Anybody here had shoulder surgery?

I had my left shoulder done around 2003. The advancements with medicine I’d imagine the surgery is way better. Mine was not a scope. It was done the old way of a big ass cut! Lol scar goes from collar bone to armpit. The recovery was long for me.( again might be from date of surgery) but as long as you follow doctors orders and keep with the physical therapy you will be golden! Just don’t think you can do more than they allow you to do! You might feel like you could add more weight one day but if your not really ready for it you just hurt yourself. Ask me how I know. I was just out of the Marine Corps when I had mine done so when they said just do 5 lbs with this exercise being thick headed I said I could do way more..... it hurt me more than helped. Good luck ! You’ll be fine.

 

This was me until the 7th dislocation. Each time it happens you damage your humeral head etc so when I got my MRI they said if it happened again I’d be risking breaking bones

 

Thanks man

 

This is also what I’m hoping. I’m committed to recovery. I can’t do the amount of pain a dislocation and self reset caused again

 

Finally tore both swim training for an ironman (yes, crappy form and too many miles) a couple decades ago. Slap tears. Had both done 6 months apart living through the heat of summer then cold winter in NYC.
Missed out on a summer of activity but was able to fly fish and do other non-aggressive sports. You'll recover, as others have advised, the doc and your PT know best.
Those rubber bands and some motivation will get you through.
Pre-surgery my shoulders and arms felt floppy, afterwards tight as a drum and have been great since.

 

I don't know the name of the surgery but had tears in my right shoulder repaired twice. As stated DO THE PT. I've been in good shape for the last 6 years.

 

No but, I wish you a safe and speedy recovery.

 

My son tore his labrum his Junior year playing football. He made it through the season and did the surgery in November. He was advised to only play offense after the surgery. He played center on offense and defensive tackle. He injured it a 2nd time his senior year while making a tackle after a pass interception.

We thought he could avoid a 2nd surgery, but it started giving him issues after he graduated. It would dislocate at odd times, once while swimming. He got pretty good at putting it back in place. He has had some minor pain in the past, but hasn't had any issues recently. He's 33 now and works in electrical construction so his job is somewhat physical demanding.

 

Luckily I got mine back in every time, but yeah, it is an odd injury that happens at weird times. The first time was Jr High football, then just leaning over on a stool to pick something up (that was probably pretty comical, since I proceeded to fall onto the stool and knock my breath out), then again when someone ran a red light and t-boned me in my dad's sweet Renault LeCar. That was all before I was 20. I worked on strengthening exercises and it never happened again until last year -- this time in my sleep! I was camped next to a stream in my RTT and guess I got so relaxed it just slipped out. I woke up a bit bewildered that my arm wasn't working right, thought it was asleep at first before I realized it was a little more than that, then freaked out and popped it back in. Luckily there's still no obvious structural damage they can see on x-rays, so I got some good PT exercises. It still bothers me at times, so I just work through some of the exercises. The PT folks were great, and it really helped -- but you have to do the home exercises religiously. When I skipped them, my progress slowed notably.

OP, hope things come out dandy and wish you a speedy recovery!

 

I had a similar surgery.

I have lax shoulder joints and dislocated my shoulder at 14 and then again at 24 in a car accident. However my shoulder would dislocate posteriorly so it would self reduce.

Eventually the shoulder joint was so unstable it would knock out easily.

I had my rotator cuff repaired and surgically tightened in 2017. I was 24 years old.

It was 6 months until I felt like a normal person again. 9 months until I was lifting again. A year before I was pushing normal weight. 2 years before I felt like I could do anything I wanted and not think twice that I previously had an injury. I’m 5 years post op and there are only a few things I struggle with but I’m 98% to normal.

Shoulder surgery is a rough road, but if you are willing to tolerate the pain and rehab its worth it to function like a normal person.

I’ve had two other major ortho surgeries. A foot surgery with hardware and recently a knee surgery. In my opinion those were worse. Shoulder was rough but not like leg surgeries.

So IMO it sucks but its not as horrific as people say it is.

 

Had the Bankart procedure for torn labrum / recurrent dislocation. The bottom line - The pain of the surgery and rehab is nothing compared to the pain and inconvenience of repeated dislocating. Honestly - no regrets, no dislocations 25 years out, wish I had done the surgery sooner.

