Torn Labrum

[Gretchen Stephenson]

My son is a baseball player and has suffered a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder two years ago and another one in his left playing football this last fall. Dr. Greiwe was his surgeon for both. The first one was in his throwing shoulder so we were advised to do rehab over surgery. He has recovered fine but I do think he lost velocity because of the injury. It was about 8 months before he really was mentally ready to throw hard again. The last injury was in his left and we did get surgery. It healed pretty quick and after a few months he was swinging the bat without issue. In fact, he states his shoulder feels much stronger than before the injury.

To sum up, I would trust the doctor since they deal with these all the time.

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting that your son tried both approaches. We see Dr. Greiwe on Tuesday so I am encouraged to hear he is open to both the idea of surgery and rehab only. Sorry for your son but glad he is back on the field.

[GrantNKY]

I tore my labrum in HS playing baseball and Kremchek did my surgery. I would assume if Kremchek gave you that advice I would listen to him, he's one of the best in the world for shoulder injuries if not the best. Trust me you don't want the surgery if you don't have to. The rehab sucks. Best of luck and if you listen to Kremchek's advice and go to a good PT your daughter should be just fine.

[brooksville]

I would follow Dr. Kremchek. He did surgery on my brother's broken growth plate in his elbow in 8th grade. He made a great recovery and have had 0 problems

[kyvince]

My son also suffered a Torn Labrum in HS football around game 6....He went the rehab route so he could come back and play the last 2 regular season games and the playoff's ....He missed 2 games and a bye week, but he was able to play the last four games of his senior season...he had issues while he played but was able to play thru the discomfort... unfortunately after his football days he did not have the surgery and still has some issues with shoulder some 6 years later.... I don't remember if it was a SLAP tear or another name... it's my understanding that certain types of tears are able to heal, others will never heal...again... I would follow Dr. K's advice...

[Gretchen Stephenson]

Thanks everyone for the great advice and for sharing your stories. Lainey and I went to Dr. Greiwe yesterday and his evaluation was the same as Dr. Kremcheck. He said surgery to repair the labrum would be a mistake in this case. He said they are trending towards not repairing labral tears in volleyball players. He said her pain is not from the labrum but from the biceps rubbing on the jagged edge of the tear. He said they may consider smoothing that edge if the irritation continues. He gave her a "steroid" shot into the shoulder and said that will "calm" the inflammation.

 

We are consulting with Dr. Steine today regarding a procedure where he will harvest Lainey's stem cells and platelets and inject them into the shoulder. This should speed healing. Dr. Greiwe's opinion was that this procedure doesn't help much for labral tears (not enough blood circulation). We have decided to do the consult anyway (Dr. Steine works directly with Dr. Kremcheck at Beacon).

 

Lainey hasn't decided which doctor will continue her care. She loves the PT at Beacon. We are meeting with the "overhead sports guy" at St. E Sports Medicine (Chris Coleman) on Monday. I think she will decide on the doctor based on the PT which makes sense because the PT will be largely responsible for her return. Does anyone have good or not so good experiences with Chris Coleman?

 

Conclusion...we are very hopeful she will be ready to go by August 1. Her college coach is encouraged by all of this and very supportive. NKYVC (vball club) has been awesome in offering resources and support and her coaches at NDA have been open and concerned as well. Lots of good people in our lives. Thank you again for the advice and support.

[kinglouie]

Great news on your daughter! Dr Greiwe is great. I am glad he concurred with Dr Kremchek which of course makes things easier. As far as PT, one of the things I wanted is someone who would work closely with the trainer at school. The trainer at school recommended a certain guy at St E's, his name was Bill, and throughout the months of PT it was obvious that they worked together on getting my son back. Of course he is not 100% yet as surgery was just now 11 months ago, but he is getting there.

[punttheball]

Thanks everyone for the great advice and for sharing your stories. Lainey and I went to Dr. Greiwe yesterday and his evaluation was the same as Dr. Kremcheck. He said surgery to repair the labrum would be a mistake in this case. He said they are trending towards not repairing labral tears in volleyball players. He said her pain is not from the labrum but from the biceps rubbing on the jagged edge of the tear. He said they may consider smoothing that edge if the irritation continues. He gave her a "steroid" shot into the shoulder and said that will "calm" the inflammation.

 

We are consulting with Dr. Steine today regarding a procedure where he will harvest Lainey's stem cells and platelets and inject them into the shoulder. This should speed healing. Dr. Greiwe's opinion was that this procedure doesn't help much for labral tears (not enough blood circulation). We have decided to do the consult anyway (Dr. Steine works directly with Dr. Kremcheck at Beacon).

