I am 6 months post op my second shoulder repair. The first one was a slap tear and was repaired with one anchor in the bone. I then had to have a second one due to the pain. I am now 6 months out of the second one and the pain seems to be getting worse. The second surgery required a fix of the initial slap tear and the rotator cuff had been damaged worse and anchors were placed in the bone to fix this as well. I have extreme tightness and a punching pain at the maximum range of motion that I can obtain. In addition to this, I have no strength as I have not been cleared to strength train yet. I have numerous spasms in my bicep each day and overall my shoulder feels very stiff in addition to the pain. The dr said that only time will tell and will order another MRI soon. Can anyone share any similar experiences? Thank you..

This is terrible to hear... I hope things look up and you can battle thru it!

Yes - this is similar to what I have endured. There is no way of knowing the cause of your issues, but sometimes it just does not turn out well. My problems include scarring and inflammation and irreparable tendon injury. The long and short of it, from orthopods to pain management -learn to live with it because it is a "bad" shoulder. Revision surgeries become counterproductive. That is not to say you won't improve quite a bit. Be aware that further MRIs are iffy at this point with the hardware - they aren't going to magically point out what is wrong. Anyway, after 4 trips to the OR, I never got to strengthening and have been advised against it.

Thanks for your response . I was just hoping that as a 32 yr old my shoulder would heal at some point. However, it seems to be getting increasingly more painful . My first 'MRI didn't show much so I'm assuming this one won't as well. As someone who works in a very physical job this is frustrating that I can not work and that there seems to be no end in sight. Im wondering at this point if another surgery would even be beneficial or if I would just go threw this long painful recovery again for no reason.

You might want to consider a bicep tenodesis...I know it is often performed on failed slap repairs. I know riderk can speak to this too. I had a bicep tenodesis on Jan. 4th, and two weeks out my recovery is going very well...really no problems to speak of (hope I didn't just jinx it). It could be that the bicep tendon which is attached to the top of the labrum is peeling back the labrum and not allowing it to heal. You can google it there have been a bunch of studies comparing the two. I know someone posted the same study here on another topic. The study has something like 14/15 of the patients who got the tenodesis were happy with the results, compared to like 40% or 60% for the slap repairs. Just a thought.

Only other thing I can think of to help with some of the pain is KT tape. They sell it at Dicks for sure and some sports authorities. It is the stretchy tape you often see beach vollyball players wearing on their shoulders. I have a torn labrum in both shoulders, and I use it on the shoulder I haven't had done yet. Buy the tape, go to youtube and look up "KT tape AC joint". It helps a tremendously...especially if your having trouble at work and have to lift things. Its highly doubtful, but the tape may give your shoulder the extra stability to finally heal. Worst case it eases the pain while at work. There are options out there...don't be discouraged. Hope things work out.

Thanks. I will ask my ortho about this. I did some research and it made it seem like the bicep tenodesis is only performed if you are over 40. Is this true? I have no strength and so much constant pain that I can not work my job now. Will a tenodesis ever help me return to 100 % or is it more to just help you be somewhat normal without constant pain again? I have to be able to bench my body weight and many other physical exercises before I can return to work. Thanks.