Advice on surgery

[hoofreak7]

Im 17 years old and play golf pretty seriously. Unlike most kids my age, I take school golf more seriously than independent tournaments, just because I love team sports and care more about my team winning than playing for some crappy college team. This winter in track season I tore my labrum in my right hip (i also have a cyst there....so my situation is identical to A-Rod's), but played through golf season in the spring. It didn't really bother my game that much (although I have a hard time with hanging back because it's hard to get through on it). Went back to the doctor after the season and he decided I needed surgery. I'm getting surgery on August 13th and probably won't be able to play golf until at least a month afterwards. We went back to the doctor last week to see if I could get more physical therapy on my shoulder (which I injured last golf season) because I'm gonna be on crutches for a couple of weeks, so he had me take an MRI and it reavealed tears(labrum again) there as well, so I'll most likely get surgery on my shoulder next summer, maybe earlier.

Anyone here have any advice on how to recover from surgery? Will I need to change anything in my swing?

[RC]

As an old ex-jock who has had maybe a dozen surgeries due to injuries over the years (I don't even remember them all) the best advice I can give you is follow the rehab program exactly... do not try to hurry your recovery, do not do things your therapist and doctor tell you not to do. In the long run, rehabbing correctly will save you time. I tried to rush back into action too soon after one of the early repairs (as a teen) and sure enough, reinjured myself and wound up having what should have been 2-3 months turn into 8 months... not worth it.

[uttexas]

As an old ex-jock who has had maybe a dozen surgeries due to injuries over the years (I don't even remember them all) the best advice I can give you is follow the rehab program exactly... do not try to hurry your recovery, do not do things your therapist and doctor tell you not to do. In the long run, rehabbing correctly will save you time. I tried to rush back into action too soon after one of the early repairs (as a teen) and sure enough, reinjured myself and wound up having what should have been 2-3 months turn into 8 months... not worth it.

exactly as above. Keep in mind that your surgeon is the only person in the world that will have looked at your tear with his/her own eyes. Don't be afraid to ask him/her questions about recovery process/rehab.

PS, I have a labral tear in my left shoulder (never had it operated on--felt 95% better after three injections (each about a month apart and 3 months PT) It still bothers me, but only rarely.

[woodzie264]

unless you are having a lot of shoulder pain or joint laxity, you don't need to have the shoulder tear fixed (unless you are a baseball player or something during the rest of the year) - many people have labral tears of the shoulder without functional limitations unless they are an "overhead athlete" (swimmers, throwers, volleyball players). If you do decide to have the shoulder fixed, you wont be playing (full swing) for atleast 6 months. As an orthopedic PA, I doubt you'll be playing golf after your hip sugery a month out unless he simply does a debridement. If he fixes the hip labrum, you will not be playing in one month, no chance. That said, you should definitely have it fixed if possible regardless of the length of the recovery since you are young and have the rest of your athletic life ahead of you.

ps. I notice you're from Richmond, Va - me too! PM me who's doing your surgery, just curious....

[powermatt99]

Maybe ask your orthopedic surgeon for a referral to a sports medicine care center for rehab. The trainers and therapists at sports medicine centers know what will get you back on the course (or court, or field) fastest with the best chance for full recovery. I severely sprained my knee (ACL & MCL) in 6th grade Jr. High Basketball. My recovery was very slow (undergoing the generic physical therapy regimen prescribed by the orthopedist) until I visited a sports medicine institute here in Milwaukee. The therapy sessions were intense but I saw almost immediate results.

[Kingfisher]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I think you'd better recalibrate your expectation for a return to serious golf though - at least a month sounds like your thinking maybe 2 months or so?

In January I had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL on my right knee (I'm a right handed golfer, so it's my trailing leg). Under Doctor's orders, I didn't touch a golf club for almost 4 months and when I did, I was just putting for 2 weeks before progressing onto chipping - this is a blessing in disguise, because when you come back your short game is sharp! I started hitting some full shots around the 5 month mark and had my first game on-course at 5.5 months - it was almost almost like I'd never been away.

In hindsight, my surgeon's rehab protocol was probably a touch more to the conservative side, but you know what, I don''t care! I'd much rather have gone through this slightly slower rehab than to rush back and get re-injured.

My advice is to listen to your surgeon, follow his rehab and don't try to be a hero!

[ncfreemason]

I am a new member and cannot post new threads. However I am suffering from a Rib Injury. X-Rays were fine. Doctor says I have costalchondritis from playing golf. I think it might be a rib fracture that the X-Ray did not pick up. I played to many holes of golf bout 4 weeks ago. Felt sharp pains in my ribs - intercostal muscles. Rested for a week and played again. Pain doubled. Now its been 4 weeks. Two days ago it felt as if the pain was subsiding, then I mowed the yard. Pain increased....... I am going nutz!!! I love to golf, jog, and garden. I am 30 years old. Afraid this "whatever it is" will not get better.......Any suggestions?

