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Reply to "Confusing Shoulder Pain"

I hate that you're having to go through this but I'm all too familiar with shoulder issues in dealing with my son's labrum tear and surgery. You can read about his continuing saga here if you're interested, and have some time. It details his journey, with periodic updates, and has a lot of good info/advice from others.

As far as what advice I can provide you, having so recently been involved with it myself, is to get multiple opinions from reputable ortho docs before making any decisions about what to do. My son's tear did not show up on the first MRI so he did rest and PT for about two months after. When he ramped back up, the pain returned almost immediately so we had another scan done, which revealed the small tear, among other "housecleaning" issues. The fact is, if you decide to have surgery the surgeon won't really know what's going on until he or she gets inside. My son's tear was actually slightly larger than they expected and there was other fraying/damage that was cleaned up as well. The decision to have the surgery was his alone (with our support of course) and based on risk vs reward as outlined by the surgeon. it boiled down to him simply not being ready to hang up the cleats until he's sure there is no other option. Important to note that he is around two years older than you so there are some variables and decision-points that will differ.

I would encourage you to really think hard if surgery is recommended. This is not a procedure and recovery process that will be easy. It is extremely painful (early on), debilitating, and can be the cause of serious depression if you're not 100% committed to the process and surrounded by support and love. I'm not trying to discourage you from going down that path, I just want you to go into it with eyes wide open. Best of luck and please feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions about it that you think I might be able to help with.

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