 

Lainey hasn't decided which doctor will continue her care. She loves the PT at Beacon. We are meeting with the "overhead sports guy" at St. E Sports Medicine (Chris Coleman) on Monday. I think she will decide on the doctor based on the PT which makes sense because the PT will be largely responsible for her return. Does anyone have good or not so good experiences with Chris Coleman?

 

Conclusion...we are very hopeful she will be ready to go by August 1. Her college coach is encouraged by all of this and very supportive. NKYVC (vball club) has been awesome in offering resources and support and her coaches at NDA have been open and concerned as well. Lots of good people in our lives. Thank you again for the advice and support.

 

Chris Coleman was my son's physical therapist after his labrum surgery. DR. Bilbo did the surgery. So Commonwealth did the surgery but we used St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine to do the rehab. We did some asking around and Chris Coleman was highly recommended by several "baseball" people. I can't imagine that you could do much better than Chris.

[Gretchen Stephenson]

Wanted to give everyone an update since you were all so helpful and this seems to be a somewhat common injusry. After 5 weeks of intense rehab with Chris Coleman, two cortisone shots and treatment with Andy Shetterly (awesome guy for young athletes), Lainey was still in significant pain. Her labrum tear is directly impacting her bicep. The tear continually irritates the bicep where it inserts into the shoulder, causing inflammation and subsequent pain. Dr. Greiwe has advised her to have a procedure called Biceps Tedonisis - remove the head of the bicep from the shoulder and reattach it to the humerus. This is a 30 minute procedure and should give her immediate relief. He will also "clean up" the edges of the tear and any scar tissue. She is having this done tomorrow and will be in a sling for 4 weeks with total rehab of 4 months. It's an unfortunate turn of events but no fault of the Doctor, PT, or Lainey. I truly believe the PT would have worked had the tear not been located where it was. If all goes well...she will return to the court with her Panda teammates by mid September. Thanks again to everyone for their info and support. I will post an update as things progress.

[bugatti]

Wanted to give everyone an update since you were all so helpful and this seems to be a somewhat common injusry. After 5 weeks of intense rehab with Chris Coleman, two cortisone shots and treatment with Andy Shetterly (awesome guy for young athletes), Lainey was still in significant pain. Her labrum tear is directly impacting her bicep. The tear continually irritates the bicep where it inserts into the shoulder, causing inflammation and subsequent pain. Dr. Greiwe has advised her to have a procedure called Biceps Tedonisis - remove the head of the bicep from the shoulder and reattach it to the humerus. This is a 30 minute procedure and should give her immediate relief. He will also "clean up" the edges of the tear and any scar tissue. She is having this done tomorrow and will be in a sling for 4 weeks with total rehab of 4 months. It's an unfortunate turn of events but no fault of the Doctor, PT, or Lainey. I truly believe the PT would have worked had the tear not been located where it was. If all goes well...she will return to the court with her Panda teammates by mid September. Thanks again to everyone for their info and support. I will post an update as things progress.

Thanks for the update. Tell your daughter to stay strong.

[sportsfan41]

Wanted to give everyone an update since you were all so helpful and this seems to be a somewhat common injusry. After 5 weeks of intense rehab with Chris Coleman, two cortisone shots and treatment with Andy Shetterly (awesome guy for young athletes), Lainey was still in significant pain. Her labrum tear is directly impacting her bicep. The tear continually irritates the bicep where it inserts into the shoulder, causing inflammation and subsequent pain. Dr. Greiwe has advised her to have a procedure called Biceps Tedonisis - remove the head of the bicep from the shoulder and reattach it to the humerus. This is a 30 minute procedure and should give her immediate relief. He will also "clean up" the edges of the tear and any scar tissue. She is having this done tomorrow and will be in a sling for 4 weeks with total rehab of 4 months. It's an unfortunate turn of events but no fault of the Doctor, PT, or Lainey. I truly believe the PT would have worked had the tear not been located where it was. If all goes well...she will return to the court with her Panda teammates by mid September. Thanks again to everyone for their info and support. I will post an update as things progress.

 

Good luck to her. I tore my labrum over 10 years ago and never had it repaired. I was in a similar situation, the pain eventually subsided however my bicep, tricep and shoulder muscle took a big hit. I somewhat regret not having surgery to have it repaired but life goes on. I think your daughter is probably making the right decision long term. Good luck with the recovery.