Labrum Tear caused by laxity in shoulder

#1

I was diagnosed with a torn labrum last week. My mechanics are fairly sound and I took care of my arm pretty well. I don’t throw very hard at all (73-76) and my doctor explained the tear to me that the extreme laxity in my shoulder contributed heavily to this. I might have misunderstood him but I’m kind of confused if this can even happen. Also when I do get the surgery they said they will be tightening up the shoulder joint. Is that normal for this sort of injury? To give you an idea of flexible my arms are, I can touch my thumb to my forearm and if someone were to take my arms and cross them behinds back I can overlap them very far. My question is just that can this “extreme laxity” as they described it contribute to not only me not throwing hard but also being more susceptible to injury. I had some disappointing results to using weighted baseballs and also long tossing. Not zero results but very little. After finding this site and doing some research I attacked a long toss program pretty hard and threw all summer with pretty much no pain. I would have days but I felt pretty good. I experienced this similar pain a little in highschool and it resurfaced itself in the fall of 2012 and into spring 2013. For example at my best this summer I was squatting 310, I could dead-lift around 275 while weighing 150 pounds. From reading a lot of what Kyle Boddy said on his website I know one of my big problems is that I didn’t have enough muscle mass. I’m just curious how being extremely flexible and also having very loose joints effects a pitcher. I would think it would be good but I’m not sure.

Trainer Rant- One other thing I would like to add to this thread is to never trust completely what a trainer or someone who is not a real medical professional says. I was told time and time again that what I had was tendinitis and was nothing to worry about. I did my own research but my symptoms did seem to add up to labrum tear. I had a pretty low level of pain, other people told me basically I was being soft, I knew that what I felt was not right. I kept complaining about it and only when I demanded I see a doctor did I finally get some closure on it. Just because you don’t throw hard doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt. No matter what anyone tells you, if something doesn’t feel right it doesn’t. Now instead of going from our team’s #1 guy and being able to find a place to play next year I have two years of junior college under my belt with not very many innings, a torn labrum, and I am going to struggle to find a place to finish my collegiate career at. I don’t necessarily regret pitching through it, I regret letting other people tell me what I was feeling wasn’t a legitimate injury. I apologize for my thoughts being all over the place, have a lot to get out.Thanks for any input.[/b]

#2

Get a second opinion. Immediately.

This surgery will kill your ability to throw at any reasonable velocity.

#3

Get a second opinion. Immediately.

This surgery will kill your ability to throw at any reasonable velocity.[/quote]

Thank you for the reply. I really feel pretty optimistic right now. I really right now feel very very little pain and my only concern is the lack of stability. The next place I’m going to look at it is more of a sports centered place.

#4

You need to know exactly what is there, get an mri, full suite with dye injected. It is a surgery that can be came back from but it’s a very difficult road. They don’t get better on their own, the only thing you can do is strengthen the area…ASMI’s site can give you a recommended ortho in your area

http://asmiforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?

#5

[quote=“jdfromfla”]You need to know exactly what is there, get an mri, full suite with dye injected. It is a surgery that can be came back from but it’s a very difficult road. They don’t get better on their own, the only thing you can do is strengthen the area…ASMI’s site can give you a recommended ortho in your area

http://asmiforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?[/quote]

Thank you for the reply, I did get an MRI done with the contrast dye and that is how they diagnosed the torn labrum. Does the severity of the injury affect how quickly you can come back. I honestly feel pretty good right now. I also think I suffered this or it was heavily contributed to some bad form on lifting. Are workout program at my junior college involved a lot of overhead lifting. I always went way to hard on it as well. This will change the nature of it as well correct?

#6

Also if anyone has any input on labrum stuff that would be greatly appreciated, I’m doing a lot of reading but not sure what I’m really getting into. I’m three weeks out from surgery right now. All I have found on the Internet and from asking other people who have had it is that the first couple of days after are pretty rough. It is best to sleep in an upright position after surgery. I’m wondering what I should do before surgery? Like is their anything I can do to start rehabilitating it? When can I start lifting again? I’m sorry about all the spelling errors I’m typing this on my phone right now. Also I’ve done a lot of reading about medical hardship waivers, if you compete in a contest after the midway point of the season, it disqualifies you from receiving it. Can you get exceptions for this because I had one appearance the game after the halfway point. I am not even sure who to talk to about this and pursue the next step into trying to receive one of these. I was honestly grossly mishandled by the athletic trainer here.

#7

Pre-surgery, eat right be rested.

Post surgery…yes it is painful

This is what it looks like after a 7-3 slap tear is fixed;

IMG_013.jpg1024×576

What you see is titanium rope, it ties down on stainless steel anchor, the anchor is embedded into the bone (Eventually it will be incorporated).

This is what they are doing…basically cinching it back down with the rope to the bone;

IMG_007.jpg1024×576

It is absolutely crucial that you follow your pt and rehab schedule, it’s going to hurt and seem like it’ll last forever, but it’s what you have to do to be able to throw comfortably again.
If they’ve verified it is, then the only thing that happens when you wait is it gets worse, so though you may not be in pain at the moment, this thing doesn’t disappear, diet and attitude are great assets…you have to be self-motivated.

#8

My son’s journey ended with shoulder issues. He chose to take a different path, leave pitching behind and concentrate on working and graduating on time. Whatever regrets he might have appear to be solidly compartmentalized.

