Anybody ever have rotator cuff surgery?

[johnp034]

Got a torn rotator cuff, Doc is holding off on surgery. Fair amount of pain, but don't want to miss this walleye season. Might try to wait until next winter. Anybody have the surgery? How long is the recovery and, more importantly, can you fish afterwards?

[WillieB]

Yup, I had it done a few years back, and my father just had it done 4 months ago.

Depending on the severity of the tear, you're looking at 2 to 4 weeks of mild post-surgery discomfort. Make sure you wear the sling they give you to take the weight bearing off the shoulder.

You're better off taking care of it sooner than later...the tear will only become increasingly aggravated and along with additional pain will be additional strain of the surrounding muscles and ligaments. Perhaps worse than that will be what you do to your good side when trying to adjust for your bad sides' limitations.

Your rehab therapy and speed of recovering use will, of course, be dependent on the severity of the tear and how well surgery goes. I'm back to 95% full use, my Pop is in the 70-75% range but still progressing, slowly, but still gaining use back. Bear in mind he's 79 and says he hasn't hurt that bad (when he had the tear) since he had a forced landing with no landing gear in the P-47 Thunderbolt he flew in WWII that banged him around.

Don't put it off, and be patient afterwards. You'll be doing great in a short period of time.

[wiley walleye]

JohnP, I was told 3yrs ago that I needed one totally replaced since it was simply 20yrs ahead of its time and worn out. He gave me some pills for the pain. My problem was that they do not have this replacement perfected and would probably have to have another later. I went home and looked up the side affects of the drug, through them away. I went back to the gym and excercised and stretched. Yea it hurts sometimes and I am not flexable in that area but I will know when it is enough.
Hopefully yours is not structural but rather ligaments etc. I can not give you a time but I have been around a lot of people who have had that surgery. It is one of the longest complete healers there is. I said what I did above, so that you may want to time this around the sugery. Wait if you can till after the season. I have had other such things and when I can, I do it during an off season. It gives you a goal when recovering and helps take your mind off it.
Good Luck
Joe

[Boatnut]

John,
I did not have a torn rotator cuff, but did have a build up of "stuff" in my shoulder which, eventually, prevented me from even raising my arm past my waist. I went in and had it "cleaned out" finally. It took about 2 months of therapy afterwards, then I was as good as new. I never did get my 95 mph fastball back though :)
Hope this helps in your decision. My thoughts would be to get it done now and you should be ok by early too late May.

[Jesse-WI]

My mom and cousin have had the surgery. There recovering time was a combination of how sever the injury is and how well you handle pain during the rehab.

[lobo1]

Tore mine playing ball in college 15+ years ago. Since I had already had my elbow repaired I opted to NOT have the shoulder surgery. I pressed the rehab side of it and it ached for a couple years but I have gotten over it and now it only seems to hurt occassionally.
Your decision will all depend on the severity of the tear and what limitations you are having. I would certainly look at second and third opinions prior to being cut.

lobo1

[GlassHalfFull]

Agree with lobo1, get a second opinion. My first doctor sent me to therapy, serious pain! Went to second doctor, he got out the knife, fixed me up and has been great since. Rehab wasn't bad (but I was 20). I think you would be releasing walleye by first of May. And you will be able to put a T-shirt on without pain!

[rock2me]

Never had that surgery but I cannot stress enough... GET A SECOND OPINION. (was that loud enough?)

I am dealing with a different issue. However, the first doc said you need surgery next week. I cancelled the surgery the day before it was to happen. I drove to the Mayo Clinic for a second and third opinion. (I had to pay out of my own pocket.) They had a totally different diagnosis and treatment plan. They said that if I would have gone ahead with the first doc's plan, there was a good chance of paralysis. Oh yeah, the first doc also told me that I had cancer. Since that time I have had just about every test under the sun and the diagnosis is - NO cancer - verified by a PET scan.

Still walkin' and talkin' in the Twin Cities!!!



Good Luck

[johnp034]

I did get a second opinion, the first guy wanted to cut me 4years ago. I Went to the Cleveland Clinic and the Doc there said to hold off until I can't stand the pain no more. It got better and now its got pretty bad. I went back to see him last week, he still wants to hold off, gave me some anti-inflammatory drugs and said if it doesn't help in 2-3 weeks, (so far, after 4 days of pills, no change) we'll do another MRI and see whats happening. I don't mind having the surgery, if I know its gonna be o.k. after. I know that the opinions from you guys on WC, will probably help me make up my mind. I guess I'm being stupid in trying not to miss the spring Walleye run. (Pretty dumb reason, huh?)

