He checked it out and I described what had happened to cause the injury (probably trying out bench presses with heavy weight and an explosive movement) and also how I had already received a cortisone shot as treatment and it did nothing. The first thing he said was "the other doctor was a 'family' doctor ?" - I said yes. He then said he missed the joint. He said it is hard to get the shot in the right place and judging by the fact that I had a reaction to the shot (the cortisone will stay in the shoulder joint if done properly, will spread throughout the body if they miss it) and the fact that I felt no improvement afterwards, that it wasn't done properly. He also said (contrary to my family doc) that the shot should go through the front of the shoulder and not through the back (family doctor said he did it through the back or else there would be a lot more pain vs. through the front where the deltoid muscle is). This also was incorrect as when my specialist did it there was no pain during or after. And I felt an immediate improvement once it was done.
He also said it is a common mistake to think it is bursitis in the shoulder, when in fact what I have is a torn labrum (labral). A good website to see info on this is here.
This is a common shoulder injury that from what I see on the net causes a lot of NFL/MLB players to have surgery for. My specialists said that I probably wouldn't need that. He said in the past they would just do the surgery and remove the torn part, but they have just recently found out that through proper rehab you can bypass surgery and basically have the torn part 'worn down' in about a year. Worn down just means to get the torn part of the labrum out of the way so it doesn't interfere with the shoulder movement.
I am now taking an anti-inflammatory also (Voltaren). I asked the specialist about swing a bat since it's my left sholder and I am right handed (the follow through arm). I had notice no discomfort from swing and he agreed that this would not aggrevate the injury but I am still to do no hitting for a few days as a precaution.
Here is a pretty good description of what the labrum is in the shoulder: "...To make the socket more like a cup, there is a rim of soft tissue called the labrum. The labrum acts sort of like a gasket, turning the flat surface of the glenoid into a deeper socket that molds to the head of the humerus for a better fit."
In checking me out he also diagnosed me as having 'loose' joints. Which pretty much explains my 2 blown acl's and now the shoulder problem.
Thsi link shows some diagrams of rehab routines for this and other shoulder injuries at the bottom of the page. Please note that the only ones you do for the injury I have is the internal and external rotation (using surgical tubing or some type of bungie cord) DO NOT DO THE OTHER 2 SHOWN ! And remember it is vital to keep your elbow at your side throughout so you don't re-aggrevate the problem. Orthoassociates.com
Hope this helps you out, if you have been to your doc and aren't seeing results, I recommend going to a specialist - like the websites are saying, this is a tricky condition to catch and my family doctor missed it. I'll keep you updated on my rehab. I go back in for a checkup in a month.
-Jerry
"MohrInjuries.com"
(haha, doesn't exist right now, but maybe in the future......)