Post Prolo: First Day of Exercise

So it’s been two weeks since I saw Dr. Fullerton and I’m now able to do really low-impact stuff. For example, I can now walk on a treadmill for 10 minutes!!!!!! Sad as that is, I’m happy to be out doing something. …I’m also a little surprised how winded I get walking on a 3% grade incline.  As I understand it, if I feel good from today’s work then I can do 15 minutes 

We will see how it goes.  In another two weeks I will be able to do some type of resistance training. I’m already trying to plan out some stuff and when I have it all figured out I’ll post the protocol here for all to enjoy.  I’ve reached out to my friend/trainer/pt guy in IL who programmed my rehab for my hip in the hopes that he’ll do it again. If he does this will be amazing because his understanding of the body is amazing.  Here's the latest entry for the Vlog:

Know Thy Enemy. Meet, the Laberal Tear!

So I finally got the MRI images of my shoulder mailed to me.  I looked through the images until I found the one that the PA used to show me the tear. I've added the yellow arrows to help highlight the labrum and its tear.  It's actually really nice to finally put a "face" to the source of all of my neck/shoulder problems that I have had for years.

Again, the tear in the labrum seems to be unique for two different reasons. First, it was causes by just one case of blunt force trauma.  Back in high school I was thrown to the mat on my shoulder so hard I cracked my collarbone. Never knew about the tear in the labrum until 15 years later.  Second, the tear is near the back of the shoulder. It's not in the front or top, so it's not a SLAP tear, which is much, much more common.  It's funny, I never thought I had a tear in my labrum in my shoulder because I had a tear in the labrum in my hip. I figured the odds of having a torn labrum (some piece of anatomy I had never heard of until like 6 years ago) in two different joints was just too high.  I didn't want to be the guy who was seeing labrum tears everywhere. Guess I was wrong.

Seeing the damage has re-motivated me to get something done about it.  I've been training to get stronger using 531, a power lifting program.  I've noticed that no matter what weight/rep scheme I use my calculated one rep max is about 228. Perhaps this is as heavy as I can lift with an unstable shoulder. So given my success with prolotherapy for the hip laberal tear, I'm going to try prolotherapy for the shoulder as well. I've decided I will begin treatment in January, when my flex spending account is replenished.  Although I'm seeking the same treatment- prolotherpy- I am going to see a different practitioner, Dr. Fullerton down in Austin. Now that I've moved from Chicago to Dallas, I want to see someone who is within driving distance. Besides, I've always wanted to visit Austin.  So in about three months expect me to start blogging more frequently, documenting the recovery process.  I'm not looking forward to being unable to bench or press during the time of recovery, but if this is the only way to stop being in pain all the time, so be it.

Another Labral tear????

Well, I finally saw someone to figure out what is wrong with my shoulder.  …I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve seen many, many Dr.’s about my shoulder. But as I sit here and think about it, I am not so sure.  So I saw a PA today and we did all kinds of tests.  After passing quite a few, he then gave me one where I had to resist pressure with both arms.  My right arm resisted, and my left arm went straight down. Like, I couldn’t muster any strength at all.  “Now we’re getting somewhere.” He tried a couple more tests, all of which I failed.

He told me these all point to having some damage to the labrum in the shoulder.

Really?  Really? Another laberal tear???

We are going to confirm with an MRI with arthogram.  It was funny, having the PA explain to me what the labrum is as well as an arthogram. …Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so familiar with this stuff.

I have no idea if this comes from my time with crossfit and its dangerous kipping pull ups, or it could have come from wrestling or whatever. This kind of damage can happen slowly over time, and I think that is what happened to me. Whatever the case, I am looking forward to getting the MRI and following that a real diagnosis.

Interestingly enough, I might decide to go back to Dr. Hauser for more prolo, this time on the shoulder. I’m pretty darn sure the situation isn’t dire enough to warrant surgery, at least not surgery without trying prolotherapy first. We’ll see how this works out.

I just want to know what is going on, so I can start fixing it.