Thanx to all

[NumberNine]

>Never had that surgery but I cannot stress enough... GET A
>SECOND OPINION. (was that loud enough?)

Rock2me just gave you good advice. Please take it.

It is also good that you are checking with people on this board to get the "real story" from folks who have had the surgery.

I have a tear also. Right now I am choosing to live with it. I have just been through 6 therapy sessions and was told "that is as good as it is going to get without surgery".

The thing is, I have had EIGHT major surgeries. What the "cutter" does not tell you is you can wind up worse AFTER the surgery than before it (scar tissue, bad angle in the joint due to too much bone spur removal, misshapen areas due to too much tissue removal, and other "normal" side effects). If you cannot live what YOU feel is a normal life with minimal pain ... have the surgery AFTER you get a second opinion.

[WillieB]

Good point NumberNine,
Everyone has there own comfort, tolerance, and pain thresholds.

Johnp034, as long as no peripheral damage is being done, YOU need to decide whether it's tolerable or not.

I can tell you though, that eating anti-inflammatories and pain meds isn't a particularly progressive route.

[lobo1]

I can tell you though, that eating anti-inflammatories
>and pain meds isn't a particularly progressive route.


Aint that the truth !! I kept abusing my shoulder trying to make it to the draft and was taking multiples of the recommended dosage on my motrin 800's to combat the pain/swelling.
I can tell you that if you keep poppin the motrins and the like (in excess) they can fix the hole in your belly too !!

lobo1
>

[wiley walleye]

Nope, not a bad reason at all. The reason I answered the way I did the first time is because mine is the actual socket. Yours is everything around the socket. I assume this has been confirmed with test, MRI etc. because I was actually hoping that was what mine was and would have had the surgery right then. Now I did wait till the end of my sons lilltle league before I went to the doc.
I have had five other structural repairs. Your body and nobody elses will tell you when you have had enough, as long as you are not hurting it more by waiting, then your mind needs to take over.
Again, Good Luck
Joe

[Gilly]

Well guys I am back a few steps. Helped parents move into new home in a seven day all out affair from dusk to dawn each day. A week later my arm and shoulder start to hurt like #####. A month goes by with some NSAID for a little over a week and it gets better. Still not right but bearable doing "not much". Thinking about handlining for hours with that right shoulder pain, I head back to doc. He thinks there isn't a tear but just swelling or impingement sydrome. So I went for the cortisone injection. Starting to feel better and have a months worth of NSAIDs to take. If still not resolved an MRI will be done next. My question for you guys is can these things resolve on their own given time? He states if it is an actual tear the synovial fluid in your joint leaks out and prevents the tendon from healing. Wait and see at this point.

[NumberNine]

>Starting to feel
>better and have a months worth of NSAIDs to take. If still
>not resolved an MRI will be done next. My question for you
>guys is can these things resolve on their own given time?

If there is (merely??) irritation ... it irritates the joint further everytime you move your shoulder. The anti-inflammatory should help. I was told it would take 3 months to get better on its own ... if indeed it would.

If there is a tear, I was told it will NOT get better on its own.

The only way to determine if you have a tear or not is an MRI.

One thing that will help the "clicking" you feel when you move your shoulder upward is to point the thumb up before you start to move that shoulder up. This eases the "impingement" and helps overlapping parts of your shoulder slide upward and over the underlying parts more easily. The shoulder is the most mobile joint we have -- and therefore is the most complex.

The reason it took a week to feel the problem is that the irritation was not bad enough at the time you did the physical work to cause you pain. However, the irritation continued to progress and tissue continued to swell until you now have problems in that shoulder severe enough to get past your threshold of pain. Same thing happened to me.

Good luck with your healing.

[johnp034]

Mine happened about 4 1/2 yrs. ago. Got the cortisone injections, they helped but now my present Doc says too much cortisone destroys the muscle and then it can't be repaired. Mine got a little better on its own, didn't bother me for a few years, then I decided to put brakes on my Ford Superduty and the front hubs must have been too heavy for this old guy. My Doc told me, that they never self-repair themselves, the only fix is surgery, but only as a last resort. As I said, he gave me some Diclofenac and said if that didn't work Bextra was to be the next try, then another MRI.
The pain is like a strong ache that travels from the top of my shoulder down the back of my bicep all the way to my elbow.

Maybe crankin' in a bunch of 10lbers would be good therapy! I know it would help "FOGET ABOT IT" for a while!

