Shoulder surgery advice

[TnWalker]

I’ve had two on the same shoulder one was to fix the problem and one to break lose the scar tissue because I didn’t follow at home PT with my bands ( I went to PT every day like I was supposed to , thought that was enough ) . Please do what they tell you to , you don’t want them to go back in and break the scar tissue lose . That one hurt me twice as much as the first one did . Hang in there , it will get better .

Ouch!!! Thank you for the warning!!

 

[GreveHaller]

I’ve had two on the same shoulder one was to fix the problem and one to break lose the scar tissue because I didn’t follow at home PT with my bands ( I went to PT every day like I was supposed to , thought that was enough ) . Please do what they tell you to , you don’t want them to go back in and break the scar tissue lose . That one hurt me twice as much as the first one did . Hang in there , it will get better .

Same for me but my second wasn’t from lack of me doing PT. The second was worse cause I knew what I’d be going thru.

 

[0nelilreb]

Same for me but my second wasn’t from lack of me doing PT. The second was worse cause I knew what I’d be going thru.

Man my second one was so bad . My surgeon warned me about it and told me what would happen if I cheated on my PT . He didn’t lie . Lol

 

[Carl Pickens]

Day 1:
So I'm not sure if a chronicle of my journey would be helpful to others who may have to undergo rotator cuff surgery. I don't mind doing it, but I don't want to bore folks around here either.

Day one after surgery consisted of increasing pain as the nerve block wore off. I remained in my sling all day and used the cold therapy machine on and off throughout the day. The pain leveled off as a dull ache, not throbbing pain, but constantly there.

I was able to take a couple of naps, which was helpful, but sleep through the night was a little more difficult last night.

Discomfort level: 4

What type of shoulder pain/issues were you having prior to being diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff? I’m having intermittent, but at times somewhat severe pain in my right shoulder

 

[Danl]

@TnWalker , if you don't mind, continue to post what you can and when you can about your recovery. My son is scheduled to have rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder in early November. Your posts and those of others in this thread may give him some help on how to prepare and what to expect. TIA!

 

[MEDVOL]

If you don't me asking, where did you have your surgery performed? What practice?

 

[TnWalker]

I didn't want to bore you guys with the details of my recovery, but I will gladly share more in hopes it will help others later.

I think my problems began 25 years ago playing softball. I distinctly remember a sharp pain in my shoulder once when I threw a ball in from left center. From them on, my arm strength was never the same. Fast forward 20 years, I began playing pickleball about 3 years ago. I love it and call it "tennis for old people". It's easy to get decent at it and it's a really good community to be a part of.

Over the past year, the pain has been growing in my shoulder. It started with overhead smashes in pickleball - periodically they would cause a sharp pain for me. It gradually moved into my daily life, where it became painful for me to lift a gallon of milk out of the refrigerator with my right arm. Or to carry a ladder. My strength had just left me. When the quarantine hit, I decided to take a few weeks off of pickleball to let my shoulder heal. Two months later, it was still painful and I realized it didn't just need rest. About two months ago, I couldn't pull the lawnmower cord with my right arm.

I went to the Center for Sports Medicine in Chattanooga and they did an X-ray, where they determined that I had a bone spur on my shoulder. They scheduled me for an MRI, to see if the tendon was damaged. The MRI revealed a small tear in my rotator cuff and a possible tear of the bicep tendon, although this proved not to be the case. My surgeon, Chad Smalley, said that my need for surgery was not urgent, but that every month counted. Evidently a small tear becomes a big tear if you don't take care of it. And a big tear is more difficult to repair and recover from than a small tear.

I'm super impressed with Dr Smalley, both from a technical perspective and from a bedside manner perspective, and would certainly recommend him to anyone. Some of the nurses said that's who they would choose for their surgery. Evidently people come from all over for him to do their surgery. He's good.

Days 3-5:
In hindsight, day two after my surgery was probably the most severe pain I experienced, and it was only a 4 out of 10 in my opinion. By the evening of day 3, my pain started subsiding to about a 2 or 3.

Granted, I have continued to take painkillers as prescribed, but I'm starting to wean myself off of those as well. I'm sure it would have been worse, had I not had the painkillers. Also, great relief has been provided by the cold therapy machine that I rented. It is $250 for the month, but does not require changing out of water or ice. You simply strap the pack on your shoulder and turn on the machine and it is programmed for 30 minutes on 30 minutes off. It's really quite remarkable.

