Shoulder Labrum Tear Surgery Rehab

Hi Everyone 

Tomorrow is the 3 week mark since my labrum tear surgery (Keyhole Surgery) and with just starting light training again today after being told by my physiotherapist to do nothing until the 4 week mark, BUT looking online at various blogs and vlogs and there are people doing mobility work literally 2/3 days if not a week after surgery. I have pretty much zero mobility and strength with my left arm Im meant to have my sling removed on Wednesday according to my surgeon but I'm not feeling very confident as my should keeps feeling out of place in certain positions then clicks and pops back into place and the pain goes away, Im not sure if I'm over thinking everything as its been 10 years since my last surgery but I just thought my shoulder would feel stronger than it does, Has anyone been in the same situation with the same surgery or could point me in the direction of a good rehab protocol, I'm not sure how good my physiotherapist is yet and want to try get some momentum with recovery.... thank you in advance 

Brian

Hi Brian the labrum surgery it is a bit critical and I Highly recommend to follow the advice of a professional person. this type of operations must follow a specific protocol. I do not recommend to follow suggestions on a general forum, every body responds differently and it should be managed differently.

I wrote a similar post when I was facing labrum surgery. At that time, Coach Sommer posted that for shoulder surgery count on one year until the shoulder is decent and two years until it feels good.  At 20 months post surgery it is feeling pretty good, nearly great.  Alessandro is right, follow the advice of the professionals that you are working with directly.  Next follow the advice of time, it is your best friend right now.   

Thanks guys I'm definitely going to follow what my surgeon and physiotherapist say its going to be a long road back but I'm willing to put the work in. 

Hi Brian 

Sorry to hear about your situation. I've also had a full labrum tear (Bankart lesion) and surgery 9 years ago. I've written about this elsewhere on the forum, try using 'Bankart' as the search term.

Take it very, very slowly to begin with. I think that the 1-2 year timelines mentioned above seem to reflect my own experience. You have a long road ahead of you, but it'll be even longer if you relapse.

On the bright side, have a look at my Instagram profile (in my signature below), to see what is possible when you have this condition. I have a few limitations, mostly with slow progression in the weighted dislocates (obviously), but am painless, quite strong, fairly mobile and see overall progress bit by bit. 

The surgeon did warn me that I should not expect to be climbing again, that I would probably develop early arthritis etc. but I think that using proper progressions to get back your strength and mobility proves them wrong. I feel pretty great, and I'm past 40 now.

Thanks Mikkel I will take a look 

Much Appreciated 

Brian

All the best for your recovery.
Good to know there s light at the end of the tunnel - and plenty made it through before us 
 

@Brian Muckells how s your recovery coming along? Did you start exercising / physio before the 4 week mark?

I'm about 2.5 weeks after surgery and still wearing my arm in a sling.
Wondering whether or not to wait until week 4 to do any movement at all.
Starting next week I might want to do some very low key mobility w/o elevation just to keep the shoulder from getting extremely tight and calcifying.
 

Please guys, it is fine to share experience but if you are not a doctor you are invited to moderate the suggestions.

55 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Please guys, it is fine to share experience but if you are not a doctor you are invited to moderate the suggestions.

No worries Alessandro, i'm just curious and trying to learn sth about this condition.
Since there are good and bad doctors as well as physio therapists out there, I want to get as much of an idea as possible of what I'm dealing with and have to expect in the long run.
(as a negative example> I broke my shin as a kid and doctors kept me way too long in a cast because the xrays looked kind of funny. As a result I have problems with my knee to this day, even though I had plenty of physio as a kid and teenager.)  

Hi Bas 

I did literally nothing until my follow up with my surgeon at the 3 weeks mark which he told me to remove my sling, I started physiotherapy the next day I'd say the last few days I've noticed a real change in my shoulder it feels a lot more stable and I'm at the 5 weeks post op tomorrow, I was very depressed at the 3 week mark as my shoulder was popping and cracking and felt very crumbly but as soon as I started physio it's feeling a lot more stable...but I'm not rushing anything I'm taking everyday as it comes