I've seen a lot of friends and family members almost immediately get offered surgery for shoulder pain. It's just often the default for people that do surgeries for a living.
I also had a pretty painful shoulder issue at one point, where the pain just wasn't subsiding for months. I tried massages and acupuncture as I didn't want to do surgery, but it wasn't helping at all. The thing that fixed it for me was just really focusing on doing pull-ups. I couldn't do them at all when I started, so I began with dead hangs and scapular pull-ups, eventually progressing to regular pull-ups, and then training with a "grease-the-groove" method once I could get a few per set. I stopped the training schedule once I was getting in around 17 pull-ups per set, and now just do 6 sets of about 7-8 pullups 3x per week spaced throughout the day. I'll also do some shoulder mobility drills [1].
Whenever I get lazy about keeping up with them inevitably discomfort will start arising again, but it goes away once I get back to strengthening.
I have hip impingement, I played sports and got a labral tear in one of my hips. My hip would get sore and painful after a lot of activity. I've seen a top surgeon in the US. After we just met, he looked at the MRI(yes there was a small labral tear there) and said he can have me on an operating table in 2 weeks.
I was shocked, because the recovery absolutely sucks. So, I got 2nd and 3rd opinion.
3rd opinion was a doc with 20+ years of experience. Asked me if I plan on going pro in any sports, I said no, he said the surgery is not worth it. I did some PT and barely have issues with that hip.
Then, Obama admin created a website to see what gifts($) physicians accept. The 1st surgeon had accepted six figures+ from stryker. The older doc? 0.
There is no money in PT for a surgeon. I would thread lightly with popular and young surgeons.
Personally I've always appreciated talking to nurses I know.
The respectable ones know they aren't doctors, but they've seen a lot more recoveries and cases where minimal intervention was required. As some people have said some surgeons like to cut people up.
I had issues with my shoulder for years. Tried PT as well as pull/push-ups but doing that made the pain worse (if I wasn't doing any exercises involving the shoulder it was "fine")…
same here. I started doing yoga and rock climbing, and it stretched everything out, and strengthened all the muscles around it. I rarely have an issue now.
in the end I went with the surgery and now I'm in recovery. Sadly 4-5 years of trying lots of PT/streaching/pull-ups/push-ups/whatnot didn't help and only made things worse :(
On the flip side, when I had rotator cuff issues, the surgeon recommended months of physiotherapy before resorting to the knife. And it worked. And by weight training regularly with a focus on correct shoulder movement, the pain stays away.
It really seems like if you, as a patient, go looking for a quick fix, that’s what you’ll be offered. And if you educate yourself a bit and then go t for the best fix for you, you usually get they.
Physical therapy is very often under recommended in the US under the belief that insurance won’t cover it. They might. And, for anyone reading, you don’t even need a referral for the first 30 days in some states. Physical therapy is for more than just hip replacements and car accident trauma. Like regular therapy, a lot of “normal” people can benefit from it. It’s also not just stretching.
As somebody in the US who had to do 2 months of PT before I could even get an MRI of an injury, this is both surprising, and yet also not, to hear.
I broadly agree though; about a decade ago I had the standard office worker low back pain problems which cleared right up after doing squats multiple times a week. Of course a decade later I managed to blow out a disc at the gym, which I still work through as I write this today, but well worth the risk in the long run. Even with that long experience of strength training, the PT was worth it even if it didn’t fix my problem entirely. It added some variety and pointed out some details I had overlooked to improve my shoulder health.
Garden variety inflammation with some minor tearing, exacerbated by weakness/instability.
Strengthening with PT kept the joint stable enough to stop rubbing and allow the inflammation to clear.
And as long as I stick to a regular gym routine that includes rotator cuff work, it doesn’t recur (and did the few times I lapsed).
But absolutely, PT doesn’t fix everything. Bit for a lot of things, it’s worth trying - but it might also means a lifetime of altered habits to keep whatever injury/problem from recurring.
I also had a pretty painful shoulder issue at one point, where the pain just wasn't subsiding for months. I tried massages and acupuncture as I didn't want to do surgery, but it wasn't helping at all. The thing that fixed it for me was just really focusing on doing pull-ups. I couldn't do them at all when I started, so I began with dead hangs and scapular pull-ups, eventually progressing to regular pull-ups, and then training with a "grease-the-groove" method once I could get a few per set. I stopped the training schedule once I was getting in around 17 pull-ups per set, and now just do 6 sets of about 7-8 pullups 3x per week spaced throughout the day. I'll also do some shoulder mobility drills [1].
Whenever I get lazy about keeping up with them inevitably discomfort will start arising again, but it goes away once I get back to strengthening.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP8YmmRMz6I