If we do I have a question about shoulder surgery.

Thank you.

BoneDoc is.

Not a Doc, but I've had labrum cartilage repair done on both my shoulders.

What ever you have done request or buy something like Breg Polar Care to help with recovery.

Back at the end of January I was doing some incline dumbbell presses. Heard a pop and felt some pain in my right shoulder. Went to an orthopedic urgent care and got a steroid shot and took a couple days off. Feels a little weaker than the left shoulder. Still has some pain more a dull achiness than sharp pain. Have a little “hitch my giddy up”as well.

Went back and had an MRI done. Full thickness tear in one of the four muscles/tendons that comprise the shoulder cuff. It is the second one from the front. They got me signed up for surgery.

Yesterday I was shooting with an acquaintance of mine. He was an orthopedic surgeon for 34 years and retired last year. He said since it is not really painful and that I can move my shoulder including being able to raise my arm above my head he would hold off until it hurt too bad to that or I can’t move my arm as much anymore. He said he always used pain and lack of motion as his indicators for surgery.

My wife had it done a couple years ago she said she only got it after she couldn’t raise her arm up above her shoulder.

I know once the knife is done it is done and shoulder surgery is a painful SOB. I am having second thoughts now are the surgery.

I was told I needed replacements 5 years ago. I decided to cut down on overhead work and that has helped immensely. Forces me to turn down a lot of plumbing jobs though. At 64, 52 of it was enough to say slow down!!

I'm having rotator cuff shoulder surgery on the 29th of this month. Doctor said it was a very bad tear and with PT, said it could take 4-6 months recovery. I hurt it in a fall on the ice late January and took this long to get X-rays, CT scan and approval. I can't raise my arm higher than my waist. The doctor wanted an MRI but I told him they would have to knock me out in order to get in that tube.

Based on what your shooting buddy said, do you think you should cancel the surgery? I know when I had mine, the pain was getting pretty extreme when I put my shirt or jacket on, I couldn't reach behind my back, nor could I easily put my hands above my head. If you're not to that point, maybe putting it off would be worth it. I will say my labrum surgery went well and I'm still in good shape today. My surgery was ten years ago.

FYI, MRI must be done with dye to fully see what's going on in there.

I had a rotator cuff repair on my left shoulder. I'm better than before with zero limitations.

I would think it will help more than hinder.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:
What ever you have done request or buy something like Breg Polar Care to help with recovery.

Agree with that 100% we sell/rent them frequently your insurance to cover it, provided you get a script from the egotist doing the surgury.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: downtownv,

Full length thickness tear? Does this mean you tore it completely through and it detached?

If not - I would opt for some PT vs. surgery and see if that is successful. The surgeons aren't going anywhere if PT and rest are not successful.

(I have had a full subacromial recision and cuff repair as well as some minor tears that healed with some rest and post-rehab therapy)

I now work my rotators like an actual muscle group 3x weekly. (vs. the token stretching you see some people doing pre-workout)

Good luck either way and hopefully you can get back in the gym in the coming months.

Thanks for all the info. It is a full tear of the second “head” from the front. I am back to the gym. Was the week after it happened. I have no trouble drawing and holding/firing my duty gun or anything else for that matter. No problem handcuffing. No problem getting my around my back or up. Just a little twitch of pain once in a while. Otherwise just a dull ache. Other days nothing. I noticed that shoulder is a little weaker. It was supposed to be 100% it is between 86-94%. If that makes sense.

I do have bone spurs and some bursitis for by the doc due to many years of lifting heavy and being an offensive lineman. So that is an ongoing issue but, the doc told me surgery to take care of the spurs would probably cause more harm than good. Tend to believe him on that one.

