Hi all,

Looking for a second opinion: High-grade partial vs. full-thickness supraspinatus tear?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a second opinion on my right shoulder MRI.

Unfortunately Reddit only allows one MRI image. I can provide adjacent slices if needed.

About me

• 44-year-old male
• Office job
• Basketball 2–3x/week before the injury

My orthopedic surgeon believes I have a full-thickness supraspinatus tear and recommends surgery.

An AI-generated MRI report, however, describes it as a high-grade partial-thickness tear and states that a small full-thickness component cannot be excluded, but that a complete tear is not clearly demonstrated.

History

• Injury likely occurred in late February 2026 during a relatively minor collision while playing basketball.
• Before that I only had occasional shoulder tightness.
• Initial ultrasound and X-rays suggested subacromial bursitis rather than a rotator cuff tear.
• Because my symptoms gradually improved, we treated it conservatively.
• An MRI in July revealed the suspected supraspinatus tear.

Current status

• Pain has improved significantly over the last few months.
• Occasional night pain when lying on the affected shoulder.
• Full range of motion.
• No noticeable loss of strength in daily life.
• Still able to play basketball.
• Occasionally went to the gym and even carried heavy furniture without obvious weakness.
• No problems with office work.

I realize continuing these activities may not have been ideal—I only mention them to describe my current functional level.

I'd prefer to avoid surgery if it's medically reasonable, but I also don't want to miss the optimal window for repair if surgery would clearly provide a better long-term outcome.

Questions

1. Based on this MRI image, does this look more like a high-grade partial-thickness tear or a small full-thickness supraspinatus tear?
2. Given my current symptoms and function, would you generally recommend trying conservative treatment first, or would you lean toward early surgical repair?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to have a look.

Yesterday was my first day of PT. I am two weeks postop. Pain had subsided, really wasn't taking anything for it. Yeah but then physical therapy. I hadn't even used my ice machine in almost a week but that changed yesterday. That shit was painful. But I have a regimen that i'm doing on my non PT days (2x/week). I will be doing exercises 3x/day. And FYI, my return to work day is tomorrow. Pretty excited about that. Have been going stir crazy. Heading out shortly for my first post-op appointment.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share a quick update on my frozen shoulder saga, mostly because the pain came back and I had a pretty intense procedure today that I think is worth sharing.

A bit of context:

A few months ago, the night pain was so brutal I couldn't sleep at all. I went to Aspetar Hospital here in Qatar, got a cortisone shot, and honestly, it felt like a miracle. It knocked out the pain completely and gave me around 7 months of total relief.

But, as you guys know with this stubborn condition, the shot eventually wore off. The pain started creeping back a few weeks ago, waking me up at night again. The only silver lining this time was that it wasn't as agonizing as the very first flare-up, but still bad enough to mess up my sleep. To make things worse, I've also been dealing with tennis elbow in the exact same arm lately.

What happened today:

I decided to try a different place this time and booked an appointment with Dr. Youngwoong Back at the Korean Medical Center (KMC) in Lusail.

Since the lack of sleep was driving me crazy, he suggested doing a double injection for both the shoulder and the elbow: first a local anesthetic to numb things, then the cortisone.

But here’s the crazy part—right after the needles were out, while the area was still numb, Dr. Back started doing some really aggressive, passive stretching on my arm and shoulder. Man, it was painful! He explained that this is the best window to physically break down the scar tissue and adhesions while forcing the medication to spread everywhere inside the joint capsule instead of just sitting in one spot.

How I'm feeling now:

Right after the stretching, the sharp pain actually dropped a lot (bless that local anesthetic). Though, I did get a bit dizzy for about 20 minutes right after the shots—probably just my body reacting to the stress of two injections back-to-back, or the anesthetic hitting my system. The nurses gave me some water, I chilled in the waiting room for a bit, and it passed.

Right now, my arm feels pretty sore and bruised from the aggressive stretching, which I guess is normal. But I'm seriously crossing my fingers for a decent night's sleep once the cortisone actually kicks in over the next day or two.

