Recovery From Shoulder Surgery

[quote]doders wrote:
I think it’s amazing that you guys are/have recovered so fast. I’m a rugby player and i had surgery last week to repair a torn labrum, torn glenohumeral ligament and remove a bone chhip. I’m in a sling for 6 weeks with no PT and in some pain. anybody have a similar previous injury and know the real recovery time to lift as heavy I want? doc said 6 months but at this pace I feel I’ll never lift/play again[/quote]

Doders,
Your surgery was really severe compared to mine. I only had two sessions of physio and they released me.I started back at the gym a week after the op,but this proved too much. I took two weeks off and have started back this week and so far it is fine. I think keyhole is not so invasive as the other kind so i consider myself to be very lucky, i was expecting 6 months of rehab. Be patient,and i wish you all the best for the future.
Nobby

My shoulder experience started out bizarre and now has progressed to frustrating. The bizarre part is that my symptoms,range of motion, MRI, etc. pre-surgery in no way matched where I ended up after surgery (so far anyway). I had persistent, but generally mild pain in my right dominant shoulder. A cortisone shot and PT didn’t knock out the problem.

The MRI in early Sept. showed a rotator cuff tear estimted at only 1 centimeter. The surgeon recommended surgery since it wouldn’t heal on its own. Pre-operatve tests showed good range of motion and seemed to confirm that only minor surgery was needed. I went under the knife on 10/10/07 and woke up with a massive pillow sling and a much worse prognosis.

There was a 7 centimeter rotator cuff tear and a massive amount of repairs done. I’m nearly 8 weeks post surgery now. I just got rid of the pillow on my sling, with the sling itself to be in use 4 more weeks. I’m miles worse than I was pre-surgery at this point. I am pissed that I ever had the surgery and had it out pretty good with the surgeon.

He says that I was headed for a wall with the amount of tearing in my cuff. I’m baffled how the MRI and my ROM didn’t match reality in terms of the cuff tearing!! Right now I’m into the basic PT, trying to push thru the pain, and hoping to put this is in my rear view. Right now, it feels like getting back to my pre-surgery activity would be a miracle. Sorry for the rave.

Jim C,

If you had a tear then surgery was your only viable option. I suspect your doctor was telling you the truth. There’s no point in his lying to you. Furthermore, your recovery really does indicate that you had screws inserted. What would you expect the surgeon to do - not fix the tear because he hadn’t seen it in the MRI? That doesn’t make sense.

I’m not one to accept what doctors say without investigation. And I realize they can and do mess up in surgery. However, that is probably not the case here. At least it’s too early to tell for sure.

I know you’re upset because the recovery is longer than you anticipated. The good news is that your on your way to recovery.

Take care and don’t push your recover too fast. Stay with the PT until you’re well on your way to full recovery.

Carlsbad

Thanks for the reply, Carlsbad. It’s easy for me to get frustrated with a long shutdown. Your perspective is good.

Sorry to hear about your problems Jim C.

Its been one month since I went under the knife and the pain is still there (not as bad as the first few days though). I have 70% movement back in my right arm now.

The doctor DID explain what he did after the surgery but I was in “LA-LA Land” when I woke from the surgery so I didn’t know what was done. Just saw the doctor since the surgery, apparently I had a 1cm tear in two spots. They also trimmed some of the bone in the shoulder joint.

I have been told that I should recover, but they would not give me a definite answer as to whether recovery would be 100%.

I cannot put my arm behind my back (as if I were to scratch the middle of my back)

Recovery is very slow, even with physio twice a week and daily exercises.

Good Luck to Everyone

[quote]Carlsbad wrote:
ctownsend - I think you should get off the drugs as soon as you can handle it.
[/quote]

Why?

IF the only way to get to sleep is to take something for pain, then so be it. Sleep is really important for successful recovery. I never so much as take an aspirin usually.

I don’t drink, no drugs, never junk food. I am your basic dull person.

I have to say this is KILLING me not to be able to work out.

