Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rotator cuff surgery - how painful is it?

I noticed that one of the numbers was a letter and it’s a a simple mistake but one that eases my mind a little. 😁. 300 is a lot of surgeries to perform in a year but it’s doable....3000?....I’d not want to be the 2999th or 3000th patient. 😂. Thanks for the response and I hope you all had a great day with loved one yesterday. 👍

Jake hit it in the x ring.

From someone who knows.

I had RC surgery with brachial plexus block. Went home with a ball slowly infusing marcaine. I never had much pain. My surgeon lectures all over the world. Last I heard, India. The day I had my surgery, a German ortho surgeon flew to New Orleans, was on the same surg schedule. He brought his ortho resident daughter from Germany to observe the surgeries performed that day.

Find a top surgeon even if you have to travel to a center.

DF

My experience,:

first rotator cuff tear, left shoulder, fall while ice skating. Tried what is suggested in these quotes for 6 months, PT 3 X / week that whole time. At 54 years of age the family guy said it's common, I should perhaps go for MRI as his tests showed it might be worse than I thought. I said lets try the PT. Made excellent progress with range of motion, could actually get arm above head without much pain, but and it was a BIG but..................I couldn't lift a gallon of milk from the table to shoulder height. PT gal said I need to get the MRI. OK, found out with that surgery was the only option if I wanted to get any strength back in that shoulder. More about surgery in a bit.

Second, tear, right shoulder. Heard it pop while lifting/throwing 40-60 lb coil of deck line onto a table at work. Had to fight with work/workers comp to even get doctor's visits covered, finally got MRI, same deal as last one, no guarantee of strength coming back to arm without surgery due to the damage seen in the imaging.

Surgeries:

First event was in Juneau AK, folks there told me surgeon was a good one, I talked to him found out I could't fly for at least a week post surgery, wife was in Cali at the time, made no sense for me to not have her around for help. She lived in the Fresno are and I know Fresno State has a good baseball and basketball program. Had to be a shoulder surgeon down there that worked on high caliber athletes, so I did the internet thing and found one that was the team doc for them and asst team doc for the Giants and 49ers. And he'd take my insurance. INjury was worse than expected. 45 minute job turned into 2.5 hrs +. Cleaned out a bunch of arthritic calcifications too, so my arm felt WAY better after recovery from PT and all than it did before.

Second even was in E WA, wife was in Sacramento area. Looked into sports surgeons there, found the chief of Sports Medicine at UC Davis Med School, agreed to take me even with it being a workers' comp case. Long surgery again, this one arthroscopic though, unlike the first.

Outcomes:

Nearly 100% recovery on left shoulder. Pain was not fun. As in I passed out the first day after surgery when they brought a torture device of a chair that you strap your arm into and it moves your arm for you. It got better as time went on.

Probably 80-90% recovery on right arm. Fighting with the job/workers comp delayed surgery to the point where the doc decided it was better to not reattach my biceps tendon as he likely would have had to use cadaver tendon to have good success. Mine had atrophied too much.

Phys therapy:

Follow it and do more when you are cleared to so you avoid ruining the repair. Take the pain meds shortly BEFORE the PT so you can get through it easier. And as important for me, keep up the exercises. I even do them occasionally now, 11 years after the first surgery.

Triggernosis, you're in E NC right? My suggestion, as others here have said, find a good surgeon. If my geography is right, you're near some pretty decent size universities that have BIG sports programs, no? Find one of the surgeons that works on them athletes, those folks need to be repaired correctly in order to have a career later in life. Look into who does the surgeries for the Hurricanes and Panthers and some of the minor leagues.

If your doctors and more importantly maybe, your experience shows you don't have a good chance at gaining strength back to perform the activities you enjoy or need for your career, surgery may be the best option. Pain is a given, but for me, not being able to do the types of work I made money at, not being able to cast a fishing lure, not being able to draw a bow were more important to me than staying away from some pain for awhile.

Good luck with it all.

Geno

I am 4 months out on my second rotator. Both were very different. Right was pretty simple to get thru. Left has been a total pain. Just not getting the mobility back as quick. 6 weeks in a sling each time. Very easy to retear it first 6 months so do not try to go hard. 25% at 3 months 60% at 6 months and 90 % at 1 year is the norm. Right is 100% now so listen to the dictionary and physical therapy is a must!

Finding a top specialist is important. My surgeon has a wall full of pictures of sports figures he’s operated on. If I was to name drop you’d be impressed. Big name athletes find these guys. He does only shoulders and elbows.

Generally you get one bite at the apple. Second and third surgeries, not so good. These guys are most often at the big centers, usually sports affiliated. In that business function is king, just a small functional impairment can be very expensive and career threatening.

They have their reputations for a reason.

DF

^^^^^

Just what I said............................in fewer words.

Geno

Thanks, Geno, for describing your experiences.
I am indeed in eastern NC and the surgeon I am scheduled to see this coming Monday comes highly recommended by a good friend and shooting club buddy of mine who works at the local medical center as an anesthesiologist. I asked him who he would recommend and he told me - said that he sees much fewer "comebacks" or other issues with this surgeon. He is also the team physician for the ECU Pirates and our local AA baseball team. That's good enough for me.

Sounds like you're on the right track.

Another good source, Physical Therapists who work with these guys. They can tell you who has the best outcomes.

Getting info from inside the camp is a smart move. The players know who the masters are.

DF

I’m thankful I’ve never had this issue after reading all of this!

Ain’t no fun, even with the best.

DF

For sure, don't fall and put your hand/arm out to break the fall.

Or throw heavy scheidt either.

I'll second DF on the no fun part. Screws with fun activities too.

Geno

I've had it done 3 times. I had a excellent doc all three times. As long as I got strong pain pills for the first three days, I had little if any pain at all. Kind of a weird feeling, but not anything I'd call pain. After the strong pain pills, which I discontinued in 2 to 2.5 days, I used the 30 or so hydrocodones to help get to sleep at night some nights. As long as you get a good PT guy or girl, there will be no pain there either. At least that is what I experienced. It's far better to do it than not. Good luck!

What "strong pain pills" were you using those first 3 days?
If the rotator cuff surgery isn't any more painful than my compound fractured wrist and subsequent repair, I think I'll be able to hack it.

If anyone needs names, here's two that I can highly recommend. Michael Wiater in the Detroit area (Beaumont Hospital) and Kenneth Jurist in Nacogdoches, Texas. Ken did my first surgery in 1986 and I called him 2 years ago for a recommendation since he had moved, and he unhesitantly told me about Wiater.

If there's any way you can avoid the surgery by doing physical therapy then I would try that.
I had rotator cuff surgery about 4 years ago and initially it was better but now my range of motion is much less than I previously had.
Try PT first!

Only thing I got was hydrocodone, needed it for about a day or two. And there was most definitely some pain with re-hab, to restore range of motion you have to break down some scar tissue. But nothing too bad, it was very tolerable.

10-4. I was prescribed oxycodone for my forearm fracture, but I never took the first one.

Savoie?

You guessed it.

DF