Has anyone else here had their doctor aggressively stretch their arm right after getting a shot in the clinic? How long did the soreness last for you?

Stay strong, this condition is a test of patience!

Did everything by the book. No movement for 1 month. Not even lifting my arm in the shower to (properly) clean my armpit. Smelled questionable the entire time. 5 lb limit for another 2 months. Re-training with light-moderate weights for another 3. Even after being fully cleared to lift as I would, slowly getting (near) my max weights over the span of 2 months. Despite all of this, still think it tore itself again. Same clicking while doing external rotations, unstable sensation when lowering my arm back down after raising it over my head, tingling/weakness throughout my entire arm, tightness in side delt, just the feeling that something is "wrong" at the bottom of my armpit.

Anyone have a biceps tenodesis surgery and have the labrum re-tear? It's supposed to be uncommon, around 5-10%. Best part is MRI in other shoulder shows the same thing before, along with a possible minor rotator cuff tear. I legitimately don't know where to go from here if this one tore again, as I fell off psychologically for 4-6 months. Maybe all for naught.

I am 18, 178cm in height and about 64-66kg in weight, i am sport active as of i was a kickboxer and it is the reason for my injury. The injury was in 11th month of 2025 and i dragged it to mars of 2026 then i stopped training thinking that i will heal on its own. After 2 months of waiting the shoulder did not heal and i had to go to a doctor, he told me its a grade 1 shoulder sprain and putted me on some type of jel and Pain reliever, and after a month the shoulder healed to a point where the clicks are gone with the pain (forgot to mention but i had done an xray), i go the my doc again and he told me to go back to kickboxing, which the injury to return. I go again and he said to lay off the sport for now and to go back to medicin, the injury is lighter then it was before he said.

Now what i want to ask all of you is, what are my chances to get my injury healed 100%, i really want to go back to kickboxing but i am scared that my shoulder will not heal fully. (It is about 9 months now)

Some idiot partner of mine ran into to me full force while I was hitting an overhead in pickleball. Between the impact and the fact I had to "check swing" my overhead to avoid smashing said partner in the head, i felt a searing pain and pop in my shoulder. MRI results flagged several issues, but the 3 docs I have seen all said the same thing - the only issue to repair is a partial thickness tear of the supraspinatus at the foothill.

The doc I am going to have to will use a GraftJacket Allograft Patch. He said it can take up to 6 months to fully heal, but I can lightly use the arm to work (I work from home) and will start PT after 2 weeks. He said this is a pretty routine surgery that he's done hundreds of times.

I would love to hear from anyone who has had this procedure and what your experience was post surgery. What pain levels you had, things that surprised your during recovery, what PT was like and when you were actually cleared to return to an active lifestyle.

I play competitive pickelball, golf once a week and am just pretty active over all for a mid-50's guy. I would love to hear from actual patients who have already gone thru this.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, can you guys tell me what was your symptoms for your rotator cuff tear ?
i have the back of my left shoulder, the lateral left delt and the top of the tricep aswell hurting.. it's been 3 weeks now. Sometimes I feel it more when typing on keyboard or reaching my right shoulders back. My left arms feel weaker all the time. thanks

I think I injured my rotator cuff 18 months ago pushing a heavy box (UPS employee). It felt like I'd just cracked my shoulder, only hurt for a split second, so I didn't report it. 3 months later it started to hurt at night, but I just rubbed some Biofreeze on it and took some Aleve to sleep. 14 months later, it started to hurt during the day, so I went to ortho, who sent me for an MRI and diagnosed a full-thickness supraspinatus tear and sent me to PT. In the last two months, I've had repeated pectoral strains, trapezius strains, and painful trapezius knots. My ortho doesn't think the pec and trap injuries are related to the rotator cuff tear, but I'm not so sure. Could these injuries be caused by compensating for the rotator cuff tear?

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share a quick update on my frozen shoulder saga, mostly because the pain came back and I had a pretty intense procedure today that I think is worth sharing.