I am going to try to do something after Christmas depending on how recovery goes.

Have a Great Christmas Everyone

[quote]ctownsend wrote:
Carlsbad wrote:
ctownsend - I think you should get off the drugs as soon as you can handle it.

Why?

[/quote]

“As soon as you can handle it” means being able to sleep, etc. The drugs they give you can be really powerful. For example, I had Percocet. It’s pretty powerful stuff. I opted to get off it after one day and for me that was better. Good luck with your recovery.

Now on to my recovery status…

I’m 3.5 months out of surgery and while my shoulder doesn’t hurt in normal activities it does tighten up a lot when lifting. I’m still using only dumbbells. I tried benching with barbell a couple of weeks ago and it hurt like heck.

I’ve been doing a lot of back work and interspersing push ups when I bench. Still feeling fairly weak. It is frustrating but I’m not letting up. I’ve been fortunate to get 4 workouts a week for the last 2 months.

How are the other guys doing with their shoulder surgery recoveries? I am interested. And if you have good advice let us know. Thanks.

Carlsbad

I’m at 2.5 months post surgery now. My situation is that I had 2 rotator cuff tears…2 cm at the bone and 5 cm within the tendon itself. The pillow part of my sling was removed on 11/29 and they say I can go sling free by 12/27 or so. That sounds like progress, BUT…As bad as my rotator cuff damage was, I was much better off pre-surgery than I am now. I had excellent range of motion.

Right now, I can’t comb my hair or put eye drops in with the repaired arm. That’s how restricted the ROM is. The PT practice I’m seeing and mandated by the surgeon believes in introducing overhead exercises last. So no spider walking on walls, etc. All exercises are done lying down so far. Needless to say, progress is slow. The other thing is that the pain especially at night is worse. Wakes me up every 1-2 hours. Sometimes it’s in the front of the shoulder. Sometimes in the back.

It doesn’t seem like pushing the PT is helping. I’m at the crossroads of pushing more and hoping to get to the other side BUT at the same time wondering if I’ve reinjured the darn thing. Will voice my concerns with the PT guy this week and maybe get a 2nd opinion since the 1st surgeon and I get along like gasoline and fire.

Oh well. I wish the rest of you better luck and good Holidays!

Jim C., Carlsbad, (and the others) I know exactly how you guys feel…
2 years ago I had an Acromioplasty and Slap Lesion (ligiments torn away from the bone and looked a frayed rope) repair done. I was given cortisone and PT prior to surgery as the MRI showed no abnormalities. I pressured the Dr. to do something, 'cuz there was definately something wrong, so he finally agreed to take a look inside and do the acromio. I too had great ROM, I even had a hellava w/o the morning of surgery. Long story short, he told me that as soon as he got inside and saw what it looked like, he was amazed I was even able to move my arm, and the only thing holding it in place was the muscle I had built around the joint. I wasn’t a case of if my shoulder dislocated, but when and how bad it tore it up. I was locked in a sling with no hope of movement, and had my shoulder freeze. When PT was given, it was painful! My therapist was (and is) a sports therapy specialist and he had me wait before doing things like spider walks up the wall. I now have 100% ROM and am nearly pain free in all movements. One of the things I did was begin yoga for my flexability and ROM (I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of ultimate fitness goals). For those of you getting frustrated by slow progress, or feeling like your therapist is moving too slow, be patient. I have seen what happens when a lifter tries to push it too soon… they have second (or third) surgeries. Good luck to all of you in your recoveries.

ARRG…

So everything was going along fine. My shoulder was feeling pretty good. I started lifting heavier and heavier. Then BAM … now my shoulder feels like it did prior to surgery. I’m 4 plus months out of surgery and I may have hurt it already. I’m really worried that I over did it. Dang it!

I was on a business trip last week and decided not to work out at all. I thought that maybe the rest would do me good. No such luck. The return trip took over 5 hours. By the end, my shoulders (both) were killing me. I hate flying. Too cramped.