[woodzie264]

I am a new member and cannot post new threads. However I am suffering from a Rib Injury. X-Rays were fine. Doctor says I have costalchondritis from playing golf. I think it might be a rib fracture that the X-Ray did not pick up. I played to many holes of golf bout 4 weeks ago. Felt sharp pains in my ribs - intercostal muscles. Rested for a week and played again. Pain doubled. Now its been 4 weeks. Two days ago it felt as if the pain was subsiding, then I mowed the yard. Pain increased....... I am going nutz!!! I love to golf, jog, and garden. I am 30 years old. Afraid this "whatever it is" will not get better.......Any suggestions?

Without having a big cruching injury to rib cage, your doctor was probably right; costochondritis is very commom and can be caused by repetitve coughing, sneezing, or dry-heaving (after a long night at the bar). Alternatively, you may have strained the intercostal muscles. Treatment for all of the above is anti-inflammatories (motrin, advil, aleve) along with refraining from aggrivating activities (yes, golf). One thing you can try is to wrap an ace wrap around the rib cage - this extra compression provides relief to the area via de-stressing the intercostal space.

[cougar978]

Without having a big cruching injury to rib cage, your doctor was probably right; costochondritis is very commom and can be caused by repetitve coughing, sneezing, or dry-heaving (after a long night at the bar). Alternatively, you may have strained the intercostal muscles. Treatment for all of the above is anti-inflammatories (motrin, advil, aleve) along with refraining from aggrivating activities (yes, golf). One thing you can try is to wrap an ace wrap around the rib cage - this extra compression provides relief to the area via de-stressing the intercostal space.

You may want to try using a front-foot pivot as opposed to a back-forward-back weight shift (see stack and tilt) - when you keep your weight on your front foot and use it as a pivot point as opposed to shifting your weight, it takes some strain off your rib cage as you're not turning as much. Just a thought..

[scott71law]

Im 17 years old and play golf pretty seriously. Unlike most kids my age, I take school golf more seriously than independent tournaments, just because I love team sports and care more about my team winning than playing for some crappy college team. This winter in track season I tore my labrum in my right hip (i also have a cyst there....so my situation is identical to A-Rod's), but played through golf season in the spring. It didn't really bother my game that much (although I have a hard time with hanging back because it's hard to get through on it). Went back to the doctor after the season and he decided I needed surgery. I'm getting surgery on August 13th and probably won't be able to play golf until at least a month afterwards. We went back to the doctor last week to see if I could get more physical therapy on my shoulder (which I injured last golf season) because I'm gonna be on crutches for a couple of weeks, so he had me take an MRI and it reavealed tears(labrum again) there as well, so I'll most likely get surgery on my shoulder next summer, maybe earlier.

Hoofreak did you ever end up getting the hip surgery done? I have a torn hip labrum as well and I am having it scoped soon. I am just wondering how long you had to wait to golf again, if you got the procedure done. Thanks for any info. PS, I dislocated my shoulder back in my football playing days about 15 years ago and also tore my shoulder labrum, never got it surgically repaired and haven't had any golfing issues from it since. The fastball on the other hand went from about 80 to 45 mph, so you won't be throwing the heat anymore unless you get it operated on!

Scott

[trog2233]

I also tore my labrum in my right hip last year and i've played thru it just fine. Doesnt bother me when I golf at all. The only pain i get from it is walking up stairs. Just saying i've gone a year and a half and no problems.

[i-Guy]

Unfortunately I can give you some great advice on having shoulder surgery…I was diagnosed to have both a labrum tear and a rotator tear…not so sure I would have had the surgery because of the labrum as many of the people that have posted have made correct statements about a labrum tear that many people have them and it should not really bother your golf but could eventually affect your quality of life (like sleeping etc…)…However, my rotator cuff was 80-90% torn so I had to have the surgery. I had my surgery on January 18th, 2010.

With all that said I can sum the whole ordeal up in one word…NIGTHMARE!!!

The surgery is orhtoscopic and not a big deal…you go home that day. The recovery is the nightmare as it is very long & painful. As some others have mentioned the key to a successful recovery is the rehab and you need to follow it to the tee…my doctor is very conservative but with this surgery I don’t mind and he said I probably would not be able to putt until the end of 3 months and then slowly work back into my game…he said I probably would not be able to let the “big dog eat” until July (5-6 months).

