Who has had it done, and what should I expect?

I had a ladder fail under me yesterday while on a roof damage claim and am typing with my one good finger.

Also, anyone have any base jumping tips???

Ouch!!! Not there, though was just diagnosed with minor rotator cuff damage myself a couple weeks ago. Even the small stuff hurts like heck.

I hear the surgery much better than it used to be, smaller incisions and much faster healing time. My brother is a golf pro - he sees guys with it constantly. It'll keep you down for a while tho.

Good luck!

6 Weeks in a sling doing absolutely nothing with the arm and six months for full recovery is the standard.

I have had it done on both shoulders. A couple of things to be aware of. It is very painful and the care you put into your therapy will determine how well you recover your strength and mobility.

I would opt for the surgery to be somewhere around the Christmas holiday to have the best time for recovery before spring and early summer when you will want to engage in outdoor activities. Plan on 6 months to a year to get back to 95% of your pre-operative physical condition and up to 2 years to be totally pain free in the shoulder.

If you ever consider not to do it for the negative aspects of the surgery, reconsider, I had it done twice and would do it again before I would want to put up with the discomfort of the torn rotator cuff...

Don't do it. I have 50%+ tears in both shoulder and simply use cortisone shots to control the pain.

I had mine done a couple of years ago. It was a partial tear but I felt it was time to get it fixed. I'm real glad I did.

Mine was Arthroscopic Surgery and was pretty clean and easy. Be sure and do all the physical therapy you are asked to do. You'll gain more range of motion if you will complete it.

I had rotator cuff surgery ,march 2007. You will not heal withou the surgery. Shrapnel is spot on IMHO.

About right, I was back at work after four months because I wanted to be but it was really too soon.
Took about a year to get back to 90%, had some pain for years afterward.
I think it was worse because I waited 5 months to have the surgery.

When it gets to the point that your dog brushing against your fingers puts you on your knees, you will be more than ready for the cutting

Thanks for the first hand advice. This will no doubt be the year I draw sheep tags.

It always works that way it seems.

I had better get cracking.

Talk to Taos Orthopedic Institute in Taos NM - they re-attached my bicep last Aug, the day after Quemado.
They are the ortho specialists for the Olympic ski team, and are VERY good. NO BS - just the facts. I shot my 243 and 30-30 the 15th of Sept - surgery was done the 12th of Aug last year - I also shot my 375 H&H in March, although I could have in Dec (no time available)
Saddled my own horse Oct 10th (and I ride a HEAVY saddle!)
I was told about a year for 100% recovery - I've been basically there for several months.
Physical therapy is CRUCIAL!

Mark

Thanks.

It's a good suggestion regarding ski team medicine. We have some of the best docs in this area for that, and I didn't consider this direction. Lake Tahoe has some of the best and is real close.

2x same shoulder and dam if I didn't screw it up again. Have a "massive, retracted tear" which means the tendon is pulling back into the muscle. 3rd time to happen soon.

Previous 2 ops went well and can't blame the Drs. Best advice I can give is #1 demand a nerve block, #2 get an iceman prior to surgery and use it religiously following starting that day. It will make a huge difference in recovery and one load of ice will last close to 8 hours! #3 find a good physical therapist.

You can find an iceman on ebay cheap

Best of luck, hurts like heII but better than the continuous pain with a blown out cuff.

My pop had both shoulders done.

His advice would mirror Shraps. He put it off and wishes he did it sooner. He wasn't young when either shoulder was done and it made rehab more of a challenge.

Rehab can be a SOB. Apparently shoulders are a pretty involved joint. Ive heard hips are easy in comparison. As mentioned, the more ya put in, the better off you'll be.

Good luck,Bud. I'd bet you'll be GTG right quick.

luv2safari, a good friend had his done in costa rica. the cost including air from Idaho was around 7k. world class orthos, and for 6 weeks after you stay in a casita/bungalow with a full time nurse/therapist. only down side he reported was he had to come back home.

I didn't mention that I turned 61 last Oct. The rehab is KEY!

Mark

I had one done 20 years ago so my info is probably out of date but I will just second the ideas here about

1) ICEMAN machine = MUST have!

2) Rehab + MUST do

3) Sooner is lots better than later. It ain't gonna ever get better without some surgical help.

Best wishes to you, keep us updated as you go along, please.

Thanks for the link. Ice is heaven right now. I'm ordering one of these.

I do not own an iceman (yet) but I have several ice packs that I rotate from the freezer to my back near my kidneys all through the day. Works wonders for pain and swelling.

This is weird...
I had an MRI done today on my shoulder. I won't know the results for a day or two, but I'm definitely listening here!