Which is the point of my reply. Next to a competent surgeon whom you have complete trust in; your mental resilience will be the most important part of rehabilitation and return to throwing. Anger and mild depression can be a part of it. You are going to have to abandon any negative thoughts. The cause of the injury or blame for the injury is going to have to be locked in a box in the deep recesses of your mind.

I ruptured an eardrum after diving from a scaffolding down to the bottom of a 20 foot deep tank. The first doctor that saw me said I just ruptured a few blood vessels in my ear and I would be fine. He stuffed some cotton in it. As I recall the pain was unbearable. So I got a second opinion from a competent specialist. A surgeon at Hershey Medical Center cut half of my ear off, extracted a very thin layer of the muscle, fashioned a new tympanic membrane, repaired the ruptured one and sewed my ear back on my head.

From this point on all your focus should be on acceptance and a dogged determination to maximize your rehabilitation program. It’s really the mental equivalent of walking facing oncoming traffic. Never put yourself in the position of looking back to detect approaching danger.

Everything is going to work out fine. Make it that way.

#9

Thanks for that reply, that’s what I have come to realize. In a way when I was told I had the injury I felt like I went into a state of mourning. I put on 10 pounds since and let my grades slip. I’m going to be fine but I need to just accept what is done is done. I was a division 1 baseball player and I still can be I just need a little extra time. I’m just going to take the next year off and come back my senior year of college ready to play an 100% healthy. Baseball is not everything eventually one day I’m going to have to stop playing. All I’m focused on is doing my rehab as best as I physically can for the next 9 months and get to 185 pounds of lean muscle and throw a baseball 90 mph. I figure it can be done by January 3, 2015. It’s a Saturday and right before I go back to whatever school I’m at. I still need to figure out what I am going to major in and what I’m going to do with the rest of my life anyways. Maybe catch up on some stuff I missed while I was always playing baseball. I got 616 days to do it in,

616 days
53,222,400 seconds
887,040 minutes
14,784 hours
88 weeks

#10

Thanks a lot to what Dino and Jdfromfla said. Stuff like that really helps me put this into perspective for me. Like a lot of people baseball is literally a way of life. I just got to step away from it for a while. Im going to be a healthy and happy person even if I never play again. I have started to see more clearly lately that life is random and it’s not fair or unfair it’s just life. Whether my shoulder works or not life keeps going.

#11

God bless you lad, my prayers and all the good feelings a person can have for another…to ya :wink:

Baseball IS desire 8)

We will be here.

#12

Does anyone know if the rules on a medical hardship waiver are super strict? I played in one athletic contest past the midway point which should disqualify me. I’m just wondering. Can I petition it? Or what can I do now.

#13

Talk to your AD.

#14

wow can’t believe it has been close to 4 months since I wrote this. I am about 6 weeks post op right now. Feeling pretty good. I went through a pretty heavy depression afterwards. My question now is the rules for a medical hardship are that if you pitch in any contest after the midway point in a season you have used that year of eligibility. I pitched in the 25th game of our 49 game season. I had to wait a long time to get the surgery and part of the paperwork I needed was a letter from the surgeon. He refused to write me a letter till it was completed. The Njcaa gave me their ruling on Monday and I was denied. I am slightly perplexed. I would figure they would have a certain amount of leniency in these cases. I pitched in 6 innings and 5 came in the second game of the season and then 1 in the 5th game of the year. I had 5 appearances but only recorded outs in the first two games. The 25th game I pitched in and my 5 appearance I threw 12 pitches and recorded no outs (or strikes). Is their anything I can do to get them to change their mind? I don’t feel my athletic director fought particularly hard for me. I feel like their should be some ability for them to make judgement calls. I was also told by my athletic trainer I had bursitis and he did not recommend an mri or any form of examination. I was just too caught up in the moment and stuck with his expertise. The symptoms I was experiencing were similar to bursitis but also fell under the category of a labrum tear. I really should have not been such an idiot and as soon as I said the words “instability” should have gone to a doctor asap. I’m stupid though and I didn’t. Is their anything I can do?

edit: I put the end part on their because basically 90% of trainers I feel would have diagnosed me properly. Looking back it is so easy for me to see but for some reason and probably good reason diagnosing your own injuries is impossible, you can’t be objective. Basically its like someone had a torn acl and was said they could run on it when they obviously obviously couldn’t. That should give me something to use right? I don’t hate my trainer its he just doesn’t have enough experience with throwers. It’s just so damn frustrating, the whole thing. I would never wish this upon anyone, their is not enough education out their for baseball players to say when they are hurt. You should always take care of yourself but its a problem when so many people get seriously hurt and have no idea. The only good part about this whole ordeal is it explains why weighted baseballs did so little for me.

#15

That’s unfortunate what’s transpired.

See if you can appeal the ruling. That’s my best advice.

#16

That’s what my ad attempted to do. I can’t find any information out their if they ever ease up on the rules. I understand their has to be a limit but surely some one has had a similar situation to mine before. Every medical hardship exemption I have found has been dealing with football and it was always within the rules. I just feel like if I played at LSU or some where like that I wouldn’t be having these problems. Also another interesting thing is the Njcaa is incredibly unprofessional. They didn’t even have an official schedule and went off the one I submitted without the edited dates that we played which were due to makeup. I could have just forged the dates and they would have been none the wiser.

#17

Expected that it will end this way. However, as you said, there are more out there with medical issues that had qualify. Unfortunately, yours is different. Don’t look down easily, for sure there is a way. I’ll try to research and get back to you.