 

I had MRI's done on both shoulders yesterday. Doc thinks I may have torn rotator cuffs. The doctor who did the dye injection into shoulder joints for the MRI told me he had torn rotator cuff on his right shoulder and opted not to do surgery because of the long recovery time and being out of work too long. He had steroid injection and physical therapy instead and was 90% better so far and didn't miss any work. I am thinking this might be a viable option for me as there is no way I could be incapacitated for that long. Any one else done the injection and therapy only on torn rotator cuff?

 

I wasn't diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, but the last time I dislocated it they did the steroid injection and PT. It got remarkably better, but I do have occasional pain that I did not have before the last dislocation. I just do some of the exercises they gave me and it clears up. IMHO, surgery should always be the last resort unless the damage is quite severe. It doesn't hurt to try to rehabilitate it before going that route. I hadn't really thought about it, but the doctor told me the shoulder is the most complicated joint in our bodies.

 

Here is all I know.
If you have any tears in tendons or ligaments those areas will atrophy over time as a result of the tear.

Once you exceed 1 year post injury the chances of a successful surgery are 50/50.

Simply because you cannot replace tendon or ligament. Once tendons or ligaments start atrophy, they are gone forever. Your body cannot replace them or fix them.
This may not matter, depending on how you live your life. If you were not an athlete or somebody who regularly uses their shoulders, it may really not matter that you don’t have full capability in your shoulders. However, if you were somebody who’s very physically active in needs the use of your shoulders, it can be very important that you maintain full functioning in your shoulder muscles, tendons, ligaments.

If you were a physician or a surgeon, and you don’t do a lot of physical activity or manual labor, you may not need your entire rotator cuff. however if you’re a person that uses your rotator cuff‘s regularly, it may be a big deal and you may actually need them. so it may be one of those things were you really can’t afford to not have your rotator cuff‘s as much as you can’t afford to be without them.

shoulder surgery sucks. It’s going to be about six months before you start feeling like a normal person. It’s going to be about 1 to 2 years before you feel like you felt before you even injured yourself and you can do whatever you want without having to worry about your previous injury. it’s going to be, for most people, thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket max is, physical therapy appointments, and a lot of physical therapy work on your day-to-day life. However, that’s what it’s going to take to be 100% back to normal, or however much you can get back to normal.

My personal recommendation, and what I have personally done, is I find those orthopedic surgeon groups that work with the professional athletes of my state. And by that I mean the NHL, NBA, NFL, NCAA etc. find those docs who are experts in repairing the shoulder joint and who can give you a really good opinion on what the best course of action is moving forward. The issue with rotator cuff injuries, is that you cannot afford to sit around and make a decision. As soon as that injury makes it past one year … you have substantially increased your chances of fixing that injury 100%.

get second opinions, get third opinions if you have to. But do whatever it takes to really get an understanding of what the total costs are of not treating your injury.

I totally understand that being able to fix your rotator cuff injury Is aprivilege decision to be able to make. But I fear for those of you who work manual labor jobs, and who actually use their shoulders on a day-to-day basis, really can’t afford to not fix their shoulder, as much as they feel they can’t afford to fix their shoulder.

I hope what I’m saying makes sense.

 

Ok this is good advice. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I have to schedule a follow up with the doctor this week and see what the tests reveal on the condition of my shoulders and will have a better idea on how bad they are and what the real issues are. I let the left shoulder go for years because it was not my dominate shoulder and I could compensate with my right shoulder for the pain and weakness. Yet it still bothers me and probably should have gotten it evaluated long before now.

The right shoulder and more recent injury is quite severe and severely hampers what I can and cannot do which is why I finally followed through with setting up an appt with an orthopedic surgeon. It has gotten worse over 4 months not better. Otherwise I would have probably just tried to power through hoping it would eventually get better. My wife tells me I am a terrible patient. Maybe the crappin wife is right...
I certainly don't want to cause more permanent injury by neglecting doing what I need to.

I have a orthopedic doctor I am seeing but have been disappointed by his office staff. Not sure how I would find orthopedic group in the area that works with athletes. Appreciate any suggestions on how to do that.

 

Used to be so bad I’d sneeze & dislocate both of mine. Two Bristol repairs later, full mobility & no problems what so ever. Not gonna lie, physio & rehab was slow ‘n painful but well worth every moment.

 

Good luck

 

This is all so true. I’ve had both rotator cuffs done in the last 5 years. PT is the most important thing you can do to aid recovery, don’t skimp on it...good luck!