Per the recommendations on here, I'm continuing to do minor physical therapy at home until I go back in a couple of days. My understanding is that all physical therapy will be passive for the first 6 weeks. After that, I will begin working towards regaining strength.

Of course, I have a very limited shoulder movement right now, but I'm hopeful that will begin returning during my therapy. I think I have benefited from only having a small tear. Had it been larger, and had the bicep tendon been involved, I believe recovery would have been more painful and more difficult. As it stands, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. I'm in day five, and my pain level is probably 1 to 1.5. I'm spreading out the medication over more hours, and feel like I'll be off the heavy stuff in a couple of days. I will continue to take Ibuprofen for inflammation and use the cold therapy after physical therapy.

I'm happy to answer questions, and I will make an effort to provide at least weekly updates going forward.

 

[MEDVOL]

I've heard good things about Dr. Smalley. Best of luck on the remainder of your recovery!

 

[Zues1]

its great you started learning the wiping portion. I didnt. The most humiliating thing I done was after that first time on the pot. It dawned on me....I cant wipe. I had to look my wife dead in the eye and tell her "this is the most embarrassing thing I've ever asked but will you wipe me." Without missing a beat she just said "yep". I'm not sure I could do it for her.

You'll need help putting on pants and tying shoes as well.

Come on dude, if you're like most men you've done everything else back there
You could do it for her. Just saying.

 

[TnWalker]

Day 8:
Everything seems to be on a good trajectory. I had my first real PT yesterday and learned some things about the exercises that I've been doing.

When you're building muscle, no pain, no gain. When you're recovering from shoulder surgery, no pain is actually the goal. I have most likely been pushing myself a little too hard with my exercises. They said that my goal is to stretch my arm, but not induce pain while the sutures are holding my tendon in place. I don't want to undo anything that the doctor has done.

I've tweaked my shoulder twice in the last 2 days. The first time, I was lighting my gas grill (the electric igniter quit a long time ago). It had never done this before, but this time the flames jumped about 8 in above the grate, so my body involuntarily flinched and my muscles tensed up. My shoulder immediately started hurting, so I went inside, took ibuprofen, and iced it. This morning, while dozing in and out of sleep, I had a dream that caused me to flinch again, which again made my shoulder ache.

The good news is I've not taken a narcotic in 4 days, so soon I'll be using that hardening agent on the pills and throw them away. I have taken a couple of ibuprofen as needed to reduce inflammation. I assume that I need to wean off of those soon as well, because I think NSAIDs cause organ damage with extended use. One of you medical professionals can probably shed some light on that for me.

I think the next 5 weeks are more or less going to be a waiting game. The physical therapist doesn't want my shoulder muscle to fire so I'm just going to have to baby it for the time being even though I'm ready to get things moving again. I can definitely understand why people said that there is a danger in doing too much too soon, because my mind feels like I can do some things, but obviously my shoulder is not ready for it.

I appreciate all the well wishes. Again, let me know if you have any questions.

 

[GoDucks349]

I had rotator cuff surgery about 10 years ago. I had a great result!!! You sound like you are on the same track of recovery that I experienced. The key is PT and don't re-injure your shoulder. About the time you feel you can "do stuff" it's time to make sure you are ready. This is when you will be most likely to hurt yourself. Be careful, be strong and be smart.

 

[TheDeeble]

I’ve had two on the same shoulder one was to fix the problem and one to break lose the scar tissue because I didn’t follow at home PT with my bands ( I went to PT every day like I was supposed to , thought that was enough ) . Please do what they tell you to , you don’t want them to go back in and break the scar tissue lose . That one hurt me twice as much as the first one did . Hang in there , it will get better .

Same with me. I had a left torn labrum. Not rotator cuff. My shoulder froze up with scar tissue while I was in the sling though. My surgeon didn't want me to start pt for about 4-5 weeks after surgery. After about 3 weeks he had me doing some passive movements where I lifted my left arm up to shoulder height using my right arm, but it was already done at that point.

