But that would also be the case if he had elected to have surgery. My resident orthopaedic surgeon told me that there are a whole slew of factors: size, nature and location of the tear, etc. that go into that decision, and that surgery is not always the best option.It's great he doesn't need surgery but a labrum isn't going to heal on it's own. This will be a pain management thing for the rest of his career right?