I had an MRI last year, and about 3 months of useless PT. Another HMO scam. I’m on the east coast now, and am not surfing as much as I was when I was in LA. It’s keeping me up at night, despite lots of stretching. The doc say’s it’s a 5-10% tear. Should I get it stitched? My thinking is so long as I’m on the east coast (for about 18 mo., hopefully) I’d have an operation anf have it fixed once and for all. Is that wishfull thinking? Anyone else deal with this? That said, I’ve scored some fun longboard sliders in Rhodie & New Hammie. Cheers, John
I lived with shoulder pain way too long. It affected my surfing and sleep. If you have pain, find a good surgeon, good physical therapists and do all the exercises prescribed. If you were in good shape before the surgery, you will recover quickly. My 55 year old severely torn rotator cuff was arthroscopically repaired 12 weeks and one day ago. In my fourth week of six weeks of physical therapy, I began rowing, swimming, and lifting light weights. My range of motion is within a few degrees of my unrepaired (good) shoulder and I have no pain. I plan to resume surfing (longboarding) the first week of July, as summer surf conditions permit.
do it! make sure you follow up on proper PT and daily stretch/strength/movement routine.you’ll loove the difference!
Just a word of warning on shoulder surgery. My wife, an hand/occupational therapist, say surgery is a last resort. Sometimes surgery will PERMENANTLY screw-up your range-of motion.(read= make it impossible to paddle) Surgery is a quick fix, Works for alot of people but not all… Everyone over 30 probably has some cuff tears but no problems.I’d say if your tear is so bad you can’t raise your arm with or without alot of pain then the tear is bad enough for surgery. I had cuff/bursitis problems (couldn’t sleep,paddle) three years ago. Doctor(OS) was conservative put off surgery for PT. It helped but swimming (using proper form) solved my shoulder problems. Took two years to fix though but shoulder is 98%. P.S= weight lifting was the cause of my shoulder problems. Good luck.
not quite the same problem as yours as I would have had tears in the ligaments - dislocated my shoulder 3 times. No amount of PT will safely keep a shoulder in place once this happens - and I do not want that to happen in decent sized surf. years ago I met one surfer who had the same problem and surgery. He couldn’t raise his hand above his head which means he can’t paddle a shortboard - longboards only for him since surgery. However I was treated by the surgeon and physical therapist who repairs 2 of Australias prominent football teams. The surgeons and therapists who deal with elite athletes have figured out how to keep the players playing. I don’t have any paddling problems and the surgery seems to be successful - shoulder hasn’t dislocated since.
I tore my left rotator snowboarding one year, had tendonitis in the right shoulder the following year. The torn one was a lot easier to fix! You want to let it REST!!! give it 8 weeks with no activity that makes it hurt. Have a good diet with some extra protien. Keep up your fitness with some good cardio as good blood flow is essential for healing to take place. Your shoulders don’t have great circulation, that’s why they have a hard time healing, so you have to really work at it. At 8 weeks start a gentle stretching and resistance program (no surfing). From there, listen to your body and it will tell you what to do. From the time of the tear to 100% better was 9 months. Lots of good websites on this. This is what worked for me. I’m 50 so it’s not like I had youth on my side. aloha, tw
I’ll second that. No stretching if it is injured.