Good luck with whatever you decide and a labrum tear recovery should not be quite as extreme as mine as I had both…however, I would assume it would be 3-4 months before your back to golf…

[Bullitt5339]

My boss had rotator cuff surgery, and he hasn't been able to play golf since. He simply doesn't have the range of motion anymore, and there's a lot of pain involved. His recovery was a nightmare as well.

I had back surgery a year before his surgery, and I followed a pretty strict recovery plan. I didn't touch anything for 3 months, then went to putting, chipping, and eventually was able to swing, but ended up not having the flexibility I needed to really do well. It's been about a year since I started playing fully again, and while I still don't have my full range of motion, I'm actually able to make something that resembles a full golf swing finally. Every day I feel better and my flexibility is coming back, I'm losing weight put on after the surgery from walking, and generally feel better than I have in years.

Now, I went from a 16-18 handicap playing once a week to a 26 handicap playing 3 times a week, so my game isn't where it should be, but I can't complain. At least I'm out getting some exercise and doing something I enjoy most of the time.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Ive never had a hip injury, but i have had rotator and labrum problems in my shoulder back when i played baseball. I had laparoscopic prodcedures done to repair it and it sounds like you might have to get a similar thing performed. The issue isnt really recovering from the surgury, its regaining the strength and allowing the body to heal without doing more damage. The most important thing i found was just to stay patient and take a bunch of small steps instead of huge ones. I was the ultility man on my college baseball team, and there was pressure to get back fast. The urge is going to be to rush it, and that course will turn out bad more often than not. Ive seen so many dudes rush back from injury, play for a week or two, and then end up back where they where. It is gonig to be a couple months before youre back at full strength. If youre working with a therepist, follow his instructions and workouts to the letter.

[scott71law]

You know its actually kind of funny, when I swing CORRECTLY it doesnt seem to hurt but if my hips are off a little and my swing isn't as fundamentally sound it KILLS! Might be a good swing training experience, kind of like shock treatment...

Scott

[hoofreak7]

Hoofreak did you ever end up getting the hip surgery done? I have a torn hip labrum as well and I am having it scoped soon. I am just wondering how long you had to wait to golf again, if you got the procedure done. Thanks for any info. PS, I dislocated my shoulder back in my football playing days about 15 years ago and also tore my shoulder labrum, never got it surgically repaired and haven't had any golfing issues from it since. The fastball on the other hand went from about 80 to 45 mph, so you won't be throwing the heat anymore unless you get it operated on!

I had my operation in August. I was in bed for about a week. Limping for about a month. I think I first hit golf balls in October. I didn't actually get out on a course and play until a couple of days ago. As of now, my hip feels great. I DEFINITELY notice a big difference in my swing. I used to hang back, keeping weight on my right side on my follow through. Now, surgery seems to have fixed that problem all by itself. I've played twice in the past 2 days, trying to get ready for our season which starts in two weeks (spring break this week). I actually wasn't that rusty. I didn't really keep score, but I pretty much shot what I usually do (with a couple of errant tee shots and an obvious amount of rust in the short game department). So if you're thinking about having it fixed, I would recommend it. Mine worked out great (so far :) )

[hoofreak7]

We've decided against surgery on the shoulder (for now). I'm going to physical therapy a couple of times a week to strengthen the muscles around it. This has been working pretty well, but it's gonna be hard to find time to keep going to appointments during the season. I definitely notice a difference when I don't go to therapy. My shoulder will pop in my backswing, which is not a particularly good thing in a sport so exact as golf. I might eventually have to get that operated on (it's annoying to sleep on, carry stuff with, pick things up, can't really work out the way I want to, etc) but that won't be at least until the summer after my freshman year in college (2 summers from now). For now, PT is going good. Hopefully that continues.

[i-Guy]

We've decided against surgery on the shoulder (for now). I'm going to physical therapy a couple of times a week to strengthen the muscles around it. This has been working pretty well, but it's gonna be hard to find time to keep going to appointments during the season. I definitely notice a difference when I don't go to therapy. My shoulder will pop in my backswing, which is not a particularly good thing in a sport so exact as golf. I might eventually have to get that operated on (it's annoying to sleep on, carry stuff with, pick things up, can't really work out the way I want to, etc) but that won't be at least until the summer after my freshman year in college (2 summers from now). For now, PT is going good. Hopefully that continues.

Good luck but all your symptoms make you a prime candidate for surgery...maybe you can schedule it where you afford to take 3-4 months off (winter time) because that is what it will take...everyone I have talked to that had the surgery said the recovery sucks (like I mentioned in an earlier post) but they also all said it was worth it as they have no pain now and can do whatever they want.

I am in week six of my surgery/recovery (I go to PT 3 times a week) and have a long way to go but I am starting to see a light (small) at the end of the tunnel...