Just a word to the wise, surgery is the LAST option.
What i am saying is just that in most cases for most things 'try' and avoid surgery.
Also on a sidenote that gritlist link in your signature is awesome... got me scheming like a mad thing on a tick list.
I had two partial SLAP tears repaired, two rotator cuff tears, my bicep tendon cut and reattached and a micro-fracture of the humerus (where holes were drilled in it to allow new bone to grow over pitted area - I think that's what happens).