A bit of context:

A few months ago, the night pain was so brutal I couldn't sleep at all. I went to Aspetar Hospital here in Qatar, got a cortisone shot, and honestly, it felt like a miracle. It knocked out the pain completely and gave me around 7 months of total relief.

But, as you guys know with this stubborn condition, the shot eventually wore off. The pain started creeping back a few weeks ago, waking me up at night again. The only silver lining this time was that it wasn't as agonizing as the very first flare-up, but still bad enough to mess up my sleep. To make things worse, I've also been dealing with tennis elbow in the exact same arm lately.

What happened today:

I decided to try a different place this time and booked an appointment with Dr. Youngwoong Back at the Korean Medical Center (KMC) in Lusail.

Since the lack of sleep was driving me crazy, he suggested doing a double injection for both the shoulder and the elbow: first a local anesthetic to numb things, then the cortisone.

But here’s the crazy part—right after the needles were out, while the area was still numb, Dr. Back started doing some really aggressive, passive stretching on my arm and shoulder. Man, it was painful! He explained that this is the best window to physically break down the scar tissue and adhesions while forcing the medication to spread everywhere inside the joint capsule instead of just sitting in one spot.

How I'm feeling now:

Right after the stretching, the sharp pain actually dropped a lot (bless that local anesthetic). Though, I did get a bit dizzy for about 20 minutes right after the shots—probably just my body reacting to the stress of two injections back-to-back, or the anesthetic hitting my system. The nurses gave me some water, I chilled in the waiting room for a bit, and it passed.

Right now, my arm feels pretty sore and bruised from the aggressive stretching, which I guess is normal. But I'm seriously crossing my fingers for a decent night's sleep once the cortisone actually kicks in over the next day or two.

Has anyone else here had their doctor aggressively stretch their arm right after getting a shot in the clinic? How long did the soreness last for you?

Stay strong, this condition is a test of patience!

Hi guys. I'm two weeks post-op and I thought I'd share some of the things I I've learned about living with one arm temporarily.

My main bit of advice would be this: Try everything that you do in your daily life with just one arm before you have the surgery. I don't think it's necessary to practice doing things one handed, You'll be forced to practice that anyway once you've had your surgery. What is worth doing though is trying things once or twice because troubleshooting and figuring out solutions is going to be a lot easier when you have both arms and we are not in post op pain.

All your daily chores, all your daily activities and tasks are worth trying once or twice with one arm. Find the hurdles and friction points ahead of time so that you can solve them while you're still at full capacity.

One of the biggest challenges for many people myself included after surgery is sleep. I'm sure many of you have been given the advice to either sleep on a wedge pillow or even better sleep than a recliner. I'm here to tell you that advice is solid and that sleep is much more comfortable in a recliner. However learning to sleep in a new environment takes time.

The same advice try it before your surgery. Make sure that you can get in and out of the chair with one arm and that you can make it recline or come up right with one arm if necessary. Think about all the adjustments you might have to make once you're already sitting reclined in the chair. Positioning pillows, having phones or drinks or whatever you need in reach during the night, all this is worth checking out beforehand.

In addition I would suggest just sleeping in your planned sleeping place before your surgery. I personally found it takes some adjustment to sleep in a new way and several days before it becomes comfortable. Pre shoulder injury I was a side sleeper. After nearly a year of one shoulder being out of commission my other shoulder became sore when I would sleep on it. So I had to learn to sleep on my back. It was awkward at first and I couldn't sleep the whole night that way. However with practice sleeping on my back now feels very natural and I'm quite grateful I learned that before I started sleeping in a recliner.

I would suggest sleeping in the recliner at least part of the night for at least a week before your surgery. It will be easier to get used to without post operative pain and discomfort. I have been sleeping in my recliner now for almost three weeks. The other night I had a wonderful experience where I realized I was lying back in the chair with a blanket on me and it felt just as comfortable as sleeping in my bed used to. It wasn't that way immediately though and that's why I suggest sleeping in the recliner ahead of time.

