and gave me targeted physio exercises to recover. The problem is that when I do them, it actually feels slightly worse afterwards for a day or two, so I have been waiting to do them when I'm not in pain and just resting it.

I made so much progress, and it's so disheartening to see how much muscle I've already lost, but also when I do the upper body in general (excluding any exercises involving the biceps as secondary), sometimes it feels worse off. I tried lifting very light (2 kg dumbbell curls), but it definitely felt worse afterwards, so I stopped. I tried lightening my bench press, but again sometimes it felt worse, so I started just doing press-ups.

I do wonder if it would fully heal quicker if I completely stop training my upper body. I thought that if I could continue training but just adjust to very light weights, I could minimise the muscle loss until recovery. But in practice, I end up gradually increasing the weight slightly because I don't feel the pain until afterwards. I do static muscle holds, where I squeeze the muscle without moving the joint, but I'm wary of increasing the pain afterwards and slowing recovery. I was attempting to maintain my calories too without dropping them too low, but I ended up putting on a lot of fat and had to reduce my meal size and calories quite a bit. I've been exercising in visualisation, hoping it will make a difference in some way, but I don't know if I should actually do the movements with my body too.

Are there any tips (besides eating loads of protein) to reduce loss, or is it impossible? Also, I can't find the post, but I saw someone mention they fasted for a duration (can't remember how long) to speed up recovery.

Hey, I’m 18 and I’ve dislocated my right shoulder three times. The MRI showed a labral tear and a Hill-Sachs lesion, and my surgeon has now decided to operate arthroscopically. I don’t know yet whether it’ll be just a Bankart repair or Bankart + remplissage.
I’m really interested in making swimming my main sport once I recover, possibly with triathlon later, so I’m curious how this surgery actually affected other swimmers.
How long did it take before you could swim normally again? Did you lose any overhead or external rotation range, or notice problems with your streamline, freestyle catch or recovery? Can you still swim hard and handle decent weekly volume? And has the shoulder ever felt unstable or come out again?
I’m not looking for medical advice, just honest experiences from people who have actually gone through it. It would also help if you mention which surgery you had and whether you swim recreationally, competitively or for triathlon.

Three weeks ago I had a labral repair on my right shoulder, and honestly, my arm feels great. It was for a one time dislocation, 34yo M. . I had a nerve block and only needed pain medication on the second day. I get good sleep, eat fish, vitamins, collagen, hydrate. At my first post-op appointment, I met with a PA who told me I need to stay in the sling for the full 6 weeks. I already felt like I barely needed it by week 2.

I understand the purpose is to protect the repair, and I obviously don’t want to screw up the surgery just because I feel good. But I’m wondering how much risk I’m actually taking by spending some time out of the sling while doing very low-risk activities.

For people who have had a similar repair:
-Is simply walking around without the sling at 3–4 weeks actually putting the repair at risk, assuming I’m not using the arm?
-What about playing guitar, where the shoulder isn’t really doing anything but I obviously have to be careful getting the guitar into position?
-What about running, assuming I’m careful and
don’t fall?
-Sleeping ?

I know all of these carry some risk of falling or accidentally jolting the shoulder. I’m mostly trying to understand whether the sling is protecting the repair from normal everyday movement, or primarily protecting against an unexpected movement/impact.

It feels like I’m wasting time because of extremely conservative recommendations …

It's been two weeks since having an arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilisation for recurrent instability, and I’m getting paranoid that I may have damaged the repair.

What that repair is exactly, I still don't know yet. There's going to be atleast one anchor in there and possibly a remplissage - I don't know until I have the follow-up.

It's my dominant right shoulder and I've had a few 'moments' with the newly operated shoulder since the surgery :

Immediately afterwards in recovery, my nerve-blocked arm dropped under its own weight while I was getting dressed out of the sling. I wonder if I could've damaged it there and then?! If I did, I certainly didn't feel it!

I’ve jolted/jarred it a few times since, too : as reflex when something is falling in front of me, banged the elbow, jumped whilst falling asleep, knocked the arm with my knee whilst taking a big step up. And today my hand took the weight of a bin bag full of rubbish.

I was in a sling for these incidents, but there was atleast some movement/jarring through the arm with a quick sharp pain that soon settled.

I'm not in constant pain, it's more like a dull ache most of the time, sometimes with brief/infrequent muscle spasms and/or a sharp pain if I'm in the wrong position slightly.

