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Anyone have rotator cuff surgery and how long before you were drawing your bow? I had surgery in late March and I’ve started drawing a youth long bow probably 20lbs.

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Ask your surgeon rather than here.

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Originally Posted by gunswizard
Ask your surgeon rather than here.


Yes and no. "Rotator cuff" is comprised of a few different ligaments and it depends on which ones were damaged, how much arthritis you had, your age, and how your PT goes; everyone is different.

Having said that, I've had major orthopedic surgeries on my ankle, knee, wrist, and shoulder including rotator cuff repair and your surgeon is going to be conservative and give you a time frame that fits pretty much everybody becasue if he authorizes you to stress the joint and you injure yourself it's his fault.

So what I've done is listen to the surgeon's advice, see how the recovery is going, and push the envelope ahead of what the surgeon says as long as it doesn't cause pain.



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I had both shoulders done. It takes quite a while to get your shoulder back into bow pulling shape. My first was done in January and I was fly fishing in May.

Pulling a bow is a much harder use of the shoulder and I would say 6 months is realistic recovery time, depending on your therapist and what he feels your progress has become.

The biggest trial of your surgery is how well you can handle pain, and how hard you push the therapy. Strength takes a while to regain and you don’t want to risk tearing the repair that the surgeon made on your shoulder.


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At least a year, 2 for sure. Never going to be the same strength wise.

Way have to consider alternative archery tackle. Don’t risk hurting things after a repair. Revisions are bound to be worse than the healed first one.

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Originally Posted by Ruddy
At least a year, 2 for sure. Never going to be the same strength wise.


That has not been my experience, the repaired shoulder is stronger than the other one. The first part of your response is baffling, "at least a year, 2 for sure??"



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Originally Posted by gunswizard
Ask your surgeon rather than here.

That’s what I’d do.


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Well I did ask my surgeon and he said after twelve weeks he’s not concerned with me trying. I thought I would pose the question here as I have learned many people have had this surgery. I was looking for personal experiences so if you, or someone you know has had this surgery then I was just wondering how long you were out. My doctor seemed to think I would be fine by August, just looking for other experiences. It seems relevant to me.
I am 51 and in pretty good health

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i have had both shoulders rebuilt by surgery the right shoulder turned out just fine ,the left shoulder is still bad after surgery and plenty steriod shots and now needs to be replaced so my days of archery are now over permantly. not all shoulder surgeries are a success , take your time listen to what your doctor tells you. good luck


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Had my right shoulder done 4 years ago (full tear through 60% of supraspinatus tendon). Surgery was in late April.

My surgeon said my tendon would heal at 15% each month, so 6 months would be 90% strength (note, not 100% yet). He also said "another guideline is that full tendon healing would be in 6 months PLUS one week added for every year you are over age 50." I was 57+, so add 7 weeks to the 6 months (total ~8 months months). He also said 1 in 4 shoulder surgeries fail. When I heard that, I told myself "I am in no hurry to draw a bow." I chose to maximize healing first-so I put in my own timeframe of one year, before resuming pulling a bowstring. It took 9 solid months for all traces of pain to go away after surgery. And yes, I was diligent about my PT. VERY diligent.

When I did begin to draw my bow ( a full year after surgery), I started with my 30# recurve limbs on my Samick Journey (64" amo) I took 10 shots /day for a week, then increased 10 shots each week (ie week 1=10 shots day, week 2=20 shots/day, week 3= 30 shots/day etc). Stayed at 50 shots/day for a month with the 30# limbs, then used my 35# limbs for a month (max 50 shots/day), then moved up to my 40-43# bows (my heaviest draw weights). My max draw weight on my fingers is 45# now, and that is where I will stay.

Don't rush your rehab and re-injure yourself by being foolish. Let things fully heal, then go slow and light with bow practice. I am very glad I waited one year before drawing a bow. I did not want to go through that discomfort again. Shoulder feels fine today. I am glad I did what I.did.


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I’ve had both shoulders done. Left included reattaching the biceps tendon. I had permission to try after 4 months and shot my sons 50lb bow. Biceps tendon repair area had me in tears. Rotator was bearable. I gave it a couple months and slowly worked into shooting again but only a few arrows at a time. For reasons I don’t remember, the biceps tendon was reattached at a different location. While I’m not certain this was the cause, 10 years later my form has never fully recovered. In consequence, my pre operation max range dropped from 80 to 60, and I’ve lossed the ability to shoot fixed blade heads with acceptable accuracy past 45 (yes, this is out of a well tuned bow shooting broadheads renowned for having the same point of impact as field tips).

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I have had 3 shoulder surgeries. The Doctor earlier mentioned a year, and he is right on, in my case.

Age, and the individual's particular injury is critical. Not all PT are equal, some will hurt you.

If you try and macho your way to recovery, you are apt to go in for another surgery. As you have found, the shoulder surgery is not for wimps. Give yourself time to heal, and I would not even start pulling on a bow for 6 months, and then at a much reduced weight.

Hunt out and do your due diligence in a PT specialist in Shoulders. Best place to look is with Doctors that specialize in working on College athletes and their PT people.

A teaching hospital, often trains PT associated with their hospital and lets them observe the operation to better understand what is going on with the patients.

I feel as if there are a LOT of Quacks out there working on shoulders, and even more Quack PT.

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Originally Posted by Elkbelch
Well I did ask my surgeon and he said after twelve weeks he’s not concerned with me trying. I thought I would pose the question here as I have learned many people have had this surgery. I was looking for personal experiences so if you, or someone you know has had this surgery then I was just wondering how long you were out. My doctor seemed to think I would be fine by August, just looking for other experiences. It seems relevant to me.
I am 51 and in pretty good health

Shawn

Your surgeon is an idiot. "...not concerned"..???., " ...12 weeks... "????


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Credentials?

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Originally Posted by buttstock
Originally Posted by Elkbelch
Well I did ask my surgeon and he said after twelve weeks he’s not concerned with me trying. I thought I would pose the question here as I have learned many people have had this surgery. I was looking for personal experiences so if you, or someone you know has had this surgery then I was just wondering how long you were out. My doctor seemed to think I would be fine by August, just looking for other experiences. It seems relevant to me.
I am 51 and in pretty good health

Shawn

Your surgeon is an idiot. "...not concerned"..., " ...12 weeks... "?

If you attempt it, your surgeon isn't the only one who has earned that "label."


Do you know the details of his surgery, what was damaged, what was repaired, and how?



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My rotator cuff was fully redacted and and a small bicep repair. When I say 12 weeks that’s when he said the tendon or whAt ever it is is mostly bonded to the bone like 80-90%. I’ve been pulling a 15-20 lip fiberglass kids bow for exercise. I am not sure why you would call my dr an idiot I am sure he is aware of my situation. As far as pain, I have zero. I feel about 80% recovered. I’ve been in PT for 3 months so I am a good ways into this. I’ve been using weights in PT. I haven tried and wont till August, but I feel like I could draw my bow right now. The injury happened in February and the surgery was late March

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Shawn, sounds like you've got it figured out, along with your MD. Like I said above, most surgeons will be overly conservative with restrictions because whether or not you can bowhunt this fall means nothing to them. Yours sounds like an exception, good for him.

Good luck this season!



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Thanks, we didn’t draw an elk tag this year for 1st rifle so I was hoping to go in archery. My surgeon offered to complete Colorado’s ADA form for crossbow use but I’m going to see how it goes first. In Mo I’ll use a crossbow if I have to

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Well, hopefully you'll be in the mountains come September and get close enough to hear an elkbelch grin



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