[Behle]

I would try and check with a physical therapist or someone in sports medicine. Many times sports medicine people have different programs you can follow that help with strength, flexibility, and ways to treat inflamation and swelling. As a coach of high scool sports I know that what a family doctor or general practitioner tells you will work but it may not be the best for your situation. We get kids with separated shoulders back within 4 weeks or better using sports medicine people. A family doc would say take 2 months off and it will be fine. That's true but the kid misses his senior year of football in the meanwhile. The kids don't have residual problems afterward.(At least not until they get old)

[johnp034]

Behle, the original Dr. I saw was a sports dr., he gave me the P.T., the trigger point injections, all of the above, then the MRI, then he scheduled the surgery, then I said whoa. He just seemed a bit too quick to go to the knife.

[Gilly]

NumberNine...What ended up happening with yours? Did it finally resolve or was there ultimately a tear that needed sugery? My damm thing has started to click more again. I view that as a bad sign. It has been seven weeks since I first noticed the pain. I asked my doc about physical therapy but he said my range of motion was good and I had good strength. It is only certain positions that cause pain. I am thinking of icing it each day to help with swelling. Other than that just try to take it easy and cross my fingers. Sure pisses you off when you could have done something a little different and prevented this whole thing. I have guys telling me once it is a problem it continues to rear it's ugly head year after year.

[DON NEWMAN]

I was just diagnosed with the same problem, a torn rotator cuff, along with a small bone spur. The doc suggested an anti-inflamatory (Viaox) and physical therapy. Two weeks later the pain had decreased and the physical therapy seems to be helping. You have to strengthen the area around the shoulder without irritating the cuff. Mostly light weights. I've got the exercise diagrams if you'd like me to mail them to you send your mailing address to donpline@aol.com.

I'm in the same boat, I have a steelhead trip to Alaska planned at the end of April, and don't want to go under the knife until after the trip.

[johnp034]

My Doctor didn't say anything about physical therapy, just said to do some mild stretching exercises in the shower with hot water running on the shoulder. The exercises he suggested were just reaching behind your back (sorta like a woman hooking her bra) and push the bad arm up with the good one.

By the way, do you use ice or heat?

[Lund]

Your all correct. Its different with every person. I'm a therapist and have worked with several people with rotator cuff repairs, socket injuries, scar tissue build up (after the surgery), arthritis, etc. ALWAYS get a second opinion. If the cuff is torn, surgery may be the best fix. If its the muscle belly thats torn, (muscle has significant blood supply and can heal much easier) it has better odds of repairing itself. If its a tendon injury (with minimal blood supply) it can still sometimes reattach but it is much more difficult. Get an MRI, evaluate the results with a knowledgable doc and make your own decision.
Remember,
Inflamation can replicate certain kinds of pain and decrease range of motion. Ice always is to remove swelling by constricting blood vessels and pushing out the fluid (edema) and sometimes numbing the area. Heat can provide pain relief or increase pain depending on the injury, it increases blood flow to the site of the injury, (which bring nutrients that help repair), and increases edema. Many therapist and docs request that you do alternate ice and heat to pump the fluid in/out of the site of injury.

As I said above, I'm a therapist, not a doc, always listen to your treating physician for the correct protocalls and ALWAYS get more than one opinion--ultimately you need to make the final call, if things don't add up you are right to question it. Not all Docs are at the same level of experience, knowledge, etc.

[GR8WTHUNTER]

My brother had his rotator cuff done and as I recall he was back in the weight room in about 6 weeks. It took 3 doctors just over 6 hours to put my shoulder back togeather. I spent 6 months with my arm strapped to my side, 6 months in therapy, and about a year in the weight room to get back to about 90%. I missed out on some fishing and 2 archery seasons but in the long run it was worth it. Rich

[JAS]

Had my left shoulder done 6 weeks ago. Started out as a pretty routine scope job--ended up with three screws to hold the bicep muscle which had been torn about 7 years ago. Had to drill 3 holes in the bone to connect tendon back where it belonged. I've been in rehab since the day of surgery. So far so good. It was very painfull the first week to 10 days and I found out I was allergic to PERCOCET, ended up using ibuprophen instead. I could turn a handle on a fishing reel right now if I needed to. doc says my right one needs it too...Can't wait

jas

[johnp034]

Wow! I didn't expect this to be such a popular subject! Thanks to everyone for all the valuable info. I really appreciate it and will put it good use. I'll know in about two weeks which way I'm gonna go.

Thanks again everyone!