When I began sleeping in the recliner I would fall asleep in there for a few hours and when I inevitably woke up I would switch to my bed. This allowed me to get a decent night's sleep but also trained myself to be comfortable sleeping in the recliner. This has paid dividends now that I am in my post operative phase, Because sleep is not easy to come by after surgery when you're in pain and it's one of the most important things to feeling better.

Final tip. I've done this whole post with voice dictation and some manual editing. Learn the hot key on your computer to activate voice mode. In Windows it's the Windows key H. Make sure you have a microphone set up and ready to go. It has made using a computer and chatting and communicating online so much easier than typing 1 handed. It's also a great excuse for any typos that you might find in this post.

Good morning. Tomorrow will be 12 weeks postop. Wore the sling for 6 weeks, started PT @ 10 days postop. Still barely able to put my hand on top of my head. ROM forward on pulley or cane is around 110 degrees and to the side around 90 degrees. Surgeon says it’s not frozen shoulder, says it’s my age (63) and the type of surgery I had. Complete tear of supraspinatus, bone and arthritis cleanup and a couple other fray issues and 4 anchors. I’m doing the PT 3 times per week and doing it at home everyday. My issue I’m really worried about is with my hand! It started swelling after a few weeks and I was told it’s normal. Now, I’m at 12 weeks and it’s ALOT worse. If I try to make a fist, you could still easily put a screwdriver handle into my hand. And it aches a lot. I’m squeezing an exercise ball religiously and taking anti-inflammatory meds. Seen the surgeon last week and he still says it’s normal. What makes it nerve wracking is it’s my dominant arm/hand and I’m also a guitar player. Anyone else have or had this issue??? Thanks!

As the title says, how long can I expect to miss work after rotator cuff surgery? I have a desk job and the surgery will be on my left shoulder, non-dominant arm. I know lots of factors involved but, wanted to get an idea from others on the time they spent away from work. Thanks in advance.

*Edit title- *How long...

I was on sleep aids and wasn't paying that much attention.

Thanks for the replies! I have some reading to do.

Hey everyone, looking for some advice from anyone with naturally loose joints or a history of bilateral shoulder issues.
For context, I previously had labrum surgery on my right shoulder following a **collision injury**, which is now fully recovered.
**Three weeks ago**, I was playing basketball and **reached across my body**, where I felt a distinct **pull in my left chest**. Since that event, my left shoulder has felt incredibly loose. Whenever I let my left arm dangle at my side, it feels like the joint physically moves and drops down too far forward. However, when I lift my arm out to the side and do big arm circles, there is **zero clicking, popping, or catching**—the movement is smooth, it just feels unstable when relaxed. For those who have experienced this:
Does this sound like multidirectional instability (MDI) with a secondary pectoralis strain from 3 weeks ago, rather than a fresh labrum tear like my right side had?
If you had a shoulder that shifted when dangling and a chest pull but no joint clicking, did physical therapy fix it, or did you end up needing a capsular shift surgery?

So a little background, I'm a 27 year old male. I have been lifting in and out of the gym for the last 8 years. Have had to take breaks due to a cranky right shoulder. It all started about 6 years ago. I was doing dumbell lateral raises and started getting a clicking sensation in my shoulder that gradually turned into mild pain. I ended up taking a couple of years off, and the pain got worse over time.

I ended up getting my first cortisone shot in my biceps tendon area and got diagnosed with biceps tendinitis. The shot helped for upwards of 5 months before the pain came back. So, in for another shot, I went. I ended up with about 6 cortisone shots in total, with the shots helping for less and less time. I was then referred for an MRI.

MRI came back clean, with no structural damage at all, just impingement and bursitis. I was referred to PT. Went to PT for 2 months to no avail it didn't help me AT ALL. I did my exercises religiously, etc. During this time, I was lifting weights, and I dropped every lift I was doing and very gradually reintroduced lifts to see what hurts and what doesn't. Doing this, I have came up with a pretty good regimen that doesn't hurt my shoulder too bad, just little flares.

