I’ve got a smallish tear of the labrum, not super clear on X-Ray, so I’m going back for an MRI.

All I know is it hurts like @#$&. Not all the time, positional depending, mostly a dull ache. Changing the radio station in the car, reaching under a table for a dropped pen and I can no longer sleep with my arm under the pillow. When I do or try, it lights up and I have to pause and catch my breath. A small amount of grinding and clicking occasionally.

What have been you’re expertise with shoulder surgery? PT has helped and I’m going to get more serious but I have my doubts. It’s been a long time coming. Cortisone helped for a bit but nothing else really helps.

I tore my front and rear labrum and my bicep head. It was ridiculiusly painful for months because I tried everything except surgery. It did get mildly less painful with PT but these types of injuries do not heal well on their own. I got the surgery, spent 8 weeks in an immobiliz8ng sling on that arm and then 2 months of additiinal PT. Actually better than new because they relocated the attachment points

The MRI will tell the tale as to whether PT will help or whether surgery is needed.

I have a buddy that had the same problem in both shoulders from years of lifting weights and he has a very demanding job so he really didn’t want to be down for as long as a typical shoulder surgery takes. He decided to at least first try stem cell therapy and it was such a game changer that surgery no longer has to be considered.

He went to a place near St.Louis that I will list below so you can take a look at the info and then maybe see if you have something similar wherever you live. If I remember right he said his insurance didn’t cover it or much of it but I’m not totally sure. His was $5,000 for both shoulders.

https://www.bluetailmedicalgroup.com/

Been through it. Both labrums torn. One was Bankart repair, the other was a SLAP tear. I had to get Bankart surgery. The other one, stem cells fixed it. I would recommend you find an ortho who can do a stem cell injection. Probably fix it in less than a year and no surgery. Shoulder surgery sucks man. They put you in half a straight jacket. Gotta sleep in a got damn chair. Skip all that bs, get stems. And get exosomes, not the placenta fluid version. Exosomes healed a tendon in my arm, worst tendon in the body to tear, in 2 months flat. The tendon not only repaired, it doubled in size in 2 months. I’ve had so many MRI’s at this point, I could damn near run that got damn machine.

I've had a tear in both rotator cuffs. The symptoms sounded similar. I had one fixed last December; it was totally worth it. I tried to get over the tears with PT first, but it wasn't enough.

If you do it, make sure you start PT as soon as the doc tells you. I had to start a few weeks later and it SUCKED. The therapist said, "You seem to be a fast healer. This isn't going to be fun."

I'm getting the other fixed in January.

Not work related or accident just wear and tear and stupid stuff over the years.

I’ll check into stem cells.

Stem cell or pro is highly variable, inconsistent in results in studies and most insurance doesn’t cover it. After MRI a better diagnosis and plan can be established

My one and only shoulder surgery was 35 years so a lot has changed since then. I was a teen and was strong before surgery. In 5 months, I was setting PRs in bench press which made my football coach happy.

In the last 5 years, Dad has had both shoulders arthroscoped due to tears. He was in his 70s for both surgeries. He is the model patient and if PT says do these exercises 4x per day he does them 4x or 5x per day. Both surgeries were in winter (Upper midwest) and he was ready for golf season when courses opened in spring.

I have a patch of calcific tendonitis in my left shoulder which flared up and prevented me from lifting my arm back at the beginning of the year. For me, high dose Advil was the only thing that made it semi-bearable. Naproxen helped a bit but like you if I tweaked it at all it would undo everything the Naproxen did and the 24hr dosing for it wasn't as flexible as the Advil.

In the end the only thing that worked for me was a cortisone shot, which I know doesn't help you. Definitely follow the advice of a good ortho and ortho only. My PCP wanted me to just do PT to try and fix it, even though I had little to no use of my arm and couldn't work for about a month. Finally I bypassed my PCP and went straight to ortho. He said that PT only was absurd, gave me the cortisone that day and it was better in a few days.