Rotator Cuff and Labrum Rehab info

I'm not an expert as son has never had surgery, but one of his teammates had the same surgery you are talking about on June 8. He is still doing rehab and is scheduled to start throwing end of October or beginning of November. He is still not hitting and is still using very light weights in rehab. Mostly band work and 1 lb. dumbbells. I would really suggest he find a PT where he is to continue to do his rehab. I think it can make or break his recovery.

If the team doctor did the surgery the school may insist on the trainer administering the rehab, rather than send him off campus to a PT. Some trainers are probably just as good as PT's, others not so much.

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Originally posted by bballman:
... I would really suggest he find a PT where he is to continue to do his rehab. I think it can make or break his recovery.

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Originally posted by MTH:
If the team doctor did the surgery the school may insist on the trainer administering the rehab, rather than send him off campus to a PT. Some trainers are probably just as good as PT's, others not so much.

quote:

Originally posted by bballman:
... I would really suggest he find a PT where he is to continue to do his rehab. I think it can make or break his recovery.

Trainers are not PTs, trainers might be able to administer the therapy, but the PT is the one who normally decides the type of treatment required. I would go and see a PT.

I'm no doctor but my son had similar surgery. I'm a little concerned that he hasn't had therapy for a few weeks.

Bayou,

Your son's surgeon should be responsible for his timeline till he gets back to throwing. Physical therapy is extremely important to the process and can only be delivered under doctor's orders. Trainers have many skills but it sounds like you'll need find out if the P.T process is complete which is usually after week 16 but only your doctor can say for sure.

It's been awhile (2001), but I had similiar surgery - torn labrum and rotator cuff.

I remember 6 months as being the point I would be "healed" and ready for throwing. I was supposed to be in a sling for 5-6 weeks IIRC.

I jumped the gun, pulled my arm out after two weeks (going crazy) and began exercising on my own. BIG MISTAKE

Listen to the doctor, get a good PT, get on a good program and did I say LISTEN!! Don't push the recovery and do more damage! Let it heal and it should be 100%.

Good luck to your son!

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Trainers are not PTs, trainers might be able to administer the therapy, but the PT is the one who normally decides the type of treatment required. I would go and see a PT.

Wrong. Athletic Trainers are more than qualified to be responsible for the entire rehabilitation process. They work hand in hand with the physicians just like a PT would.

In fact, this type of injury especially with a baseball player is the exact thing that an athletic trainer should be seeing. A PT will get a patient stronger, pain-free, and full ROM but the athletic trainer is the one specialized to prepare an athlete back to full athletic participation.

I assume you know there is an injury and recovery forum if you scroll down further. There's lots of info there by many posters that will give you more direction as to recovery. Good luck!

Keep in mind that everyone is different and you should not base your recovery soley on someone else's experience.

However, I can tell you that my son had his surgery on October 4. After one week, he began PT. On January 2, he made his first throw...20 feet! Rehab and throwing program continued until about May. Did not play in the field until the last few games of the Spring season.

Now at college, he still does PT three days a week. But he's about one year out and he is very nearly 100%.

And, his swinging was never affected. He was in the cage full speed in January.

Repeating something mentioned above, listen to the doctor and DO NOT RUSH THE REHAB. It will surely seem to be dragging along with no progress. But pushing too hard will set you back.

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Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

quote:

Trainers are not PTs, trainers might be able to administer the therapy, but the PT is the one who normally decides the type of treatment required. I would go and see a PT.

Wrong. Athletic Trainers are more than qualified to be responsible for the entire rehabilitation process. They work hand in hand with the physicians just like a PT would.

In fact, this type of injury especially with a baseball player is the exact thing that an athletic trainer should be seeing. A PT will get a patient stronger, pain-free, and full ROM but the athletic trainer is the one specialized to prepare an athlete back to full athletic participation.

Not trying to argue, and am in no way discounting the importance of good trainers, but trainers are not as qualified as PTs. Yes they can administer the treatment but it is usually under the supervision of a PT or Doctor. The schooling and training required by a PT are much more stringent and demanding than a trainers certification. BTW I am talking about PTs that specialize in sports medicine.

My son had a SLAP tear surgery June 30th. He started PT the next week. He did PT 3 times per week until the day before he left for college. He resumed PT the second day he was at school. I was very proactive in researching who the PT was for the school. I made the initial contact to the PT and we set up the appointments. The coach wasn't involved in that process.
I would suggest taking the initiative in getting your son set up with a PT and not waiting for the baseball coach to do it.
My son is a freshman. Being an injured freshman with no chance of participating in fall practice, he learned pretty quickly that he was down at the bottom of the coach’s priority list. That being said his hard work has impressed.
But don’t wait for the baseball program to take the initiative. A week of no PT can cause a setback.

