Anyone had rotator cuff surgery?

[Popeye]

 Found out this week that I will need rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder after my neck heals, which is still a ways off. Been going to PT for my right hand and its getting better.

Just curious how it turned out.

Thanks,

Popeye

[valkmc]

Had it 25 years ago, much different then I am sure. I have a scar from the top of my shoulder half way through my arm pit. My shoulder is pain free but I have very limited range of motion. I am sure the surgery today is much more advanced.

[Tundra]

I bought a new motorcycle the day after my surgery. The guy delivered it for me. I looked at it for several months before I could ride.
  Mine was severe, bone grinding and muscle torn badly. I healed 100%.  Definately do all the therapy and stretch, muscle training excercises or I believe you could loose range of motion. I couldn't even get my arm behind my  back to tuck in a shirt after two months. Someone told me to throw a bath towel over my shoulder, grab the hanging end with your bad arms hand and pull up with the good arm until you can't take it anymore, relax and repeat everyday. I did and regained my full range of motion.
  Thunderbolt on the Florida board is recovering now from the same thing, he is either remarkable
(he is) or his wasn't as severe as mine. He is already back in the saddle. I'm sure he will chime in, he does come here, mostly on the tech board.
  Best of luck to you  

[flamingobabe #44]

Jet from Texas just had it...he could tell you personally...

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,19572.0.html

[KerryNolan]

YES! I don't want to get you unnecessarily worried, but it was the worst experience of my life. I've had many injuries over the years, ie. broken ribs, separated shoulders, broken wrist (twice), carpel tunnel surgery (both hands), too many stitches to count...but my shoulder reconstruction was awful. to begin with, the post surgery pain was unbearable, there is no way to lay down to sleep, so plan on 2 to 3 weeks sleeping in a chair. Please do EVERYTHING the physical therapist tells you to do, because 4 weeks after my surgery, I ended up with a frozen shoulder (scar tissue) , and they had to go back in, and clean it out surgically again. When I woke up from the 2nd surgery, they had my arm tied behind my head, to ensure I wouldn't have it frozen again.  The physical therapy was grueling, but absolutely a must. I am OK now, but honestly, it took at least a year to regain full pain free motion. I am diabetic, so I tend to not heal well, but make damn sure they give you enough pain meds. The 2nd time I had the surgery, they connected some device that continued to drip in pain meds even after I went home. Good luck though, the surgery does work if you do the therapy every day as advised.
Kerry

[Thunderbolt]

Got to where I couldn't sleep well at night, especially trying to sleep on the left side which was the torn side.  Several of my friends from work had the surgery and some had tried physical therapy and injections and even chiropractors.  All that had tried these approaches told me to go ahead and get it repaired by a good surgeon.  A surgeon near here in Gainesville Fl. was recommended and he did my surgery.  My physical therapist says all his patients get well sooner and have better results than those patients from other docs.
I had an xray, which didn't prove much, then an MRI that showed a 70% tear of the supra-spinatus tendon.  Luckily mine was still attached to the humerus or upper arm bone but was torn toward the muscle.  He was able to put a stitch in the tendon and not do what he thought he might need to do, which was put screws in the arm bone and tie the tendon back to that.  I have learned a lot about the rotator cuff since having this problem.  I am presently going through physical therapy which is the correct thing to do about 6 or so weeks after the surgery, depending on what the doc says.
To do the surgery, they gave me something to make me a little drowsy, then a nerve block which makes you lose total feeling in the arm they are working on.  You can feel a little tingle in your fingertips, makes your arm feel like a big salami, you can't make it do anything. Then of course they put you out.  When you leave after surgery it will be in a sling for a few days.  Oh, and when the nerve block wears off after about 12 hrs, it hurts  REALLY bad, so get the pain pills BEFORE you go home or the day before.  I only took a few pills, and it wasn't real bad after a couple of days.  I still have trouble putting on a t-shirt or tucking in my shirt in the back, but it its getting much better with the therapy.  If I can answer any questions, pm me or email.

[Duckwheat]

Do the physical therapy or don't do the surgery.

DW

[Fathertime]

  Having had three rotator cuff operations over the years, I'll add my own two cents worth Popeye.

