Labral Tear

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I injured my shoulder over 6 weeks ago and it's not really getting better. Went to an ortho and he suspects a labral tear. Has anyone had this before? How long was the recovery? Most importantly, how long before you could shoot a bow or lift a gun again?

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Jmort1754

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6-9 months depending on the tear. I’ve never been able to draw 70lbs again.

Listen to the surgeon. Listen to the he therapists.
 

Texizona

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Depends on how bad the tear is. I've had 3 separate shoulder surgeries due to labral tears. Each time, the tear was worse. The last time, (18 months ago) I pulled my arm out of socket, tore my bicep tendon a basically tore my labrum in two. They ended up having to do a lot of work to fix me back up. 6 months later, l was able to go on a fly in Caribou hunt in Alaska. It's a good thing it was a rifle hunt, as I couldn't have used my bow.

Each time, I've been able to rehab, including doing a lot of weight training. I've regained my strength and can now shoot my bow at 70 lbs, etc., but I'm definitely not the same as before the injuries. The main thing is that it seems much easier to injure yourself each time. As a matter of fact, I believe that I've tore my labrum a little bit again.
 
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Six months from surgery. Not sure I could pull a bow as I lost some range of motion, but I can level a rifle or pistol just fine. you might do better depending on how small the tear is, mine was almost completely torn free. No matter how it is though, fight thru every bit of rehab to help the recovery.
 

Tanya Avery

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I had a labral tear repair in 2016 and another in 2017. The 2107 surgery screwed Ryan out of an Alaskan moose hunt, but I’m sure he’ll get over it in about 50 years ;) The tear was in my hip. For each surgery, It took about 4 months of physical therapy. For another 3-4 months I felt unsteady at times. Especially when hiking. I feel like the surgery was necessary, even though some people said it wasn’t required and am so glad I did it, but I still to this day will have aching and soreness in my hip. I have never felt I was back to 100% and definitely have to exercise on a regular basis or I feel myself getting weak on that side but it has forced me to actually exercise and hike on a regular basis, lol!
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Well damn it. Looks like my archery and probably gun seasons are a bust then. It's particularly irritating because I feel otherwise completely fine so want to just push through it. I have an MRI next week, so maybe it'll give me better news that's easier to deal with like i dont know testicular cancer or really anything that doesn't kill my season.

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I tore mine over 10 years ago. Opted for rehab over surgery. It was about 6-9 months before it was good. Surgery recovery was projected at 8-12 months.

If you are a surgery candidate, there is a school of thought surrounding pre surgical therapy that you should look into. You May also find that you can delay the surgery u til after season.
 

Gulfgoose

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Mine took about 8 months before I could shoot a shotgun comfortably again but I was completely torn loose. As long as you're not dealing with an insurance issue you can probably put off until after the season. Mine was put off for two years due to football. Not sure on the bow portion. I tried and couldn't after wrist reconstruction on top of the shoulder surgery and had to give up the bow.
 

jmez

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I have a torn one in my right shoulder, probably the left as well. I did rehab with mine and don't have any issues as long as I take care of it. Still very active, workout daily and shoot my bow a lot. I know what hurts/irritates it and don't do those things.

Tore mine years ago, not really sure when it happened. The last time I really flared it up took about 3 mos before I could do much with it.
 

YZF_88

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I've had this done as part of a shoulder surgery three times between two shoulders (motocross and wrestling injuries). I got back to full range of motion and full strength every time. I was very, very diligent about rehab. We even incorporated a bow trainer into the rehab process.
 

BassAssassin04

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I had a labrum tear along with a few other issues. I didnt have a problem shooting my bow, but after a few hours of fishing I'd have to quit and stretch my shoulder out before I could go back to fishing. I was told that it should heal on its own, but after 7 years it got bad enough. I ended up having surgery for it. Was in a sling for 6 weeks then had another 2-3 months of rehab until i tried to shoot my bow. Biggest issue was weakness. I bought a bow trainger that was basically just a stick with different resistance bands on it and used that to get my bow strength back. Hope the best for you.
 

Umpcoos

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It depends on the severity of the tear. I tore the labrum in my right shoulder 10 years ago while guiding in Alaska. When I got home months later I got it MRI'd and went in for an arthroscopic procedure. But once they got in there they determined the tear was too big to repair arthroscopically. So a couple months after that I had open surgery (they cut through your deltoids) to get what's called a bankhart (sp?) repair where they basically sew it back together. Lot of PT afterwards. Pretty painful to shoot a rifle for years after that but you eventually get all your mass in that region back and it's fine. Strength to pull a bow, etc was fine after 6 months or so.

Unless you can't stand it, I would schedule your procedure for after hunting season. A good Ortho is usually months out for doing procedures anyway. Pick your Ortho carefully. Make sure you do all the prescribed PT.
 

Marble

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Depends on how bad the tear is. I've had 3 separate shoulder surgeries due to labral tears. Each time, the tear was worse. The last time, (18 months ago) I pulled my arm out of socket, tore my bicep tendon a basically tore my labrum in two. They ended up having to do a lot of work to fix me back up. 6 months later, l was able to go on a fly in Caribou hunt in Alaska. It's a good thing it was a rifle hunt, as I couldn't have used my bow.

Each time, I've been able to rehab, including doing a lot of weight training. I've regained my strength and can now shoot my bow at 70 lbs, etc., but I'm definitely not the same as before the injuries. The main thing is that it seems much easier to injure yourself each time. As a matter of fact, I believe that I've tore my labrum a little bit again.
Same for me. And I think I just tore it again in june but I might have done something to my rotator cuff too. I'm gonna wait until november and get it looked at.

I'm very active and muscular so I worked super hard in PT. Mine tore (or something) the second time when I fell forward. I can still shoot my bow (65 pounds) and the muscles surrounding my shoulder are not happy at first but they feel better after 7 to 8 shots.
 

huntdoc

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If you can get hooked up with really good therapist and rehab like crazy, you might be able to avoid surgery and be pretty normal. I notice that if I don't do my exercises for a week even I start to feel it more and it sometimes bothers me when trying to sleep.
 

Tony Trietch

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Well damn it. Looks like my archery and probably gun seasons are a bust then. It's particularly irritating because I feel otherwise completely fine so want to just push through it. I have an MRI next week, so maybe it'll give me better news that's easier to deal with like i dont know testicular cancer or really anything that doesn't kill my season.

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So sorry to hear, get that sucker fixed asap!
 

swampfox

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I had a partial tear six years ago, and for months I couldn’t do much with it. I couldn’t throw or play any sports and had a lot of pain if my arm was extended to my side or over my head and any pressure was applied against my arm. I didn’t do archery back then but there’s no way I would have been able to. I saw a PT and did some exercises for the first few months but eventually I stopped doing that and just took it easy on my shoulder. It took 12-18 months but it completely healed and I have no issues with archery and in fact I have better range of motion with my torn shoulder than my other one. I was in my 20s at the time so that may have helped but it is possible to fully heal from at least some types of tears without surgery but it takes a long time.
 

rgroves79

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Had my right shoulder done almost 3 years ago now. 3 screws and 3 or 4 sutures to reattach it. Luckily I shoot everything lefty. I was back to shooting my bow again in 4 months and it doesn’t give me any issues now other than some loss of throwing strength. If you have it done stick with the PT all the way through.
 
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