From what my son is telling me, his PT is going fine and he is progressing. He comes home late October to see his surgeon. At that time he should begin a throwing program. Our experience looks like it will be almost 4 months from surgery to when he can begin throwing. He did not have a rotator cuff tear just a SLAP tear w/ 3 anchors put in.

If the surgery is by the team doctor the rehab will usually be done by the trainer. Trainer will usually go with the player to see the doctor. Trainer will administer rehab program as prescribed by the doctor. The two usually work closely together.

Colleges usually don't have PT's on staff. They generally do not like to send players off campus anymore than they have to. The trainer is on campus and more convenient than an off campus PT. Doing it on campus keeps the player with and around the team more than going off campus for a PT.

Could you see an off campus PT if you wanted to? Probably. But the school might not agree to pay for it. Do you really want to buck the system?

Note: This method will obviously vary from school to school, but it is generally true of bigger schools that have a large, well trained training and conditioning staff. Schools without the same resources may be more likely to send kids off campus.

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Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

quote:

Trainers are not PTs, trainers might be able to administer the therapy, but the PT is the one who normally decides the type of treatment required. I would go and see a PT.

Wrong. Athletic Trainers are more than qualified to be responsible for the entire rehabilitation process. They work hand in hand with the physicians just like a PT would.

In fact, this type of injury especially with a baseball player is the exact thing that an athletic trainer should be seeing. A PT will get a patient stronger, pain-free, and full ROM but the athletic trainer is the one specialized to prepare an athlete back to full athletic participation.

quote:

Originally posted by MTH:
If the surgery is by the team doctor the rehab will usually be done by the trainer. Trainer will usually go with the player to see the doctor. Trainer will administer rehab program as prescribed by the doctor. The two usually work closely together.

Colleges usually don't have PT's on staff. They generally do not like to send players off campus anymore than they have to. The trainer is on campus and more convenient than an off campus PT. Doing it on campus keeps the player with and around the team more than going off campus for a PT.

Could you see an off campus PT if you wanted to? Probably. But the school might not agree to pay for it. Do you really want to buck the system?

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

quote:

Trainers are not PTs, trainers might be able to administer the therapy, but the PT is the one who normally decides the type of treatment required. I would go and see a PT.

Wrong. Athletic Trainers are more than qualified to be responsible for the entire rehabilitation process. They work hand in hand with the physicians just like a PT would.

In fact, this type of injury especially with a baseball player is the exact thing that an athletic trainer should be seeing. A PT will get a patient stronger, pain-free, and full ROM but the athletic trainer is the one specialized to prepare an athlete back to full athletic participation.

MTH, I agree this is how colleges are usually set up. I myself spent a lot of time in the training room in college, if it were my shoulder I would not hesitate to go and see a PT on my own. What you will find is that even doctors are not really qualified in subscribing the right therapy for his own patient. Most of the time they send them to a PT for an evaluation and the PT recommends the appropriate exercises. This is what my wife tells me and she is a PT and has worked in orthopedic therapy at a sports clinic FWIW.

Most shoulder and elbow specialist surgeons have PTs they prefer their patients work with...PTs who are able to do the full range of PT work, but who know and understand the exact preferences of the surgeon around throwing related recovery. If you have the ability to work with one of them, I highly recommend it.

I think we're on the same page. Personally, I would rather have a PT trained in sports injuries ahead of most trainers. Unfortunately that's not really an option at many schools. They control the process and the player (and parent) does not have a lot of input, unless they want to buck the system.

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Originally posted by standballdad:
MTH, I agree this is how colleges are usually set up. I myself spent a lot of time in the training room in college, if it were my shoulder I would not hesitate to go and see a PT on my own. What you will find is that even doctors are not really qualified in subscribing the right therapy for his own patient. Most of the time they send them to a PT for an evaluation and the PT recommends the appropriate exercises. This is what my wife tells me and she is a PT and has worked in orthopedic therapy at a sports clinic FWIW.

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I think we're on the same page. Personally, I would rather have a PT trained in sports injuries ahead of most trainers.

You do realize that in order to be a Sports Medicine Specialist as a PT you have to have additional training as a first responder, EMT, or most often as an athletic trainer?

And you also realize that in many states a PT also works in conjunction with a physician just like an athletic trainer would?