  First and I think most important, go find the best surgeon you can.  Preferably one who works mostly on shoulders and NOT a general orthopedic surgeon.  The shoulder is a complicated joint and my first mistake was going to a doctor who did not specialise in shoulders.  Believe me, it makes a difference.  If you're in PT now, ask your therapist who THEY would go to if they had to have the surgery.  I've found that generally, orthopedic surgeons tend to be a tad, shall we say, full of themselfs.  They tend to promise a lot sometimes, but remember, its YOUR shoulder.  Just because they spent the five minutes to talk to you about surgery it dont mean you have to go with them.  Its your right to choose another surgeon if you want to.
  The technology available today would astound you.  My last surgery was day surgery, and believe it or not, I had the operation with out a general.  I was given a nerve block that was so good I could not move my finger no matter how hard I tried, and felt absolutely NOTHING during the surgery.  I will add that the sedation I was given did help more than a little bit!
  Finally, do not worry about pain.
  The last operation I had, there was some pain involved, naturally - what else would you expect?  You just had surgery for crying out loud.  My point is that pain management is a very important part of the healing process.  If your surgeon, during your pre-surgical visits balks about issuing pain medication, perhaps it may be time to visit another Doctor.  The days of suffering through pain is long gone, and any surgeon who makes you suffer should not have you as a patient.
  As every one else said, do the PT!  IMHO, its the second most important thing to do after you find a good Bone Guy.

 Good Luck and the best of healing to you

  FT

[Gator John]

Have had both done about 5 years apart (most recent last year). Even though I'm 60, I have fully recovered from both. Lifting weights, golfing, and any other physical activity I want on a regular basis no prob.  

1. Find an excellent surgeon who is a shoulder specialist. If you're in/near Mich, let me know and I can refer you to mine in Rochester Hills.

2. Recovery largely depends on the severity of the tear.  One of mine was major; had to cut me open to do and have several screws (only needed to keep the muscle up against the bone while it is growing back together).  The other one was small enough to do arthroscopically, which is much less trauma on the shoulder.  Both were outpatient surgeries at clinics. Neither one was painful due to good anesthesiologists; although I did have a post-op pain pump dripping meds into the site for a few days after the major one.  Never needed any oral pain meds after either surgery. The major one took about 9 months to fully recover (but keep in mind that was to a lifestyle including weight lifting, etc.). The minor one only took a couple months. But if you want to fully recover, you have to be faithful with the physical therapy.

3. If you get a good surgeon, you've got nothing to worry about the way tecniques have improved over the years.

[B]

I let mine heal & rehabbed it with light free weights. Its a long painful process (~3yrs to get 95+%). I treat the knife a a very last resort. Treated my blown knee & torn muscles the same way... I did get an Ortho's help with my broken leg (last resort).   .  Good luck, I'm sure either route will be no picnic.

[Popeye]

Thanks for all the replys.  I can't lift my right arm to even shoulder height without pain and am only able to sleep on my left side.  It will be at least a couple of months til I can have the surgery, the two vertrabe in neck have to heal.

Popeye

[Garland]

I had it done about 8 years ago. I had a better experience than most people, it seems. The pain was not as bad as I expected, and after the second or third day I was controlling it with Advil. I had the surgery on a Friday and was back to work on Monday. I am a furniture refinisher, and I had to learn how to do a lot of things left-handed for a while. I did all the excercises that I was supposed to, and was 100% recovered within 12 months or so.

[Robert]

I have a friend that it happened to was lifting weights and he didn't warm up first well you could hear the tear. He never had surgery and once he was able to move a bit and the pain lessened he went back to the weights and made a full recovery. He says it bothers him once in a awhile if he doesn't exercise but generally no problem at all. Just another thought.

[Gator John]

I have a friend that it happened to was lifting weights and he didn't warm up first well you could hear the tear. He never had surgery and once he was able to move a bit and the pain lessened he went back to the weights and made a full recovery. He says it bothers him once in a awhile if he doesn't exercise but generally no problem at all. Just another thought.

I suspect it was something other than a rotator cuff.  When the rotator cuff tears, the muscle gets ripped away from the bone.  The way to fix it is to scrape the bone to get down to live tissue, trim the shredded pieces of muscle away and then overlay the remaining muscle onto the bone.  Sometimes screws are necessary to hold it in place. Other times the overlaying of outer shoulder muscles on top is enough, but either way, the only way that the muscle and bone are going to grow back together is to give it time (immobile) before any exertion is put on it.  One of the reasons the rehab can be a bear is depending upon how much damaged muscle was trimmed off, the muscle may need to be trained to stretch out so you can regain full range of motion.

[KerryNolan]

I let mine heal & rehabbed it with light free weights. Its a long painful process (~3yrs to get 95+%). I treat the knife a a very last resort. Treated my blown knee & torn muscles the same way... I did get an Ortho's help with my broken leg (last resort).   .  Good luck, I'm sure either route will be no picnic.

Full thickness tears do not heal by themselves because the muscles pull the edges of the tear apart. However, it is possible for full or partial thickness tears to stabilize, leaving the shoulder with reasonable comfort and function. There's obviously considerations that need to be weighed, like the patients age, and overall health, the severity of the tear, and a persons threshold for pain. For me, it was a necessity, as I spray finishes for as living, and needed full use, and motion of my arm.
Kerry