I tore both labrums. One was worse than the other. My ortho is one of the best in this state. He did stem cell injection in both then did bankart repair on the bad one (slap tear on the other). Surgery wise, the most painful thing was listening to the nurses cackle before they put me under. Some pain afterwards but that’s a by person basis. I can handle a lot of pain as I lift weights a lot and used to being sore. Dr. Prescribes pain meds, some kind of opioid, don’t even remember the name, it’s the most popular one. They all advised me to take them on the interval or I’d be in bad pain. I hated the way they made me feel and tossed them after 36 hours, into the trash and just dealt with it. The harness definitely sucked. It’s not a damn sling it’s a harness. “Sleep in a recliner until the harness comes off” That shit didn’t work for me either. I just boxed myself in, in the bed with pillows. Made a pillow cage.

PT, is the main thing after shoulder surgery. First you need a top ortho who is extremely reputable. PT I pushed my ass off. I was the one saying let’s do one more. I was as militant in PT as you could be, to the point my PT I was going to, closed that location, so I pivoted to another one close by and was doing full stacks of weight on their cable machines and that PT doctor was yammering on and I quit going. His program was designed for 18-80 year olds who don’t work out or exercise and was just trying to milk $ out of me. I took over my own PT at my home gym and remained extremely diligent. I mean once they teach you what you need to be doing, you can do it all yourself if you have some sense and discipline. If you don’t have the self discipline then go to PT until they tell you you’re good.

I did surgery in June, and I was 90+% by Christmas. I had to get my ortho to sign off for me quitting PT and did the lb test in his office and my shoulder that had surgery was stronger than the one that hadn’t had surgery. But I worked my ass off for that. Making sure to get a gram of protein per body lb per day, lots of chicken and beef broth. My ortho was pissed and said I had surpassed him as he had the same exact surgery before me by a few months and was still a mile ahead of him in his own PT. Gave the stem cell injection a good 9 months on the other shoulder and it took. I just have to be careful on bicep curls by not going as heavy as I used to, same on shoulder presses. It can be done as I’m on the other side of it now. It’s hard to describe. I will always be able to tell the shoulder that had surgery on it if I really try. But it’s like 98-99%. PT like your life depends on it and you really need to eat clean, take vitamins, all in.

You can do it and you’ll be fine. Just be prepared for PT after and get in the right frame of mind for it and have a positive attitude. I was in the same situation, himming and hawing if I should do it. Glad I did. My biceps would hurt bad prior, no pain now. Wall walks, bands, and a stick behind your back to get your mobility back are keys. You’ll want to prepare prior and have a tens machine at your disposal, and either an ice machine, or that refreeze ice. I iced the shoulder all the time, every day, bought myself a tens machine and used it every single night for 6 months, many times doing both at the same time. In PT they’d do for 15 minutes. At night I’d do it again on my own. I was lifting weights again at the gym 6-8 weeks after surgery.

Granted each injury is different, I have perspective on putting off surgery for a shoulder injury. I dislocated my shoulder several times in the 90s and was told I needed surgery, but if it wasn’t painful or at least was bearable I could hold off.

What that hold off translated to for me was 20 years of working around a bad shoulder. It mostly didn’t stop me from doing anything, it was just prone to injury and eventually gave out. When it went out it was excruciating and I lost about 50% range of motion. I ended up having 12 (calcium) screws put in, bone spurs shaved off, one area tightened, one loosened up, etc. Additionally about a year later I had a bursa removed from the shoulder area as it was just permanently inflamed. After spending a lot of time in ortho I got the impression that while I healed up after every injury things didn’t always heal up right.

Now 3 years later I have zero pain, full range of motion, and a whole bunch other random mid and lower back pain I used to get is gone as well.

In the 90s I would have had to have open surgery and metal hardware, now it’s all arthroscopic and the screws they used on me just get absorbed. So, in a way I’m glad I waited but I spent a lot of years in minor-moderate pain all just waiting for it to blow up.

As others have said- the PT is paramount. It’s not just once-twice a week, if you want range of motion and strength you’ll be doing it every day. It sucks at first, but after awhile it just becomes routine. Personally I had a harder time pacing it and not over-doing it than just doing it.