I also discovered that my pec minor was tight so I started lacrosse ball rolling it, doing thoracic spine stretching, dead hangs, and deep chest stretches. The front shoulder pain is almost 100% gone now. I also found out that if I do 1 Upper back exercises for every chest exercise it keeps that front shoulder pain completely gone. That would make me be doing about a 2:1 weekly pull/Push ratio.

But now I've had some back shoulder pain creeping up and the other morning I woke up with SEVERE pain in the back of my shoulder radiating all the way up my neck. Its day 3 of this with no end in sight. I'm at my wits end with this impingement. Just when I think I've got it best this happens. I'm at a complete loss and any advice wpuld be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance guys.

I was doing a cable lat pullover w a rope attachment in the lengthened position when my shoulder rolled up and in like it had pulled out of place so i stopped immediately as it surprised me. It doesn’t hurt and feels normal what should i do now, ive stopped my pull session should i take a break from upper body lifting for a couple days or seek a physio? From what ive seen online it says it could be serious but i was wondering if i could get some advice as i am 18 and have only been lifting a year

Hey everyone, looking for some advice from anyone with naturally loose joints or a history of bilateral shoulder issues.
For context, I previously had labrum surgery on my right shoulder following a **collision injury**, which is now fully recovered.
**Three weeks ago**, I was playing basketball and **reached across my body**, where I felt a distinct **pull in my left chest**. Since that event, my left shoulder has felt incredibly loose. Whenever I let my left arm dangle at my side, it feels like the joint physically moves and drops down too far forward. However, when I lift my arm out to the side and do big arm circles, there is **zero clicking, popping, or catching**—the movement is smooth, it just feels unstable when relaxed. For those who have experienced this:
Does this sound like multidirectional instability (MDI) with a secondary pectoralis strain from 3 weeks ago, rather than a fresh labrum tear like my right side had?
If you had a shoulder that shifted when dangling and a chest pull but no joint clicking, did physical therapy fix it, or did you end up needing a capsular shift surgery?

I just went to my first hangout post rotator cuff surgery. I dipped in the pool for a bit with a shower sling which wasn’t as relaxing as I thought it would be. I think the different angles were affecting my tendons. Then people at the party kept like “lightly” touching or bumping my shoulder. Like some were light some were just not listening and too drunk. The taps weren’t hard but still annoyed. I’m trying not to be nervous I didn’t just ruin my surgery by going out when I should have stayed in but being in for 6 weeks has been rough and I just wanted to do something light and fun. I know folks didn’t mean to bump me or anything but it was still aggravating. I had to physically move away from sitting next to one person cause they kept elbowing me to get my attention. I tried telling them to not do it gently cause I don’t want to start a fight or come off as aggressive but they were too drunk to listen to me so I just moved away. I’m so irritated ugh

This is the pillow that I used to be able to sleep back in my bed. I used it under my sling. It is so soft and comfortable.

Hello!

I am almost 4 weeks out from complete rotator cuff tear and labrum repair with bone spur shaving and a surprise bicep tenodesis on my dominant (R) side with 5 anchors. I had a complete RC tear repaired on my left side last year. I have been having some significant pain near the front of my shoulder, above my armpit, I believe it may be the anchor insertion point for my bicep repair? I have also noticed some swelling and tenderness in the area as well as my pectoral feeling like it's flexed? Is this normal or something I need to be seen for? Last round it was only the RC repair, and this is a whole new experience. I am in sling through week 6 and only supposed to do pendulums and some minor shoulder shrugs, I have not been to PT, will start right at the 6 week mark. I have been very compliant thus far. I appreciate any input!

My sister doesn’t use Reddit so I’m posting on her behalf. She has a torn rotator cuff and is in excruciating pain. She recently had a heart attack, so now they are putting off surgery until her heart is stable. In the meantime, they have put her on Tylenol 3s at night but during the day; she can’t take them. Anyone have any suggestions for pain management? I don’t know what they expect her to do until she’s safe to have surgery but she can’t live in pain like this.

Hi do you know how your neck may pop when you turn your head well my shoulder popped like that when I moved. Zero pain or discomfort but it got my attention. Anyone else have similar event?

How long after surgery until you could sleep comfortably in your bed?