Pitching after shoulder surgery?

#1

So, I dislocated my shoulder while pitching last Monday. I had an MRI done and the results show that I have a torn labrum. Doctor said I could just work on strengthening the area around the shoulder joint and that would definitely help, but he said it most likely wouldn’t fix the problem. He then said that surgery, although it won’t permanently fix it, it will be a more long-term effect.

So, my doctor isn’t a baseball pitcher, so he can give me whatever number of days he wants me to wait, but I want to know from other pitchers who have had shoulder surgery.

How long do you think it will take for me to be pitching again? I know that this season is most likely out of the question, but I want to be pitching right out of the gate next year, if possible.

#2

It depends how hard you work on the rehab and just how much damage you’ve actually done to your shoulder, they never really know just how much damage you’ve done till they get in there.

I had a SLAP Lesion II with tears in 3 places along with some other problems that required surgery and I was out 18 months before I was back to 100%

The best advice I can give you is once you’ve had the surgery get a great physio guy whose been through rehabbing a pitcher before and do whatever they say to the letter.

I was given the same options as you rehab and strengthen the area or surgery, I tired both I strengthened it while I was waiting for surgery and honestly the surgery made a HUGE difference.

Also make sure your comfortable with the surgeon, if you can get a sports doc to perform the operation.

I hope this helps if you have any questions feel free to ask, also if you get a sports doc they should be able to tell you how long till you’ll be 100% same with a physio guy whose been through this before with a client.

#3

Here’s a guy I rehabbed with a Type-II SLAP:

#4

I had surgery about a year ago for a torn labrum, and I’m not sure exactly what the doctors did but I’m wondering if it’s the same thing that happened with Andrew. In high school, I topped out at 88 and signed on to a DII school. During the fall of my freshman year, I was throwing 70. I had the surgery last January and been working since then to get back to my former self. A week ago I threw off the mound for the first time in a few months and was gunned at 75-76, so I clearly still have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time if I want to stay at the school I’m at now.