I have a good one. I have a bone spur that is cutting into the tendon at the point where it meets the rotator cuff. Cuts is in both the tendon and the rotator. Go to Ortho in Wed. to determine when surgery is going to be done. Does anyone have an idea about how long recovery should be?

I don't know how accurate this is, but I have read that the extent of shoulder injuries can be hard to judge through x-ray, MRI, etc. Basically, these techniques can be used to get an idea of damage, but that often times the extent of the damage isn't determined until the doctor is inside the shoulder. This post isn't mean to scare or discourage you, but just to say that I think it would be pretty impossible for any one on this board to give a guess as to recovery time.

Pretty wise advice from Emanski's. Some shoulder injuries can only be diagnosed 75-80% of the time through non invasive techniques, which means false negatives for injuries register about 1 in 4 players.

Lack of ability to diagnose the true extent of the injury is not only limited to shoulders however. Have also heard of a great many elbow surgeries where more or less damage and collateral injuries were discovered during surgical procedure.

My son (mid-level D-I college starting outfielder, junior) had both rotator cuff and labrum surgery on August 1. He's coming up on 4-month post surgery. Just now regaining full range of motion. Has not started throwing or swings yet. Maybe in a few weeks he'll start. No significant complications and pain level is minimum. But, all indications are that he'll have to do a medical red-shirt for the '09 season, since he won't have regained all his strength or hitting skills.

So, it's a long recovery after surgery. Can't be rushed and can't guarantee that he'll ever be back to 100% pre-injury level. But, he'll do his best and, I'm sure, you'll do your best to bounce back.

Stay positive!

Thanks to everyone for their help. Looks like soft toss to my son will be left handed this off season

lodi, these bone spurs are troublemakers. My son had TJ when he was only 15, and Doc Andrews came out after surgery and gave me a small bottle with a bone spur in it. Said that this was rubbing and tearing his ligament for probably a couple of years, and then on one day and one pitch it was over.

OhComeOn, best of luck to your son during his recovery.

Lodi,

As someone said before, don't trust the x-rays and MRI. I just had surgery last Friday. My x-rays and MRI showed bone spurs and inflamed bursa and rotator cuff tendon. After going through the cortisone/PT process, it didn't get any better so I was scheduled for the standard decompression surgery.

When the surgeon scoped me Friday, he found a 50% tear in the tendon and some fraying of the labrum, neither of which showed up on the MRI. So I got the bone spurs shaved down, the bursa cut back, the tendon sewed up, and the labrum cleaned up. And my shoulder hurts like hell.

Major discomfort...definitely get the nerve block. I'm sure there are horror stories about it but there was a guy in recovery when I was and he didn't get the block and he was thrashing around in so much pain he couldn't take it. They took him back in and gave him the nerve block post-surgery.

It's a huge needle but it's not that bad. They gave me some anesthesia so I was a little foggy but still awake, then they stick the needle in at the base of your neck to find the right nerve. I didn't even feel the injection.

I started PT yesterday and we're planning on 6 weeks of standard PT, then moving slowly to the interval throwing program if I'm ready at that point. Now, I'm a dad and a coach, so my only concern is being able to throw BP for my sons and our teams. I just won't be able to throw BP on consecutive days now. There will be a lot more ice and rest between practices, that's for sure.

Best of luck with your procedure. If you have questions let me know.

Had Rotator Surgrey and labrum as well. The X-Rays and MRi proved wrong prior to my operation. It took me just under a full year to return to the mound in college and almost a year and half before I felt fully recovered. Rehab is slow and tedious.

YHF yours sounds just like mine. Had the cortizone shot yesterday and start the PT next week.Surgeon said he felt I would have to have surgery. Insurance requires him to go this route first.Also everything is so imflammed and the range of movement is so limited that he felt the PT would be better prior to having surgery. Thanks for the advice on the nerve block also.