Finally got a MRI and came back with tendinitis, arthritis, and torn interior labrum. I go to the doctor on Monday and he texted me and said we can go over the options of PRP and surgery, steroid shots have not helped. Anyone had any luck with PRP on labrum tears? My insurance doesn't cover PRP and from what I have seen it's around $650-750 a shot.


I want to get back to BJJ and full range of motion so it sounds like surgery may be the best options l

Following. I have a torn labrum as well.

What does it feel like? I also injured my shoulder in bjj this week, but do have full range of motion so doubt it's that.

Had all the same with slap tear in both shoulders. Then developed a frozen shoulder on the left side.

Went with physical therapy and steroid shot, tried PRP for just 1 shot on each shoulder. PT really did help, then continued exercising and strengthening. Took 2.5 years of dealing with inflammation (didn't help that I took up bowling about 9 months after the initial diagnosis) before I'm practically pain free.

2girlsdad said:

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What does it feel like? I also injured my shoulder in bjj this week, but do have full range of motion so doubt it's that.

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I have no strength when my arm is behind me and sharp acute pain when I left it to the side or when I lean on it when on my side. Surprisingly I did not do it during BJJ, was playing with my kid and he landed on it. Over the years it kept getting worse.

I've sucked it up for a few years but it's gotten to the point where it makes daily living painful. Actually felt worse after a steroid shot and even with PT it has gotten worse

I have torn labrums in both hips, so might be a bit different. Took me about 12 months to return to "real" running without pain. Took another six before I could return to ultras. Lots of PT, mobility, strength work, and cross training during that 18 months. It's been 4.5 years since that original MRI, and I've done a lot of ultras. I still get an occasional twinge of pain, but 99.9% of the time, I'm fine. I often forget I even have torn labrum, other than I can't run as fast as I use to, but some of that is getting older.

I have a torn labrum in one of my hips and it is completely different, I did triathlons for years and even an Ironman. The shoulder is a lot of sharp pain and very limited range of motion

I tore my labrum in my right shoulder sparring in July of 23. It was bad enough my shoulder was essentially dislocated and hanging for 6 weeks till he could do surgery in late August. I was told i could go back to contact in 6 months. I was back with light contact in 3 months. He told me he knew i was gonna do it so just be careful and listen to your body. I did the therapy afterwards for 3 ish months and by 6 months i was mostly back to normal. It was instant relief for me how bad i had been hurting before. Highly recommend Dr.Seabolt. Also get your self an ice machine. They cost about $200 on Amazon but are absolutely worth it. It recycles cold water through a pad on your shoulder and was a life saver for me. Any questions let me know. I can actually throw a ball again. Would do it again no question.

How painful was it after surgery? I have heard once the nerve block wears off the pain is really bad.

I mean it hurt but that's why i recommended the ice machine. It definitely helps a lot. I had to sleep in a recliner for about a month afterwards cause it was too painful to lay down flat and sleep in the bed. It was probably 5 months before i was able to sleep on that side again. Also highly recommend getting squish mellows those pillows the kids have. My kids got me one for sleeping and one for driving. Great to cushion because it's soft and molds

Had another appointment today since Cigna is so much fun to deal with and we have to go through a lot of steps for them to approve surgery. Doctor said PRP is effective around 80% of the time and heals you around 60% of before the injury. Told him at 60% I can't do a lot of what I want so I want surgery. Got another steroid shot today and follow up in a month to most likely schedule surgery.

Shot today was supposed to help a ton and it feels better but still have pain doing a lot of movements

Had the surgery last year end of June. Labrum torn most of the way around, few other little tears. Very painful for the first two weeks. Painful for another two. Took ALOT of narcotics. Definitely get the ice machine. Use it as much as you can within the bounds of doctor's limits. Start therapy when told and GO. Therapy is painful.

Pretty limited use for 6 to 8 weeks. Then things start to improve more quickly. Would say I was 90% plus by 6 months. By 12 it is near perfect. Still get occasional soreness from random things, but would say I am 98% and pain-free.

Would do it again in a heartbeat if the pain was where mine had gotten. Not fun, but totally worth it.

Yeah I have known my doc for almost 10 years and that was his biggest warning about surgery, how limited I would be for the first 3 months and that I would still be limited for 5-6 months from doing most of the stuff I like to do. Either way I will suffer for 6 months to be better than put a band aid on it and be limited on my physical activities.

Yes I can live with this pain but I like doing BJJ and doing whatever exercises I want. Almost everyone I know does not regret getting the surgery

I was pretty active after a month, back to home inspections by myself. I see a lot of lower body work in you future. Honestly, it sucks, but take the time. The end result is worth the sacrifice of some time and sacrifice in the short term.

Find someone that knows how to do ART

Absolute said:

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I was pretty active after a month, back to home inspections by myself. I see a lot of lower body work in you future. Honestly, it sucks, but take the time. The end result is worth the sacrifice of some time and sacrifice in the short term.

