Hello my name is Jessica, I have been in pain now for about 3.5 months due to an umbrella accident. I went to a doctor who thought it was bicep tendonitus, it was only after the cortizone injection did not work that I was refferred to a specialist who did MRI's to discover a SLAP tear (50%) and rotator cuff tear.

The specialist recommended I do surgery but I am trying to explore other options first. I have gone to physical therapy 2x in the past week and am in more pain than when I started. I understand the pain could be due to the fact that i have not used the injured shoulder for about 3 months but that knowledge does not make the pain any less.

What I am wondering is if physical therapy will heal a SLAP tear? I read through many posts but it seems as though most everyone is going through PT post-op. I am concerned that I am going through all of this pain for no reaason, which would be a big bummer.

Jessica,

Unfortunately, SLAP tears do not heal on their own... Considering that you have rotator cuff tear, it only adds to the pain. I think your best option to schedule the surgery...

Cheers,
Alexei.

If you can tolerate the PT before surgery it should help your ROM and make your recovery better. In your case surgery is likely the best and only option. It would not hurt to get a 2nd opinion though.

I went to PT for around 6 weeks after my injury, hoping to avoid surgery. Unfortunately, I wasn't improving, so I had surgery exactly 6 weeks ago today. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably do it the same way. I really didn't want to have surgery, so I did all I could to avoid it. Sometimes it's just inevitable.

A tear is a tear. Labrums don't heal themselves at all. PT beforehand won't improve your ROM after the surgery. Once the damage is done, improvements don't begin until the surgery heals. You won't be able to strengthen your shoulder or increase ROM while the Labrum and RC are torn. It just doesn't work like that. My advice is to stop using that arm virtually completely until the repair is complete and your OS tells you to start doing anything at all.

Susie wrote:

QUOTE:
I went to PT for around 6 weeks after my injury, hoping to avoid surgery. Unfortunately, I wasn't improving, so I had surgery exactly 6 weeks ago today. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably do it the same way. I really didn't want to have surgery, so I did all I could to avoid it. Sometimes it's just inevitable.

I wish i knew about this site before. I got myself injured and was sent to a Physical Therapy joint. There i attended Therapy classes for 6 weeks,Pain was still persistant and they ordered an MRI ,which showed tears ,which meant surgery, i chose their in-house OS
Funny thing was all of the on-line articles i was reading at the time were telling me that these type of injuries do not heal on their own .. Insurance Co was trying to cajole me out of surgery - PT was milking it for a few sessions
That 6 weeks was just a waste of time , i wish i had it much sooner and been done with it.

It was putting off the inevitable, possibly further causing harm by that 6 Weeks of useless Pt

...evidence suggests that Primary repair at the time of injury prevents recurrence..- Dr.Gavin YehTseng, Raffles Hospital
Those were the kind of articles i was reading

My current OS said it was bad to wait to long as the torn tendons / ligaments would just curl up,harden,shrink,

i just picked a lout for an OS