Started actual pt about 5 weeks after the 1st surgery, but I wasn't able to move it much or do what they wanted to. I ended up doing pool pt for a couple months. It improved a little but my range of motion sucked. I couldn't reach overhead. I couldn't reach out to my left side. I remember one visit where the doc was testing external rotation. I couldn't hold my arm bent and rotate it left. The doc manually pushed my arm outward in an external rotation and when he released it snapped back to right in font of me.

Ended up having a second surgery for shoulder manipulation after about 5-6 months. I noticed immediate drastic improvement after that. Went from very limited range of motion to full range of motion back to playing sports in about 3-4 months.

The second surgery wasn't painful for me. Everything was the same but instead of cutting they basically force your shoulder to move and break up the scar tissue. I could tell an immediate improvement in range of motion that very day. Doing pt after that is when I finally felt like I was making progress.

 

[TnWalker]

Thank you guys for the encouragement. Your stories help me too!!

 

[TnWalker]

Day 14:
Well, I'm 2 weeks in and things have progressed better than I could have imagined. About 4 days ago, I had to follow up with my surgeon and he said I could remove my sling for comfort around the house. That I just needed to be somewhat careful but the only damage that would be difficult to overcome would be protecting myself from a fall or something like that.

So, for 4 days I have worn the sling sporadically, but less than 3 hours a day. Last night, I got the best sleep I've had since before the surgery. I'm sleeping in my bed without a sling. I can wipe with my dominant hand, I'm able to drive, and I was even able to wash my hair with both hands this morning. I did not expect that this early.

I only take ibuprofen after physical therapy, and even then, I usually only take 400 mg (vs the 800 I was prescribed).

I'm definitely not there yet, as I can't open a heavy door with my right arm ...I can't lift a milk jug ... I can't reach up, etc. It's just that I have more of my movement back than I expected at this stage.

I think there are multiple factors to what is feeling like a fairly rapid recovery:

1) mine was a small tear, about 7 mm in length, with a bone spur
2) I had no bicep tendon or other damage in the area
3) while I'm no spring chicken, I'm a fairly healthy 50 years old. I stayed fairly active playing sports until the time of my surgery.
4) medicine continues to advance at a rapid rate, and is far ahead of where we were 10 years ago
5) I had a really good surgeon

I wouldn't want to give false hope to someone who is facing shoulder surgery, but I can say that it really hasn't been bad for me. My worst pain level was a 4/10 ... compared to hemorrhoidectomy recovery, which was MUCH more unpleasant (10/10 pain for me).

I am willing to entertain questions. I will also try to post until I feel I'm back to near 100%.

 

[TnWalker]

Day 31:
It's been a month since my surgery and I continue to progress well. I feel like I get more movement every day. I still can't reach much above my head, but I can do many normal things. I'm able to move it easily without pain, even though I'm theoretically still not supposed to be moving it, or hardly moving it.

Physical therapy isn't fun from a pain perspective, but it is encouraging to feel it move more every visit. I think I have another week or two of passive physical therapy before I begin the active portion. I will be surprised if I'm not back doing some physical exercise, like pickleball, by the 3-month mark. 4 months at the latest.

Again, I feel like I'm an anomaly, but hopefully it is an encouragement to folks who are going to have this surgery, that severe pain and difficulty is not inevitable. My experience has been largely positive.

 

[BAJAvol]

I'm currently working through shoulder impingement right now. I opted not to take the cortisone injection since my ortho said I was only 27, it would be a bad idea. I am working to correct posture, thoracic spine flexibility, and developing my back more. My pec minor was extremely tight, so that contributed as well. The pain has been horrible since I can't take NSAIDs. I'm going to stop doing overhead presses for a while too since the pain becomes unbearable after those.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Ok.... I found out a couple of days ago that I’ve got a torn labrum. It’s going to require surgery to be repaired. Currently the shoulder cracks and pops and feels extremely loose. Has anyone had arthroscopic labrum surgery? I was told 4 weeks in a sling, but not a whole lot else. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as rotator cuff surgery, but that’s about all I’ve heard.

 

[vol445]

So I'm having rotator cuff surgery on my dominant (right) arm in a couple of weeks. My wife is stay-at-home, so I do have someone available to help me.

Does anyone have any experience that I can learn from? Any tips or preparations I need to make ahead of time?