Depends on the severity of the tear. I had the MRI done and opted not to do the surgery. I consulted with a leading surgeon for the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Christian. I opted for rehab to strengthen the structure and it worked. I can't play softball anymore, but can still draw a 70 pound bow with no problem as I have strengthened all of the supporting muscles. Throwing a ball still hurts because of the twisting motion in your shoulder. I have learned to know how I should use the shoulder and haven't had any problems. The key is the muscle build up.

At nearly 67 muscle build up doesn't happen like when I was in my 20s.

I can see a trend. PT after surgery is the key to getting back function.

I had my right shoulder joint replaced in December 2008. I would do it again if needed. If I live long enough, it will be.
Competent physical terrorists therapists can work miracles if you allow them to, and if you commit your efforts to the process...

In 2007 I injured my right shoulder and had it fixed. There was a good sized rotator tear as well as torn off the bone.
They fixed the V-shaped tear, removed a couple of spurs and reattached using 4 anchors and shoe laces.
Surgery was in beginning of June. I was out of work for a little over 4 months, but didn't miss deer season and was bird hunting by Thanksgiving.

Did EXACTLY what they told me. Therapy is essential and must be followed. Don't get stupid and grab a quart of orange juice out of the fridge when you "think" you are better as you may re-damage your shoulder.
Iceman machine is a must and will be your new best friend.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but keep up with your therapy.

Mine was a spur and re-anchor also.

There will be two types of therapy; strength and range of motion.

DON'T neglect either.


I was swinging my favorite bush-axe after about 3-4 months.

I had surgery on my left shoulder 4-5yrs. ago, two screws and laced done via arthroscope. Rehab went fine and my shoulder feels like new, doc said I have to be careful because if I re-injure there is no fix. I will have my right shoulder repaired in June, it will be a more complicated surgery due to having torn the tendon completely off the bone. It is retracted and the doc only offers me a 50/50 chance of being able to reattach it. He is planning to harvest a tendon from my bicep and graft it to the rotator cuff tendon in order to reattach. Doing just what your PT instructs you to do is the key to a successful recovery, it will be a slow process. Take your pain meds 1/2 hr. before therapy sessions and ice your shoulder for 1/2 hr. after and you should do fine. People have differing tolerance to pain, don't let what has been posted scare you. If you have significant pain, tell your doctor so he can increase or change your pain meds. Good luck with your surgery.

Had mine done on a Wednesday, started therapy on Friday, hurt more than a little bit, but I went back to work on Monday. Therapy for a few months and about a year later was at 90% or so. Would do it again if needed. It beats the alternative, not being able to fully use a shoulder and wondering when it might blow out.

This was true for me, from 2003-2014. I had a partial tear diagnosed in '03 and the surgeon (a very good one) recommended surgery. I got a few other opinions and opted for re-hab, which worked up until this year when I aggravated the injury. I am at the point where I have pretty much constant pain, and lots of things will set it off and make the pain worse. I had a cortisone shot, which worked for about 6 weeks but most doctors will tell you is not a long-term solution and will degenerate the tissue eventually.

I still do the PT stuff, strengthening and range-of-motion exercises, but my plan is surgery after this hunting season.

Dang L2S, hate to hear about your fall. At least you didnt break a lot of bones, etc. I dont know about the rotator cuff stuff, but I see that you got some idea of what it will be like.

You be careful and do like I'm gonna do... call centers from now on, I think!

This! I get the shot in my right shoulder, several years now and they last anywhere from 8-15 months. This tear is from normal wear and tear.

I had to have surgery in my left shoulder as it suffered a massive tear from a fall at work. DR I used practices a no sling recovery so the shoulder is free to move which made for a good recovery, which took 9 months. Check DR reviews before choosing! And good luck!

breaking bones would have been a walk in the park!

Actual recovery time will depend on severity of the tear but Shrapnel's advice above is pretty spot-on. I had a small tear and bone spurs in my right shoulder in 2005. Got back to pretty normal activities within a few months but took well over a year to get full range of motion back and pain free.
I had bone spur surgery in my left shoulder Feb 20 of this year. I cut and split wood this past Monday. I still have considerable pain in some motions, cannot really reach behind my back yet, and still have a long way to go. And that was just bone spurs causing inflammation, there was no tear.

As others have said and it cannot be stressed strongly enough, no matter what, DO THE REHAB RELIGIOUSLY! That is what will get you through the pain (eventually) and get your range of motion back. Expect plenty of pain and progress of an inch a week of regaining motion, but just keep progressing. The progress will eventually speed up.

Good luck!

