SLAP and Bankart Tear/Repair - Sharp Pain 5.5 weeks Post Op

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hello there,

I had a SLAP and Bankart repair surgery (5 suture anchors at 10, 11, 1, 2 and 3 ‘o’ clock) on December 5th 2019. I’m on day 41 and was told that the pain would go away at 6 weeks. There’d be stiffness that would require PT from 6-12 to get back to your original ROM (minus a few degrees).

Currently, I’m able to

  1. Perform a front raise to about 30 degrees with little/no pain, to 45 degrees with pain
  2. Abduction to 20 degrees without pain, anything more hurts
  3. Reaching back to touch my lower back. My doctor mentioned I should have no pain with this AT ALL, but there’s some pain (5/10) after the movement.

For the last week, I’ve had bursts of sharp pain above the arm pit (anterior), under the deltoid muscle, and the collar bone near the shoulder, sometimes keeping me up at night. There’s not a particular movement that triggers it. It feels like someone’s grinding on my bone inside. It ranges from a 5 to 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. I had the immobilizer on for the first 4 weeks, did my pendulum exercises every day and haven’t had any incidents, so I’m at a loss as to why this is happening. I’m worried the anchors may be protruding out damaging other tendons etc.

Has anyone else experienced this pain? If so, does it go away eventually? I really want to get back into climbing, volley ball, swimming etc., but the experiences I’m reading on here doesn’t inspire confidence on my decision to have had surgery or a return to pre-surgery life.

2

have you had a MRI? I had the same surgery 12/4/19. Having so many issues even wondering if possible p.acnes infection bc of pain and loss of ROM. Had MRI my anchors look good but have fluid and lots of inflammation

3

I haven’t had a follow up MRI yet. My ROM has definitely improved since my original post. I tend to use my shoulder girdle to support my arm movements, but I’m hoping that gets better as the muscles build up. The doctor’s opinion was that the sutures/portals are likely taking longer to recover causing pain. I’m able to lift my arm up to 70 degrees (front and side) with little to no pain now. Reaching back still painful, but has reduced a bit. Moving my arm in the supine position helped me a lot with front arm movements.

what fluid accumulation do you have and where is it? I had some fluid (synovial fluid I’m assuming) accumulation shown on the MRI prior to surgery, indicating (per the doctor) the need to fix the labrum. Changing my diet has definitely helped with the inflammation (no meat, no spicy foods, and no dairy) in the last 2-3 weeks, especially because I can’t take ibuprofen or any other painkillers for more than 2-3 days at a time.