Hello Dr.,

Thank you for answering my question. I'm a 29 yr. old male, who has had a total of 4 surgeries on his L. shoulder. The first was a subacromial decompression, the second was a labrum repair, as was the next, and the most recent was for adhesive capsulitis that had developed following the previous procedure.

I am over 3 years removed from my last surgery, but was semi-recently stretching my arms over head and felt a painful sensation in my L. shoulder, which has led to intermittent pain at the back of it, a feeling of general looseness in it, as well as bicep pain. My shoulder no longer seems to be in its normal upright position, but instead depressed, with my whole left arm feeling as though it's hanging off of my body. This has affected my walking gait and caused me to develop a little bursitis on the outside of my left hip. (This happened when I previously had labrum tears in my shoulder.)

I have been seeing Dr. Warner at Mass General, and he sent me for a CT arthrogram, which showed a labrum tear, but no instability. Then, he recommended I have a bicep tenodesis (BT) based on my shoulder pain, bicep pain, and hist. of shoulder probs.

I know that a BT should relieve the pain in my shoulder and bicep, but honestly, while this pain is certainly bothersome, it's something I could most likely put up with for a while longer. I'm more concerned about the feeling of looseness/hanging in my shoulder whereas it disturbs my gait, thanks to my own peculiar anatomy. I cannot for the life of me understand what could be causing this looseness/hanging other than decreased stability in my shoulder caused by the tear. It doesn't seem like having a BT will increase my shoulder's stability, though, but instead, may actually decrease it further...

So, here's the big question: is performing a BT accompanied with a labrum repair something surgeons can/would do? I would simply ask Dr. Warner about this, but I don't want him to think I have fibromyalgia or something. From what I've been able to discern over the years, a disturbed gait and hip pain are not typically associated with a labrum tear in your shoulder.

Thank you again,
Sincerely,
Jeffrey