Chunk of Muscle Missing After Shoulder Repair

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
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Hi guys, about 4 months ago I had my shoulder reworked - Bankart’s and SLAP tear repairs, biceps tenodesis, ligament reconstruction, etc.

I’m getting close to the end of my physical therapy and getting back into the gym. Yesterday I bench pressed a whopping 95lbs! Only because that’s about how much weight it takes to push my arms all the way down into the bottom of a bench press.

My issue is this: I have somewhat of a deformed looking shoulder now that I want to get as close to normal as possible. The reason it looks deformed is because my anterior deltoid pretty much disappeared shortly after the surgery. The vast majority of the rest of my deltoid is intact, but for some reason that hunk of anterior muscle just melted away like butter within the first couple weeks of recovery. Now there is a noticeable void, with a shoestring-sized muscle in there somewhere. I want to build this area back up without reinjuring my shoulder, but the way I built it in the first place - years of bench pressing - is probably not in the cards for me anymore.

Anyone have any personal experiences or insights they’d like to share? Has anyone lost a significant, localized chunk of muscle like that after a shoulder repair?

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Following my [at the shoulder] bicep tendon re-attachment surgery there was significant atrophy of my shoulder; especially the anterior; and triceps. It took about two years to restore.

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how’d you blow your bicep tendon?

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Since the biceps tendon is partially attached to the superior labrum, whenever I got my SLAP tear it started to separate. That probably happened during my short stint with crossfit, but I’ve had several injuries over the years so it’s hard to say.