I had to have my right shoulder joint totally replaced. I went for the reverse arthroscopy. That eliminates the need for reattachment of the rotator cuff muscles, which wer torn pretty badly. Didn't want to have to do that as I'm over 70 and had enough arthritis that the rotator cuff fix with a standard joint replacement was an very iffy process with about a 50% failure rate. That also had months of therapy involved. Down time on the reverse replacement is minimal. With the reverse replacement the deltoid does the lifting, or takes over the function of the rotator cuff. There are limits on outward and upward movement, but five days after the surgery I was able to sit the tractor and run a hay baler, albeit carefully and mostly one armed. I only needed the sling for a little over a week. Now I have about 80% shoulder movement and shooting is not a problem. I asked the doctor about shooting. He asked what I was going to shoot. I said 243 and 270. His answer was there should be no problem, but proceed with some caution and use your head in the process. My left shoulder will need the replacement some time in the future as well. I have said goodbye to belted magnums, but I did not use them enough to matter a whole lot.
The point is that it not necessarily a shooting, hunting death sentence. The worst thing you could possibly do, unless otherwise advised by a doctor is to accept fate and just wait. The longer you wait the worse it will get and eventually no surgery will work.
Last edited by SteveC99; 02/14/22.