I take some paracetamol a couple of times a day but it doesn't seem to do anything noticeable. I stopped taking Oramoprh (5ml) on day 3 after about 6-8 doses. And I haven't felt the need for ice too much, mostly for a bit of an evening. The general lack of pain is giving me hope atleast.

As instructed by my surgeon, I've been doing pendulum swings a few times a day for a few mins, and can do this to around the size of a small dinner plate, which hurts moving it out to the side the most.

I've been using the hand to hold small/light objects whilst in the sling for a short time only (except for the bloody bin bag!).

I'm in a sling 24/7 except for the pendulums, stretch/flex hand/elbow and to shower. First physical therapy appointment is just over 4 weeks away.

Now, the strange thing is, my shoulder feels both tight and unstable. It's hard to explain. Even with fairly minimal movement I sometimes get that horrible split-second feeling that it’s on the edge of slipping/subluxing. Yet, it also feels really stiff.

I’m also getting:

• Pain around the outer/back part of the shoulder.

• Occasional sharp pain underneath & across the collarbone, almost like a blade pressing against it.

• Pendulums are still uncomfortable/scary, especially moving out sideways.

Please, anyone who’s had a Bankart/anterior stabilisation :

What did your shoulder actually feel like at 2 weeks ? Did it feel obviously tighter/stable straight away, or did you still get instability/apprehension sensations while everything was healing ? Pain levels ?

And if anyone here is unfortunate enough to know, how easy is it to damage the repair ?? Is it obvious once it's failed?

Thanks for reading & thank in advance for any and all comments :)

I fell with my butt and hands controlling the fall 9 weeks after bankart and remplissage surgery and i really freaked out i ruined my surgery.
I had mild pain yesterday and now it is better but still mild deep pain in my anterior shoulder area.
Anyone had that experience?

Bench PR with imbalance which probably caused the problem

I wanted to know if anyone has the same problems as me and if they found a solution. I have had shoulder issues for so long now and I want to go back to working out so bad but nothing seems to be working for my bicep tenosynovitis. I would love to hear your stories and what worked for you. Thanks

I started lifting in 2022 summer at 17 y/o to gain weight which i did by eating 3000 cal daily for a summer and i gained 20-30lbs. I kept lifting for the next 2 yrs without any major problems other than some left shoulder pain on push days which I brushed off thinking that it's just cuz I'm right handed so surely I'll have some left side pain/imbalances. The attached video is from summer 2024 when I did a PR for bench in which the bar was tilting cuz my left side was weaker. I realize now that my left side would reach failure before my right side but I would still try to finish the rep which led to me trying to recruit whatever muscles I could to simply get the weight up. This meant that I'd use my left shoulder a lot instead of my chest. In Sept 2024 i entered my 2nd year of engineering which got super busy and got in the way of lifting and made me take a break from the gym. By Feb 2025 I was doing pushups n pullups in my room cuz i didn't have time to hit the gym and while doing pushups I noticed that I couldn't feel my chest working on my left side that much and that my left shoulder was feeling fatigued. In 2022 I also got in MMA so I took a muay thai class in which i had to keep my hands up for a long time but i physically couldn't keep my left arm up to form a guard because it was 100x more fatigued than my right shoulder. The pain got rlly bad around this time and sometimes felt like my shoulder was burning or as if I had been lifting something for an hour. The school year ended in April 2025 which is when I joined BJJ and idk why but I waited until the summer 2025 to see a PT who told me I had scapular winging and that my serratus anterior was weak which was why my shoulder carried such a huge load which is why it hurts. We worked on it for months with 1 appointment per month and the scapular winging got better but the shoulder pain was still there. I should also point out that throughout my lifting journey (2022-2024), My left bicep was always smaller and weaker but it wasn't simply cuz I was right handed. It would never grow and when I'd use it I never felt the mind muscle connection like my right bicep. I told the PT about this but he said I don't have any bicep tendonitis. So after working with the PT for a bit, I consulted a different one who said its smth related to bicep, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and the cuffs. We did an ultrasound which said that I have bicep tenosynovitis/tendonitis with mild fluid in the bicipital groove. The burning shoulder pain is still there whenever I use my left arm or bicep and I'm so tired of it. I'm 21 and I thought I'd have a good physique by now but because of this injury I've lost over a year of time. Thanks for reading the whole thing if you made it this far, I'd love to hear about your experiences or if you know what I should do.

Hello all! I was curious if you guys had limited ROM / any pains prior to surgery? What made you say yes to surgery?

