Rotator Cuff Surgery.....ARGH!!!

[3dots]

Got the results back from my MRI yesterday and have "full thickness" tears of two of the four muscle tendons and a partial tear of the upper bicep tendon and moderate joint atrophy. No wonder my shoulder hurts all the time and feels wobbly. Trying to gets scheduled up for surgery and get it taken care of.

Any you guys had this surgery? Recovery time? Pain? Did it work?

 

[arjay]

I'm avoiding it...Good luck!

 

[Ranger514]

Had my right shoulder done in 2008. The recovery was painful for the first month, and took about four months of physical therapy for a complete recovery. I was glad I had it done. The key to full recovery is sticking with the physical therapy regime. It's tough, but you can do it. I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

 

[ATF]

I understand Manny Pacquiao has to have surgery for this which he sustained in training before his fight and is going to be fined for not revealing it before fighting that clown who fights like a woman.

 

[ColbyBruce]

I had surgery 01/03/14 on my left shoulder

Mine was called a S.L.A.P. repair, "Shoulder, Labrum, Anterior & Posterior". The surgery was no big deal, I slept right through it. It is outpatient surgery, mine was 3.5 miles from home. I later went for Physical Terrorpy twice a week at the same complex.

My shoulder was taped to my body for ten days, the arm was in a sling. I was given about a dozen truly powerful pain pills to take the first few days, and really had no pain to speak of during that time. Don't wash the pain pills down with a Foster's...maybe not with other brands of beer either. After that period, I did experience pain but laid off the pills. Pills of lesser strength did not help much with the pain, I just didn't care. So I stopped taking them.

Physical therapy brings on more pain, but is necessary. It is the key to returning to your former self. Go to P.T. religiously, do your exercises at home, don't do anything stupid to damage the arm. Your age and health will affect your recovery.

Buy a few shirts that are a size bigger, they are easier to put on and get off. Practice putting your socks on with one hand. You likely will not sleep well, some folks sleep in their recliner chairs. Buy a few small pillows to use to support your arm when you sit or lay down. Buy a few hand towels and a pair or two of tube socks, roll the towels up and stuff them in the socks and place these between your body and arm to ease the tension on your shoulder when you are up, and later when you exercise with the various strength rubber tubing the physical therapist will give you.

Know that success will not come overnight but gradually. My range of motion has fully returned but the strength in my left arm is best below shoulder height.

I am 57 years old, non-smoker, hardly drink alcohol, maybe 20# overweight, if this info helps you.

I work for the USPS and was out for 10.5 months. Good luck to you.

 

[3dots]

Thanks fellas. Really sounds like an involved recovery! I'm dreading this really bad and don't want to do it but the surgeon said If I don't do it the shoulder and arm will become worse and basically useless over the years.

 

[Bat Guano]

Both sides. Not my idea of fun, but worth it. Do whatever the physical terrorist tells you.

Do a search. Lots here have had it done and "shared their feelings" about it.

Good luck.

 

[357larry]

I had the same problems as you except I had a complete tear of the large bicep. Did surgery a little over a year ago, they fixed the rotator cuff but the bicep was not repairable. So now I have a funky looking arm with the bicep balled up just above the elbow. I lost a lot of strength in that arm but it's getting better. Doc told me to be careful with the arm because if I tear the small bicep I'm in real trouble.

Recovery wasn't too bad. Had a lot of pain for about 4 days. They gave me oxycodone for it. Stuff doesn't work for me. I only missed 3 days of work.

 

[Brian41]

It was suggested I have that surgery years ago. Instead I babied my shoulder a long time and did physical therapy for it too. Later I slowly worked up shoulder presses with weights and built up the muscles around. I guess I was lucked as that's been thirty years ago and still doing fine.
Maybe mine was simply a misdiagnosis and what I did helped. I do believe in having a second diagnosis in many cases as the first could
be dead wrong.
Good luck with whatever you do.

 

[Ranger514]

It's true that minor tears can repair themselves, but if you have major tears and contributing factors like bone spurs or calcium buildup, it won't heal itself. When I got out of surgery, I could barely raise my right hand above waist level for about a week. The PT brought it back. Make sure you do the daily exercises. Part of my personal initiative included exercising the right arm with my Ruger Vaquero for a weight. It also gave me the opportunity to use my left arm and hand, which made me more proficient in handling a handgun left handed. See, there's a bright side to having the surgery done. Best wishes for your full recovery.

 

[rwsmith]

Mine healed with therapy.....

Mine healed with therapy, but it was extremely painful. There are some things that can make a grown man cry and that's one of them.

I have an unfortunate friend that was on crutches his whole life, but was a very active guy, just for example, we played tennis a lot and he did well (using one crutch). To make a long story short his shoulders are shot and getting older he has had several falls that tore his left rotator cuff. He had surgery but the surgeon said that he didn't realize how bad the damage was until he got in and had to piece things back together and probably won't be able to do surgery on it again.

Now he has real problems and is often on oxycodone.

 

[3dots]

Geez, this all sounds horrible. I don't like being drugged and I'm a puss when it comes to pain. Guess I'll have to just "bite the bullet" as they say.

 

[LVSteve]

My late wife had shoulder surgery in the 2000s. Her big issue was that she couldn't do her hair. You may guess who picked up that chore.