I don't know how it's done these days but 4 years ago because of my insurance before I could get the surgery on my left shoulder I had to:
1) Take oral anti-inflammatory drugs for a few months and when that didn't help-
2) To endure painful physical therapy for many weeks and when that didn't help-
3) Get a cortisone shot in the shoulder joint that relieved the pain for about a week and when that fix anything-
4) Get an MRI which showed a partially detached tendon, many ruptured tendons and arthritis on the ends of my collar bone.

That said the surgery was a success and I'd do it again. I highly recommend the nerve block and I was very lucky I didn't need to use ice for pain/swelling. The nerve block wore off in about 12 hours (woke me up at 3:00am) and I took one hydrocodone tablet to go back to sleep. I never had to take any more pain medication after that. I never wore the sling except then I slept and when I first started driving. I had surgery on Friday and started driving my standard shift Dodge diesel pickup the following Monday. I did a lot of the "dangling" exercises at home like I was told to do. The therapy I started 6 weeks after the surgery was a breeze and all the therapists were hot young women. It took about a year to be pain free. Good luck!

A complete tear will require open surgery. Recovery time for a full tear is at least a year & a half.

The dominant predictor of rotator cuff repair success is surgeon expertise. Find the BEST surgeon available. Look for a surgeon that specializes in shoulder repair.

I've had open and arthroscopic rotator cuff surgeries. I've had to have my left shoulder reconstructed. All were painful with open more so.

Reference cortisone injections: surgeons will give them only twice a year. Cortisone is wonderful medicine, but it can cause muscular damage.

Back in '95 I had AC and rotator done. Look, I've been under the knife 11 times; had a hard life. 8 of those were knee surgeries.

I was surprised at how painful the shoulder surgery was; rehab was pretty rough. Not nearly as rough as when I had my knee replacement, but it was fairly painful.

I wasn't able to sleep on my right side for 6 months after the surgery, and then I had about 18 months of absolutely no pain whatsoever. After 18 months and on to today, I will occasionally get some soreness from sleeping on my right side. Other than that, I regained 100% range of motion, and full function of everything.

So how to work through the pain. I have a VERY high tolerance for pain, so during the day I generally just dealt with it. The day of the surgery was a piece of cake. The two following days were pretty rough and I dipped into the pain meds. But by the 3rd day, an 800mg Motrin did me just fine. So I saved my pain meds for rehab. Take one about 45 minutes before rehab and your rehab sessions will be much more effective. You'll hurt like hell the rest of the day after rehab, but not so bad you'll need to take the narcs.

Best of luck to you my bro-tha!

Hey, you have any dinner plans for tonight? Family is out of town and I'm without adult supervision. PM or TXT me and let me know sir.

I had a total shoulder arthroplasty done in 2010, they cut off head of humerus, pound in a metal staub about 8 inches long with a shiny new humeral head, grind out the inner surface of the glenoid socket and line in with polyethylene material. It's a big open surgical procedure, for they have to gain access to shoulder capsule, cut through rotator cuff and literally pop the humerous out of socket and lift out to be able to saw off the humeral head.
I opted for a nerve block also, don't know how much it helped, for I was pretty miserable for a long time. The advice from others is spot on, although I wish I had rat holed some pain meds like Kevin advised for PT. I had a great therapist,Dr White, who was a black guy; that sonofabitch would stretch and manipulate me till I thought I would pass out at times. He always began each session by advising me I could call him any name in the book while he worked on me, just don't hit him.
It took a good year till I would say I was close to 100%, don't know if you can get there from here, but I feel pretty good just the same. I had spent years of half sleepless nights and constant pain and feel better now than I can even remember.
I'd advise anyone with shoulder problems to not put it off, or rely on cortisone, that's bad stuff, great short term relief but has to many side effects. Get it done and work like hell to get back in the game, you'll not regret it.

Thanks to all...I guess...

I think I'll recede into my 2nd childhood now, crawl under my desk, and suck my thumb as I whimper.

I'm going to find out first hand what Obummer has done to Medicare.

Not true

I underwent a frontal labrum reattachment first day of December.

Physical therapy in one week then for 36 more sessions in 3 months

Back to work in 6 weeks

5 months later I am nearly 100%

Sleeping in a good recliner is recommended

You will need an MRI to correctly diagnose

If you do require surgery use a sports medicine surgeon and don't put it off

No time off work here. I'll have to get back to it immediately. Can my arm be immobilized enough for all but roof inspections?

My surgery was 19 years ago so maybe treatment wasn't as good as now, and it might have been worse than some, but my arm was strapped down, not just in a sling, for 4 weeks.
Aside from the pain, which wasn't so bad after the first 24 hours, the worst thing is learning how bad an armpit can stink after a few days of being tied tight to the body.

