Proving My Doc Wrong

So since Feb of 06, i’ve had somewhat of a life-altering experience. Maybe i should say, an experience that changed my hobbies and goals, it just changed me.

I was wakeboarding and i went for a mobius and when i was going for the handlepass i felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder, and instantly i noticed i was out. The next week i attempted another mobius and my Left shoulder did something different, it partially dislocated.

I tried to let it heal and whenever it felt strong enough i would go back but only to partially dislocate again. I saw countless M.D.'s(sports med docs) and they all told me PT over time would make me strong enough to go back into what i was doing.

I tried one last long time, to find that once again, my shoulder was too weak and partially dislocated, despite extensive strengthening.

I recently got an MRI, and took it by to my best Doctor on this issue(an Orthopaedic Surgeon who is EXTREMELY cocky, but a very very damn good doctor).

He tells me, there is “nothing i can do” No PT or anything will fix anything. I will always have my SLAP tear(superior Labrum anterior posterior tear). I also seem to have a Bankhart lesion which is what he led me to believe.

So his final verdict is that i must get surgery. I can lift heavy without any sort of issue, WITH THE EXCEPTION of wide grip pullups, where i find my left arm is extremely weak(i’m working on this).

I am making a promise to myself, that I will do all I can to strengthen my shoulder until winter. if it proves that my shoulder CONSTANTLY has discomfort, i will opt for surgery. But for now, i’m out to prove the doctor that i will not require it, and i CAN to some degree tighten up my labrum.

Any of you gimps with me?

I’m not a gimp, but you prove that sumbitch wrong! Good luck man!

Let us know how it works out.

Get another opinion from a doc who treats athletes. The local college or high school football coach knows who is really good. Then go to a physical therapist this same coach recommends. A PT who works with athletes who must recover and compete (and pursue million dollar careers) has a different outlook than the others. If the PT works with professional athletes, so much the better.

Never give up.

This is a long post, so if you don’t dislocate your shoulder regularly, you might want to bypass!

I think I have a similar backstory- my right (throwing) shoulder partially dislocated when I blocked a shot in a basketball game about 10 years ago. I went to an Orth doc the next day and he said to be careful that with my age (26 at the time) it was likely that it would continue to sublex (partially dislocate) if I participated in what he called overhead sports movements.

Well, he was right, it started slipping in and out all the time, even in the middle of the night. So, I had surgery to tighten it up. It was minimally invasive and didn’t really restrict mobility.

After the surgery it slipped out again during a basketball game and I went back and he gave me the prognosis you’ve had. That did not sit well with me, either.

Around that same time I started lifting a lot smarter than I had been. I.E., more emphasis on my pulling movements and my back, which I had nearly neglected completely before. As a result, my shoulder is now in better shape than at any time in the past decade.

I still won’t air out an overhand baseball throw because I’m afraid I’ll undo the progress I’ve made, but there is a noticeable difference in stability since I’ve increased the back work.

Hope this helps in some way.

Ask him what the chances of it getting worse are if you don’t have the surgery. I tore my lateral meniscus at the beginning of football season when I was a senior in college and it was just a small buckethandle tear. By the end of the season when I had the surgery I had a buckethandle tear that went all the way around the lateral meniscus, two parrotbeak tears and I had exposed the femur by wearing all the hyalin cartilage down to the bone in an area about the size a dime. If I would have had the surgery when I tore it I would have been out for 2 weeks and then I would have played again. Instead I opted to play on it and have the surgery after the season and then I was on crutches for 6 weeks. I don’t regret it, but you might. All I’m saying is to weigh out all your options.