It led to a gag in the family:

"Here she comes! Dress by Chanel; shoes by Jimmy Choo; jewelry by Tiffany; hair by Steve???"

 

[Gamecock]

I tore a rotator 18 months ago. Doc and therapist told me it wouldn't heal without surgery.

I live alone - with nobody else. No way I could live for a month plus with my arm slinged up. So I refused surgery. At 18 months, I'm still a little weak on external rotations, but, otherwise, healed. I'm a gym rat, and did far more exercise than even the therapist recommended.

I think the main thing surgery will provide is speed of recovery.

'"full thickness" tears of two of the four muscle tendons and a partial tear of the upper bicep tendon and moderate joint atrophy'

Sounds worse than what I had. If you live with other people who can help you through, then surgery is best approach.

My approach was to tell the doc, "Let me see what I can do on my own." He said, "Fine. You'll be back." He was wrong.

The recovery was a lot like childhood. Little advancements were a BFD. Like when, after two months, I was able to brush my hair with my left hand.

Whether you have surgery or not, it is important you work with a therapist for a few weeks (I did for 6 weeks). A physical therapist will know exactly what exercises you should do. Your ortho doc should be able to recommend one.

 

[Ranger514]

I was 57 when I had the surgery. The first couple of weeks were the worst. The pain subsided rapidly after that. PT is a character builder. It was a drag, but I pushed myself, and the surgeon was very happy with the speed of my recovery. I'm glad I had the procedure. Now, if I could just get my lower back feeling as well as my shoulder

 

[kantuck]

I'm 71, active male and former college athlete that damaged both shoulders and self healed several times on both sides since late 1950's. Latest was a full tear and surgery is the only answer(above was said it speeds up recovery-once a full tear it will not grow back together so I'm uncertain what that means?) unless you have too much damage for a repair-which can happen. Some get artificial joint too but mine was OK just nothing to hold it or do the work as mucscles all detached! How much/what is torn separates people out a great deal. My surgery was 12/19/14 and I went to PT(in person) twice a week for right on 4 months. I saw many partial tears leave PT while I'm still at it. Those 4 months of twice a day regimen got me my ROM back but now I'm after strength. The PT can be easily done at home but needs to be incremental until a PT says your on your own to continue towards strength. I "went in" for the hands on manipulation that enables ROM to come around with the other stuff.
It IS! the hardest joint rehab out there- somewhat worse than ACL the PT's say.
PM me if you want to talk on the phone about sugery and rehab. I can also say that it matters a lot as to if a person knows how to exercise-I see many people making what I'll call feeble attempts and doing things so incorrectly it will hurt them if not caught by the PT's. Doc says roughly 12 months to anything near normal strength. That may never be pain free or really "normal" for me with full tear.
The cuff sugery you read about for msny baseball players etc., is partial and full recoveries are common. In my case it was barely repairable. I got the "hardware" too & most partials are a stitch job not titanium screws with a magic cord wound around the screws-my 4 screws are in a square pattern with cord like an X inside the sq and also around the square too. that's mine for the duration.
I did oxycontin 24/7 for about 4-5 days then to sleep only for over a month. Slept in recliner only for about 9-10 weeks-this said by a guy that could sleep on the ground in the service! I'm getting there & it's not fun! I could say more...

 

[Straightshooter2]

I had right shoulder problems for a long time but I finished it off lifting a bucket of water in Ireland in July, 2008 (don't ask). I lasted until October when my wife rolled over on my shoulder one night and I woke up screaming. Yes, the surgery and PT are painful and my joke is that during physical therapy I confessed to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, being on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas in 1963 and told them where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. We had one of the powered recliners for my mother and I slept in it for quite a while. It was probably two years before I could sleep on that shoulder but the Dr. had to do a subacromial decompression along with repairing the rotator cuff. That's where they have to remove bone/calcium deposits from the underside of the bone over the shoulder joint and most likely why mine was so painful. The best advice I can give is to tell you do your PT and listen to your therapist.

CW

 

[kantuck]

I witnessed any number of surgery PT people that only did PT as an in house, time or two per week event. To gain ROM from much of a tear takes far more effort. When in my sling for two months plus I was often told-"oh, you had the surgery too"? and they would go on to say they didn't "fool with the sling" or bother with PT-go figure...

 

[Gamecock]

Latest was a full tear and surgery is the only answer(above was said it speeds up recovery-once a full tear it will not grow back together so I'm uncertain what that means?)

A life lesson I learned 40 years ago: Never ask a surgeon if you need surgery. OF COURSE YOU DO!

I was told I needed surgery. I didn't. I have a friend at the gym who was told he had to have surgery. He rehabbed as I did, and fully recovered in 18 months. I find it remarkable that he and I needed the same 18 months.

The physiology is unknown. My theory is other muscles morph to cover the problem. "A full tear it will not grow back." That may be true, but I don't think that reflects the reality of what is possible.

 

[Highhawk1948]

I have torn both of my rotor cuffs in the past. My left shoulder twice. Out of the three tears I only had one surgery. The others were healed with physical therapy and rest. The surgery when we'll and was the easiest of the orthopedic surgeries I have had. Just keep it iced. I had to sleep sitting up for about a week. I did use pain pills. The physical therapy was more painful then the operation. My wife is in the physical theropy of a complete tear in here right shoulder. She seems to experience more pain than I did. Her therapy is going well. We need to learn to land on our feet when we are buck of a horse!!