Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Damaged Goods

Just as I had feared, I'd done enough damage to my right shoulder that I'm going to have to go under the knife again. I've torn my labrum, which holds the ball of the shoulder socket in place. As you can see in this MRI, the shoulder is shifter back now due to the labrum being torn. As the doc explained, the labrum is kind of like a golf tee in how the ball sits in a concave socket. Well since I've torn the rear part of mine, the shoulder socket doesn't want to stay in place.

In this still shot from the MRI, you can see the tear (black area) in the labrum and how the ball of the shoulder is shifted back towards it due to no support.



The surgery itself is much less invasive than the Achilles surgery I had in November 08, but the recovery appears more painful. 4 - 6 months before I can mountain bike and probably about 3 before I can even get on a road bike. Crazy to think that one small fall from 3 - 4 feet back in November could have this kind of damage and lasting pain, but it sure did. The good news is that it can be fixed and even if this Summer is pretty much gone for me before it starts, maybe my shoulder will be corrected for the summer after this and the one after that.

And I won't be riding any double teeter totters again anytime soon...

1 comment:

Perry said...

Man, I am so sorry for the news but glad to hear you can fix it and be back this summer! I guess I could tow you in the Chariot or something until that point? ;)