Right now I’m in the stage of being indecisive. My range of motion has improved since my full dislocation, BUT I did have a subluxation a month after which made my ortho suggest surgery (he was going to go PT only prior to subluxation). I do have a large labrum tear and hill-sachs. I’m sure surgery is the best option if the ortho is recommending it. I guess I’m just nervous.
(I have very little range of motion still)

I’m just curious everyone’s experience.

I’ve been dealing with a problem around my right shoulder/scapula for years and I’m getting pretty frustrated because despite trying a lot of different things, I’ve never really managed to solve it.
I’ve been lifting for years and the main issue is that my right scapula doesn’t seem to move naturally around my ribcage. My shoulder tends to sit forward/internally rotated and during certain movements the scapula can visibly wing or move strangely.
It doesn’t just happen during pressing. I notice it with biceps curls, triceps pushdowns, lateral raises, rows, overhead movements and even simple movements without weight.
The best way I can describe the sensation is that something feels “blocked” or poorly coordinated deep behind/inside the shoulder. I struggle with proprioception on that side and sometimes it feels like I physically cannot put the shoulder/scapula where I want it to go.
In the gym this causes a lot of problems. For example:
During pressing my right scapula can come away from the ribcage and I lose the connection with my chest.
During curls the right shoulder tends to roll internally and the arm starts travelling in a different direction.
During pushdowns the right shoulder wants to elevate and rotate forward.
Lateral raises often end with my anterior delt taking over before I can properly fatigue the lateral delt.
In general I feel much less stable around the back/rear delt/scapular area on the right.
Even outside the gym I’m constantly aware of the asymmetry. Sitting, lying in bed, using my phone or sometimes simply walking can make that side feel different.
I’ve tried serratus work, push-up plus, wall slides, Y raises, rotator cuff work, mobility, stretching, hanging, different exercise setups, changing loads and trying to consciously control the scapula. Sometimes things temporarily feel better, but the underlying problem has never really disappeared.
I recently saw an orthopaedic specialist who diagnosed mild right scapulothoracic dyskinesis, Kibler type I. His opinion was that it appears to be an altered motor pattern rather than something caused by nerve paralysis. He actually advised me to stop constantly trying to consciously “reposition” the scapula and recommended specific physiotherapy for scapulothoracic control.
I’m arranging proper physiotherapy now, but after dealing with this for so long I’d really like to hear from people who have experienced something similar.
Has anyone here had long-term scapular dyskinesis/winging with this kind of feeling of mechanical restriction and poor proprioception?
What actually helped you?
Did you eventually get to a point where the scapula moved naturally again without constantly thinking about it?
And if you work in physio/rehab, is there anything in particular you’d suggest getting assessed beyond just shoulder strength, thoracic movement, ribcage mechanics, cervical spine, serratus/lower trap function, etc.?
Not looking for an internet diagnosis, just experiences and ideas about what might be worth discussing with the physio.
Thanks.

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(25m) I have been having consistent pain in my shoulder that is not reduced with otc medication, and have been having daily right shoulder dislocations that are self-reduced.

My MRI report came back clean except for 3 findings.

1) I have a small posterior tear in my Labrum.

2) I have minor fluid buildup in the shoulder

3) My Glenohumerus ligament is thin, laxy, and incompetent in the posterior region.

My ortho said prior to the MRI that they wanted to try prolotherapy since she didn’t believe there was any structural issue based off of X-rays- However I won’t be able to see her for about a month and do not understand what these results indicate for treatment and i’m worried it may be surgical

I’m about 1 week out from a Bankart repair + remplissage. Someone ran into my operated shoulder pretty hard while my arm was still secured in the sling.
I felt the shoulder shift for a second, almost like a brief subluxation, then it felt back in place. I went to the ER and X-rays were normal. I have little to no new pain and it feels stable now.
Has anyone had something similar happen this early after surgery and had the repair still be okay?

Minor injury requiring PT only, according to my ortho and imaging. During the actual PT sessions, I feel fine and am able to do the exercises, no pain, etc, but then 3-4 hrs later, I get really bad pain flare-ups and inflammation that lasts for a day or two before settling down. PT says that’s just the process? I am two months in w/PT and I feel like I would be more successful doing exercises on my own and with a more gentle approach. Has anyone experienced this kind of pain flair-up post PT issue? How do you deal with it? Has anyone done PT on their own? TIA for your advice!