Thanks in advance.

Move the toilet paper to the left side

 

[vol445]

Ok.... I found out a couple of days ago that I’ve got a torn labrum. It’s going to require surgery to be repaired. Currently the shoulder cracks and pops and feels extremely loose. Has anyone had arthroscopic labrum surgery? I was told 4 weeks in a sling, but not a whole lot else. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as rotator cuff surgery, but that’s about all I’ve heard.

My shoulder was a mess. Rotator labrum ac joint removal bone had broke and grew back wrong and collar bone. The popping is probably the ac joint. Just go slow with pt

 

[GoDucks349]

Ok.... I found out a couple of days ago that I’ve got a torn labrum. It’s going to require surgery to be repaired. Currently the shoulder cracks and pops and feels extremely loose. Has anyone had arthroscopic labrum surgery? I was told 4 weeks in a sling, but not a whole lot else. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as rotator cuff surgery, but that’s about all I’ve heard.

I think that's the surgery I had at the same time as my rotator surgery. If it is one of the interesting things is I ended up with a "popeye" bicep on my right arm. That part of the surgery went very well as did the rotator cuff surgery. Great surgeon!!

 

[Jxn Vol]

Ok.... I found out a couple of days ago that I’ve got a torn labrum. It’s going to require surgery to be repaired. Currently the shoulder cracks and pops and feels extremely loose. Has anyone had arthroscopic labrum surgery? I was told 4 weeks in a sling, but not a whole lot else. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as rotator cuff surgery, but that’s about all I’ve heard.

Sounds like a labral tear if your shoulder is unstable. The repair will tighten things up and should fix you. If your biceps is inflamed your surgeon may opt to fix it or just cut it. The biceps can be a source of shoulder pain. The popeye syndrome that was mentioned is the result of cutting the bicep without reattaching it.

Shoulder MRIs can miss things. Depending on your age and wear and tear, you may have a partial or small rotator cuff tear. A good surgeon will fix all that is wrong and get you back going. Good luck.

 

[GreveHaller]

Ok.... I found out a couple of days ago that I’ve got a torn labrum. It’s going to require surgery to be repaired. Currently the shoulder cracks and pops and feels extremely loose. Has anyone had arthroscopic labrum surgery? I was told 4 weeks in a sling, but not a whole lot else. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as rotator cuff surgery, but that’s about all I’ve heard.

if its your dominate arm, start practicing wiping with the other arm

make sure your living room chair is comfortable. you'll be sleeping in it for a bit

get pants that do not require buttoning or zipping. Very difficult with one arm. Slip on shoes too. Sketchers has some tennis shoes that are slide ons.

find old shirts. You wont be able to get your arm thru one of the holes so cutting them up helps.

 

[Carl Pickens]

if its your dominate arm, start practicing wiping with the other arm

make sure your living room chair is comfortable. you'll be sleeping in it for a bit

get pants that do not require buttoning or zipping. Very difficult with one arm. Slip on shoes too. Sketchers has some tennis shoes that are slide ons.

find old shirts. You wont be able to get your arm thru one of the holes so cutting them up helps.

Good advice..... I’ve already been struggling to get shirts on and off without pain in that shoulder. Anything requiring reaching upward or backward sets it off. I spent yesterday trying to use my left arm for everything ..... it’s going to suck.... but it’s got to be done

 

[TnWalker]

Good advice..... I’ve already been struggling to get shirts on and off without pain in that shoulder. Anything requiring reaching upward or backward sets it off. I spent yesterday trying to use my left arm for everything ..... it’s going to suck.... but it’s got to be done

Yeah - it sucks for a bit, but at least with my surgery, I was shocked at how quickly I became functional. I do recommend a recliner if you can get one. And once I put a pillow to support my lumbar region, I could wake up pain-free.

Definitely feel like mine has been worth it!

 

[Carl Pickens]

Yeah - it sucks for a bit, but at least with my surgery, I was shocked at how quickly I became functional. I do recommend a recliner if you can get one. And once I put a pillow to support my lumbar region, I could wake up pain-free.

Definitely feel like mine has been worth it!

I’ve got a recliner in the bedroom already. The thing I hadn’t thought about was slip on shoes and pants with no buttons. How soon were you able to do the easy, weight free type tasks?