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That is where I am at, the steroid shot I got yesterday was supposed to help a decent amount with the pain, meh not so much. I could suck up the pain and get by if I did not want to me active but I like doing stuff like BJJ too much. Plus I want to get it done while I am still "young" (40 is young these days right?).

My neighbor got his rotator cuff fixed by the same doctor and doing PT at his center that is next door. He recommends him. We have had several people at our BJJ gym get things fixed and they recommend him as well. I know an incredible PT but she is 2 hours away so that is out.

My doc said he wants me to try and work out in 2 weeks but I can already tell the shot didn't work like he hoped. Think it is time to bite the bullet and get it done sooner than later. Good timing since I am being pursued for a promotion but oh well.

Absolute said:

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Had the surgery last year end of June. Labrum torn most of the way around, few other little tears. Very painful for the first two weeks. Painful for another two. Took ALOT of narcotics. Definitely get the ice machine. Use it as much as you can within the bounds of doctor's limits. Start therapy when told and GO. Therapy is painful.

Pretty limited use for 6 to 8 weeks. Then things start to improve more quickly. Would say I was 90% plus by 6 months. By 12 it is near perfect. Still get occasional soreness from random things, but would say I am 98% and pain-free.

Would do it again in a heartbeat if the pain was where mine had gotten. Not fun, but totally worth it.

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I tore mine abnout 6 years ago and met with two surgeons, both said I need surgery but would not recommend due to how much down time would be needed. Since then I have done weights and rubber bands and I have been able to get to probably 80-90% strength. Mobility is not great and there is dull pain at times. My questions for you:

Walk me through the 6-8 weeks in terms of day to day limitations ?
When did you get to 70% usage?
What narcotics are given?

I know I need to get this done but I have already repaired a SLAP tear in the same shoulder and at this point in my life I dont have the 3 months of not being close to 100%

Feel free to DM. I really appreciate your post.

Let's see.....

To start, I had ongoing pain in the shoulder for 20 plus years. Early on I could do certain exercises when it flared and it would go away. Then it was exercises and steroid shots and it would go away enough. Until suddenly around the start of 2023 it flared up and the shot didn't help. Had been seeing the same doctor about it for years. He simply said its time to repair it now. I put it off for 6 months due to how it would interfere with my work and had intended to wait until the holidays when things were slow anyway. But it was affecting so many things and the pain was really making it hard to sleep. So finally I had enough and got it done.

Narcotics were DEFINATELY given and taken. Started with Oxy then moved down to Vicodin.

I had planned to take a full week off then do office work the second week. It hurt really badly, more than I expected pretty much all the time for those first two weeks. Very much a deep constant ache and occasional sharp pains. Pretty much took the oxy on schedule and stayed in my little nest of pillows on the couch in my sling. After the first recheck the Doc said I could not wear the sling when I was around the house and awake. So started doing that. Wore the sling to sleep and whenever we went somewhere and sometimes just because it helped with the pain. Found I did not like sitting at my desk with the arm raised to desk height so the planned office work the second week didn't happen. Basically did nothing the first 2 weeks.

Somewhere around week 3, I went back to work doing one inspection a day with a helper. PT also started around that time. At that point, I generally felt okay in the morning and and could go with the Celebrex for pain and so I could drive and get to things. Had to wear the sling while out. By the afternoon and evening it would get pretty sore and I would take the narcotics. Weeks 3 and 4 I had to have the help on my inspections because use of the arm was still very limited. But I did probably push the limits a little moving and using it carefully.

PT starts with range of motion. Both me stretching it and the PT moving it. Him moving it was torture. Doctor and PT said I had really good range really fast. I attribute that to using it for work.

By week 5 or 6, I was inspecting alone again. PT was moving along. Range motion was improving and pain was situational and manageable. Think I also was able to sleep without the sling around that time and the sling became more of an optional thing.

I guess I would say around 8 to 10 weeks or so to be at 70%. I was limited but much better. Main limits were reach above my head and behind my back. They also wanted you to be really careful about anything that would yank on your arm or pull the joint.

From there, I really didn't think about it very much. I kept going to PT until they made me stop, because I figured it was worth it and it forced me to do the exercises. It gradually kept improving. IIRC the doctor did not allow strength training until 12 weeks to make sure the anchors used to repair the labrum were fully seated and healed. PT and I both thought it could have happened sooner and did do some really light weight pully stuff.

While I did use it a lot, I remember I was terrified of accidentally messing it up for the first 2 or 3 months. So it was a little bit of a balancing act. Tripped and fell on that arm once about 2 months in. Hurt like hell and scared me to death. But didn't mess anything up.

Started playing golf again at around 9 months. Was a little sore at first, but not bad. Now it is near perfect. Will occasionally get a little sore from certain things or from the typical post surgery weather related soreness. Still not 100% on reaching behind my back up between the shoulder blades. Told that may never come back all the way. But I can live with that.

Thanks!