And you also realize that most PTs although they claim to offer "sports therapy" have no background in sports rehab?

That said, I would put my throwers in the hands of an experienced certified athletic trainer over an experience physical therapist. Athletic Trainers are trained specifically for return to athletics. PTs are trained for return to daily living.

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Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

quote:

I think we're on the same page. Personally, I would rather have a PT trained in sports injuries ahead of most trainers.

You do realize that in order to be a Sports Medicine Specialist as a PT you have to have additional training as a first responder, EMT, or most often as an athletic trainer?

And you also realize that in many states a PT also works in conjunction with a physician just like an athletic trainer would?

And you also realize that most PTs although they claim to offer "sports therapy" have no background in sports rehab?

That said, I would put my throwers in the hands of an experienced certified athletic trainer over an experience physical therapist. Athletic Trainers are trained specifically for return to athletics. PTs are trained for return to daily living.

Bulldog 19: Just realized you are a trainer so there is no use in trying to convince you otherwise, but to dismiss PTs because you say they have no experience in sports(how would you know this) is kinda of silly. Your view of PTs is obviously skewed because of what you do. That's okay. Good luck in your profession!

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Bulldog 19: Just realized you are a trainer so there is no use in trying to convince you otherwise, but to dismiss PTs because you say they have no experience in sports(how would you know this) is kinda of silly. Your view of PTs is obviously skewed because of what you do. That's okay. Good luck in your profession!

I work in a PT clinic. Fortunately for our patients, our PTs and ATs get it and work really well together. Unfortunately as a whole, PTs and ATs do not get along because PTs have targeted ATs specifically telling the world how unqualified we are because we lack education. Meanwhile a population of the APTA has even less education than an athletic trainer, but is "qualified."

You said that a PT was the only ones qualified to lead and perform rehab and that is COMPLETELY false. I have the education and training to take a patient from surgery through extensive rehab and back to return to play.

I realize, or accept, all of those things. I also realize that there are plenty of idiot PT's out there. I wouldn't bother with one who was not experienced in rehabing specific sports injuries.

And I am sure YOU realize that there are "certified" AT's out there who are little more than ankle tapers. That's what we dealt with when son was in HS.

Son's college AT is very good and I have no doubt competent to administer rehab.

The purpose of my post was not to start a debate of PT's vs. AT's, but to emphasize that the school controls the rehab, not the kid. That's a reality, but it still bothers me. I suppose I'm just paranoid. If the school doctor says surgery, I'm going to get a second INDEPENDENT opinion. And if son needed PT I would RATHER it be from an experienced INDEPENDENT PT rather than a wet behind the ears trainer. But hey, that's just me being paranoid. And AGAIN, my point was that if you have a kid in that situation the school is probably going to control who he sees, and that's probably going to be a trainer. My apologies if I offended.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

quote:

I think we're on the same page. Personally, I would rather have a PT trained in sports injuries ahead of most trainers.

You do realize that in order to be a Sports Medicine Specialist as a PT you have to have additional training as a first responder, EMT, or most often as an athletic trainer?

And you also realize that in many states a PT also works in conjunction with a physician just like an athletic trainer would?

And you also realize that most PTs although they claim to offer "sports therapy" have no background in sports rehab?

That said, I would put my throwers in the hands of an experienced certified athletic trainer over an experience physical therapist. Athletic Trainers are trained specifically for return to athletics. PTs are trained for return to daily living.

Great info guys. We found a PT who formerly worked with a Minor League team Recommended by Coach. It was not team doctor who did surgery. He transferred to new school this year. Previous school did not acknowledge his injury and cost him a medical redshirt. Coach at new school is much more help. While not officially part of the team yet, until he can throw, it looks like he'll sit a year getting back to 100%. Thanks for the info and I didn't realize there was a thread dedicated to injury/recovery.

The reality is, that for power pitchers, the return to 100% velocity is not common after SLAP repair. When my son had it done 5 years ago, the published and accepted odds at that time were 18%. Things could have changed very much since then, they did with TJ over a short period of time, so let's hope.

I would reccomend that any player/parent with elbow and shoulder surgery or considerations pick up a copy of PREVENTIVE & REHABILITATIVE EXERCISES FOR THE SHOULDER & ELBOW, 6 th Edition By The Alabama Sports Medicine Institute (James Andrews, et al.)

Best of luck to all your sons....

P.S. Not listening to experts in the field because you want your opinion to be right, means you're not listening...

Thanks CPLZ. I ordered the book today.