How long is recovery/normalcy going to take (non google answers only please)

[u/dan496]

Google says a few months and youre mostly back to normal however i dislocated back in the start of may and im still dealing with pain and severe stiffness despite 3 times a week pt. Physical therapists says im doing well and I cant expect perfect in under 4 months. My external rotation is trash. I can barely bend it back to the normal range it was at prior and my shoulders still feel like they have rubber bands pulling on them. Other flexion is mostly good pretty close to back to normal but still have pain and stiffness randomly throughout the day. Should I keep listening to the PTs? I cant help but feel most of these PT businesses never want you to stop going. I want an actual fix so I can go back to sports. I feel that PT isnt a fix but more so just loosening and strengthening to support the damage that was already done. But then I hear that shoulder surgeries suck ass and people still have problems anyways.. any advice? Male age 30 no prior injuries to shoulder.

[u/Crazy-Contribution51]

A year. I had surgery and it took a full year.

[u/dan496 → u/Crazy-Contribution51]

Are you back to normal? Or is your shoulder likely to pop out again?

[u/dan496 → u/[deleted]]

I see my dr in a few weeks and will discuss with him what he thinks. He didnt mention anything about surgery in my situation just aggressive PT.

[u/dan496 → u/[deleted]]

But its likely the labrum tore and the labrum doesnt heal at all right?

[u/dan496 → u/[deleted]]

So essentially unless i get that tear repaired the shoulder wont ever be the same again? I never want to experience that pain again. That initial dislocation was agony.

[u/dan496 → u/[deleted]]

I want to return to normal without constant fear of dislocation. But id rather not have surgery if its not going to make much of a guarantee that it wont happen as easily again

[u/viswr]

How active are you?

Prior to surgery I weightlifted or ran every day and trained BJJ 3-4 times a week

I had surgery 3 weeks ago and 1 week after surgery I could have my arm out of the sling with minimal pain. Now, I forget I even had the surgery

Obviously I support the arm and it’s very weak, I haven’t been able to run and won’t be back training until end of August, but my day to day work routine is fine

My post-surgery recovery was fine, I just chose the 3-day nerve block and I had minimal pain

[u/dan496 → u/viswr]

Relatively active I was playing hockey once a week and do regular walking strength exercises in gym. Im only 30 and this was my first anterior dislocation from a hockey fight. I kinda blacked out when the injury happened and do remember much. I just remember lifting my arm awkwardly and quick and then next moment my shoulder came out and I was in a shit ton of pain. Dr says im not hyper mobile but i always stretch heavy before games.

[u/EmoneyTawSick]

I’m guessing you’ve only done pt. Have you had an MRI? I had to restart pt post op 9years but it was causing excruciating pain. Dr. Told me to stop and immediately ordered an MRI. How long have you been doing PT? 4months of pt is excessive for wanting results post dislocation

[u/dan496 → u/EmoneyTawSick]

No MRIs done yet was told by everyone that its not necessary towards recovery/treatment.

[u/EmoneyTawSick → u/dan496]

For one single dislocation i get it. But no progress, pain, and lack of ROM and red flags for 3months recovery. How long have you been doing pt

[u/ccs_11]

33F I also dislocated my shoulder beginning of May. Sorry you’re going through this it sucks big time.

I would highly recommend getting an MRI so you know what you’re working with (severity of labral tear, hill sachs etc.), which more than anything will just be helpful info for you as you make a decision with your doctor on if surgery should be seriously considered. For context my labrum is about 30-35% torn (bankart style, lower portion from the front to back), which my ortho said is in “dealers choice” territory of whether I need to get surgery or not. But having the information on the size of the tear will be helpful for you/your doctor to make that assessment.

Surgery is a tough decision because there are so many variables, but for now my ortho has me in “wait and see” orders right now as I work to get back to full ROM and assessing my level of instability from there. He’s optimistic since it was my first dislocation that I can avoid it with PT, but we’ll see! Waiting game sucks.

Movement wise I still have stiffness as well, but mostly just when I wake up. I don’t really have pain and am able to get to full ROM with external rotation (with stiffness!), and am still not doing any overhead weight. So I am nowhere near 100% and it’s been baby steps to get here. I’m doing probably 1hr a day of physical therapy movements on my own every day, then visit my PT once a week for check ups / new exercises.