On 4/29 this year I had surgery on my rotator. They had to put 5 anchors in to connect muscle and tendons. I have been in Physical Therapy since the second week of May. While my range of movement is now 90%, I still can't lift anything above shoulder height that weighs more than 2lbs. The doctor is saying it will take until January/February until I can function normally. It is very frustrating.
For those of you that have had similar surgery, how long did it take you to get back to normal?

I had a relatively major rotator cuff repair at 44. The doc (who’d been doing nothing but shoulders for the last twenty years at that point) said it was one of the handful of worst shoulder injuries he’d seen, but that I’d heal quickly as I was young. He was right.

It wasn’t a lot of fun at first, but at five months I was mostly back to 100% at work on the ranch. At six months I did trapeze while on vacation as it looked like fun.

Twelve years later I don’t heal nearly as quickly, and have become more careful…

Major surgery (replaced biggest tendon with pig intestine) back in 2002. Long time in PT. Used to be able to hit home plate from dead center field and was a pitcher. Today can't throw overhand 30 feet and can't shoot a basketball one handed from foul line. Range of motion is 100 percent but since muscle was cut to access rotator cuff, never got the strength back. Hope yours heals better.

Be patient it takes time. My surgery was 2/18/21,put 4 anchors, debride all the junk and resect the AC joint.3 months of PT and I'm still only about 90%. It's tough to reach overhead with anything that weighs more then 10lbs. But it's 100% better than before the surgery.
Good luck to you.

It's really going to depend on age and overall health.

I had rotator cuff surgery at 16 back when I played HS football (i.e. very fit). I was setting personal records in bench press in 5 months, and was right there on shoulder press too.

Fast forward to my current age and fatness. I dislocated my shoulder last Thanksgiving, and entered into physical therapy at a sports medicine place (i.e. higher goals than most PT places). It was April before I was even allowed to bench press girl sized dumbbells. I now have full range of motion, but bench press and shoulder press are 60% of what they were prior to dislocation. I continue to slowly regain strength, but it's slower than I would have ever dreamed.

I had my right side done in my late 40's, in August. I missed out on all of hunting season that year. It was 6 months before I could use a shotgun and return to semi normal life. You have to do all the PT and follow their orders. It's worth the wait. It takes a long time to recover and restore most of what you had.

A year ago in September, I dislocated my right (same) shoulder. I was scared big time I'd re-injured the rotor cuff. Thankfully I didn't. But that whole shoulder area will never be the same, and never be as strong. Be careful. Give it time. My best to you.

Mostly functional - six months.

Normal (assuming you will get back there) - One year.

If it gets back sooner that's great, but don't expect it.

Thanks guys, It is nice to hear how you healed time wise. I'm 68, and before the surgery the doctor had said it would be a long recovery and just be patient.
I see so many projects that need my attention and I still can't do them. I have a 23 year old son that is a mechanic and lives at home and I depend on him for a lot of things.

63 when I had my surgery. Mine was torn, I could not lift my arm up more than maybe thirty degrees from straight down. Approximately three months so PT post surgery and I had probably most but not all of the range in movement that I had before the injury. About three years later I suffered a partial bicep tendon tear but I didn’t have surgery on that.

Biggest thing is that I have some strength loss when my arm is straight up, nothing I cannot deal with though. Depending what I’m doing there is some pain that is bicep tendon/muscle related.

Two things that stand out. The nerve blocker that they used during surgery takes at least twelve hours before it starts to wear off. Pretty unnerving (no pun intended) until you can move a finger literally a fraction of an inch and see it respond.

Post operative I was out of the sling two and a half weeks later. So there was progress.

Second, during PT at some point if you are like me you will get frustrated with your perceived progress. At one point I went in for a session with the thought that afternoon that I would sell off my bikes and have someone convert my four speed Pontiac to an automatic never figuring that I would be able to ride again or aggressively shift that car.

At that point my therapist said “Give me two weeks, you will see a difference”, she was right. At the three month point I was discharged from PT, the only instructions were no motorcycle riding or handgun Ning for one more month. I complied with those instructions.

Best of luck to you.

It took 18 months for me to get to "little discomfort" and 75% use. That was 10 years ago. Never got back to bullseye form. Too much baseball and tennis long ago. I can't throw across the infield now.

I had surgery July 26.
Left shoulder Torn Labrum (3 anchors to reattach) torn and detached bicep tendon (3” incision so they could go in get ahold of it as it fell down inside my arm) reattached that.
Removed 1/2” off my collar bone & repaired the tear in my rotator cuff.

Due to the amount of scar tissue he found when he went in I was ordered to start Physical Therapy “passive range of motion” the day after surgery. I was pissed bouncing around in a car just after the nerve block wore off but I get it now. Wasn’t happy at the time. 7weeks of passive ROM and the last two weeks have been Active ROM.
Still no weights, no resistance training.
My surgeon is a fellow gym rat so we chat a lot and he was very clear about not fucking up his work by doing something stupid. His words…. I like him for that.
I have returned to the prison after 30 days on limited duty as we’re 65 officers short and they’re killing the staff with mandated overtime.
So I sit on suicide watches (one of my least favorite things to do) so at least one officer gets to go home .
But in 80 days I’ll be off the limited duty and back on full duty.
Hope it’s all healed up by then, I’m down to 10 months to go until I retire.
Anxious to get back in the weight room.
I had surgery on my right shoulder 5 yrs ago.
Stopped the heavy one rep lifts.
While it didn’t feel as strong as before there was no pain after 4 month.
This one is worse than my right shoulder as I waited too long dealing with ruptured disks and tendon tears in my elbow.
Guess the warranty is gone off ! LoL



Being released from recovery

I've had both shoulders done, twice each. Plus a total replacement on the right side.

I hit physical therapy hard. It took over a year but I got most everything back.

I am also in the process. 8/19 was my surgery date. Also started therapy day after surgery. Sucks. Worst was at about 10 days for a week. Sling comes off at 6 weeks with no lifting for a long time. I am told 8 weeks will be spent gently strengthening all muscles except the ones they worked on. Then I can start strength training on my bicep. I am told 5-6 months for full recovery.

Definitely sucks wearing a sling on your dominant arm and learning how to wipe your ass with your left hand.

I had my monthly visit with the surgeon today. He is very happy with my range of motion. He told me to start lifting some heavier weights, but only if it feels right. Moved the visits to 6 weeks apart now.

Had two of them, do the physical therapy, no matter how much it hurts. Feeling better at 6 months, at 1 year everything was beck to normal.

Bankart surgery in June of 2019. I was lifting weights 6 weeks later and back to full physical fitness in 6 months, lifting back to where I was prior to surgery.

It has much to do with PT as it does what you eat, and most importantly, what kind of shape were you in prior to surgery. I pushed hard in PT and was in peak performance prior to surgery. But it’s different for everyone. Genes, health, age, diet, PT, etc.