It's the Labrum, Stupid!

Wednesday, August 20;

It's not exactly the news that I was expecting this morning. I've had my mind on work, Denver and the Democratic National Convention. I was getting ready this morning, and I heard my phone ringing. It was my doctor's office. My doctor had had a chance to take a look at the MRI scans. To quote the nurse, my "labrum's not right."

I asked her to expand on that statement. Basically, my labrum which is cartilage that helps hold the ball of the shoulder in the socket was not made correctly. You can all rest assured that it wasn't Crossfit that messed up my shoulder. It was my mother! I guess it's been misshaped since birth (I don't know that for sure, but it makes me feel better to say that).

When the labrum is working properly it decreases in size, like air being let out of a balloon. My shoulder actually increases, which is why my shoulder pops out of socket occasionally. Now this is a pretty basic description, and I'm not sure if this is 100% correct. It sounds good to me for now. I asked what sort of treatment is usually used for this. It seems that surgery will be in my near future.

I have an appointment with my doctor next Friday to discuss the problem further and to figure out the next steps. It feels good to know what the problem is. I've always had strange problems with my shoulder. I dislocated it when I was in high school, and even when I was young it's been hard for me to put my hand behind my head while I was laying down. I've always described it as a "creepy" feeling. I guess now I know why. VALIDATION!!!!

Knowing that a few extra workouts wouldn't hurt my shoulder anymore, I went to a pretty hard core Crossfit affiliate in Denver and represented CFOT proudly. I'll tell you more about the workout in my next post, and I'll tell you about some serious female firebreathers. Incredible!