Torn Labram, right shoulder

JCSpringer

Regular Member
Well I tore the labram in my right shoulder in an IOD incident a few weeks ago. I've been put on light duty at the office and have been moved to the dungeon where I'm taking reports over the phone until I have surgery.

In any case, has anyone here had this surgery and what did you do or wish you did to speed up the recovery process?
 
I had a major SLAP tear in my right shoulder in 2011, and a minor one about 2 years later in my left. I opted to rehab both times instead of surgery. The big one was the right shoulder, as it took the longest. It was not a complete tear, but it was pretty significant.

I have 3 partners who had SLAP tears, and all 3 opted to get surgery. One was a captain and drove a desk, so it was no big deal. The other two were patrol and wound up missing work for a week or two, and then riding the front desk for a couple weeks before they got cleared to go back on patrol.

In contrasting the two options, I wish I would have gotten surgery on my right shoulder. The rehab time was pretty extensive. The opposite side of that is that is that I kept lifting throughout, and just had to drastically limit my shoulder workout. I had to limit chest workouts as well, but not nearly as much. I had a lot of shoulder pain for about 2-3 months, and then after that it was just aching at certain angles.

My partners that got surgery were physically limited for upwards of a month before they were cleared to lift more than 5-10 lbs. I am so dependent upon weight lifting to maintain my personal sanity that I would have had a major issue with having surgery. The rehad they did was a total of 4-6 month before they were back to full physical abilities (dependent upon person and what they considered "full").

The reality is that the recovery/rehab time isn't really negotiable. The doctors will give you a realistic time frame of how long it will actually take. Everyone is different, and your ability to heal is dictated by numerous factors, including age, health and other medical conditions/medication needs. Listen to your physical therapist and don't push it. Don't take a chance at fucking it up. I did the rehab route, and every time I tried to push myself too early, I paid for it.

There are things you can do to optimize recovery, like getting a lot of sleep/rest, having a good diet, reducing/eliminating alcohol consumption, taking vitamins and nutrients, doing rehab exercises correctly, applying heating and icing correctly, and other options like deep tissue massage to break up scar tissue and promote blood flow.
 
I rechecked and couldn't edit:
The guys with surgery were out 4 weeks, and then came back to limited/light duty for a couple weeks before being cleared for regular duty. One did not have surgery and rehabbed, and it was about the same time for rehab.
 
Top