Had it done December 10 2012. Wasted 6 months hoping to get better then trying steroid injections, and other crap before they did a shoulder MRI and the Dr. said something like oh crap, see that white stuff? That's a tear and you're not going to heal without surgery. Before surgery I couldn't sleep, put the truck in park, lift my gun to shoot, open a door and a bunch of other less important things.

Get a pain pump where the tube drips the pain killer right on the repair. First couple of days post-op were a blur. Be ready to put in a bunch of rehab on it. The first time the PT asked me to put my arm behind my back and lift as far as I could I thought she was insane. Was told it would take 9 months before I was close to normal but got lucky and got the all clear in 3 months.

Funny

Me post op

7 staples in the labrum cuff and all the bones smoothed

6 days later PT and learn to use it again......range movements only

90 days later 50% strength 50% range of motion

5 months out and with lots of work I'm about 90/90

That won't work. I drive an average of 900 miles a week to inspect losses.

You need to hire a driver.

Well...I keep telling my wife she needs to find a job...

You won't be driving

Or climbing ladders

Ah..yep.

So...you're telling me I wasted my money when I signed up for base jumping lessons this spring???

Just found out my boss had his done here by the doc who does these for the US Ski Team. He's getting his other side done in two weeks by the same doc. I know who I'll be going to.

I am going through the whole deal. I have had 3 orthopedic surgeons examine me, and one says surgery and the other say no.

I have pain in my left shoulder that gets pretty intense when I raise my arm above my shoulder. Also, any time I lift something over 10 pounds or so and release it, I get a sharp pain and numbness down to my fingers.

I have been through the following.

Physical exam.

3 diagnostic cortisone shots in the shoulder.

EMG to test nerves. 3 hours of a neurologist zapping me.

Arthrogram? to test circulation. I saw a vascular surgeon last week!

MRI with Contrast

X Rays

3 months of physical therapy

Now I'm cleared if I want to have surgery but I have a small labral tear, which 2 doctors don't think is significant. My shoulder is impinged, and doctor #1 would like to open up my shoulder by removing some bone and fix the little tear. He said 5 weeks to 6 months recovery time depending on how bad it is. I take care of 3 little old ladies and I probably lift my Mom to transfer her around at least 10 times a day. I'm sleeping on a large ice pack and taking Advil. Some day it's going to be unbearable, I think but I'm holding on as long as I can.

I had a bone spur from an AC separation heal wrong, and just for Travis the Spoon and Polesmoker's edification, it happened in SERE School. Years later the spur finally started shredding my cuff. They were able to fix mine through the scope. Had it done early in the morning and went home with a morphine pump. Didn't need the pump at all that day until I went to bed, or tried to. I tried to give myself a dose and, because the dumbazz nurse didn't flush the line, all I got was saline every 15min for the next 3hr. It was a long night. I stayed on the dope that day and again that night. Next morning it was just sore as hell, and gradually became less so over the next few months. PT helped but not much. Apley's Scratch Test still showed markedly reduced range of motion with slight impingement even after two months of PT. Just getting back into the gym slowly and doing a LOT of overhead barbell work, IE, presses, and pullups (started using a big huge pallet band under my feet) and I can press 80% of my bodyweight overhead now and do ten pullups. It was nearly a year before I could do a single dip without pain. That was the last area to improve.

Looks like I may be the most recent surgical case as I had my left one done this past December, right before Christmas. Plenty of pain,take the pills often, don't get behind as it takes forever to catch up and feel better. I had a sling with a block to hold my arm out about 4 inches and a body wrap to hold it all together so the arm couldn't move. I wore that for about a 6 weeks although I was allowed to take it off for short periods around the house. I had some old damage in addition to the damage that I did in November. I ended up with 6 holes in my shoulder compared to the 3 holes in the right from cuff surgery in 2006.

The real big risk is falling and tearing the doc's handiwork out as you try to catch yourself. It's a natural reaction, thus the sling/block to tie the arm down.

Started PT after about a month, went twice a week plus doing the stretching exercises twice a day at home. I went back to work after a month but I drive a desk at work and my wife drove me to work for a couple of weeks.

I'm working with weights and resistance bands now to build strength, I have nearly 100% range of motion. IIRC 6 months to a year after the 2006 surgery on the right shoulder to complete recovery, including being able to heave hay bales above my head.

BTW, I went deer hunting one month after that surgery but used the Redhawk in my left hand and wore the sling/block in case I fell. Doc thought I was nuts (so did my wife) but it's DEER SEASON dammit!

Feel free to PM me.

Dale

You went to SERE School??

Who knew.

It's not like you bring it up every other post or anything.

Had my surgery the day before Thanksgiving

One week then PT

Ice Ice Ice

It worked better than the pills for my pain

Ill be joining the club soon. Had an MRI last week and go in on Wed. Thanks for letting me know what to expect (I guess).