I’ve stop benching completely. I’m now relagated to push ups, back excerices, arms, and legs. No chest or shoulders at all.

I’m very frustrated right now… sorry for the rant.

Carlsbad

Hey Carlsbad,
Chin up man!
I will update you on my surgery. A week after having the stitches out i went back to the gym just like you have.I thought that, bacause i did not have any pain, i was ok and jumped right into benching. One week later after telling everyone on this post that i was ok i was back in a sling for two more weeks!I had inflammed my wound and the physio was mad. I had lost range of motion ( “worse now than when i had just had the surgery”.Was how the physio put it.) I had to rehab all over again and at the same time stop the physio because i had ran out of money.
I was pretty good during the xmas break and the comp i was telling everyone i wanted to enter was getting nearer and nearer.I was still having a little pain in my shoulder or so i thought and decided to go back to physio.I was too embarrassed to go back to the hospital one, so i looked for a local physio who might understand what i was trying to achieve.I found a place called “Back to Sport” and booked in for a session with one of their people.I took my medical notes and some photos of me in my last comp so that he could see what i was all about.

The guy was only just old enough to be my son but as we talked i got more and more confident that he new his job. He diagnosed me almost at once and said that he would do some test to prove himself right and he was confident he could get me ready for my comp on 27th Jan.
His diagnosis was that, in fact, the pain was not in my shoulder but in the biceps tendon.It had shortened and the rehab from my other physio had not taken this into consideration.He gave me some exercises to do at home , using only a tin of soup. He was very confident that i would get strong very quickly. I have to tell you that he was right! At our next session he upped the ante with a few other exercises and i was benching pain free in just 2 weeks.I had one last session ( 3 in total) and he discharged me.

The joke is though,by the time i was benching again, the comp organisers had closed the entry because of high numbers. I have now booked in for my British qualifier on Feb 24th.This will allow me to get even stronger.On Wed of this week, i benched 90kg for 2reps.This is only about 80% of my best but i should be good for a qualifing total.
Best of luck to you and keep going.As they say don’t let it grind you down.
Nobby

[quote]Nobby wrote:
Hey Carlsbad,

His diagnosis was that, in fact, the pain was not in my shoulder but in the biceps tendon.It had shortened and the rehab from my other physio had not taken this into consideration.He gave me some exercises to do at home , using only a tin of soup. He was very confident that i would get strong very quickly. I have to tell you that he was right! At our next session he upped the ante with a few other exercises and i was benching pain free in just 2 weeks.I had one last session ( 3 in total) and he discharged me.
              Nobby[/quote]

Nobby,

This is really interesting to me. I’ve been thinking for months that a large part of my problem is in my bicep. Can you describe the exercises that the PT had you do? I completed PT in early December. I mention it to him but he wasn’t keen on the idea. Anyway, any information is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Carlsbad

PS: Let us know when you do compete how it goes. It’s good for us guys going through surgery process to know there is a relatively fast recovery path. You’re healing much faster than me and I think that’s great. A buddy of mine had shoulder surgery 2 years ago and he still can’t bench heavy. I really don’t want to have that happen.

OK Carlsbad,
This is what my guy had me do for the first week. Two days on and one day off. They are really easy and you think that nothing will happen but believe me they did the trick for me.Maybe it will not do anything for you but throw them in the mix and see what happens.

1 lay on your side with your back against a wall.Hold a light weight(soup can in my case)in your hand and flat to your leg.Then just raise up your STRAIGHT arm as high as you can without shrugging your shoulder and not bending at the wrist,you must concentrate on lifting with the shoulder. Just go up and down nice and steady for 10 reps or whatever. I did these 3 - 4 times a day.

2 This one is for the rotator cuff which he said was not firing.You must know this one anyway! I new exactly what he was talking about when he told me.

 In the position as above, but this time bend your arm so that the weight is resting against your stomach.Raise your arm as high as possible without bending at the wrist again and without raising your elbow from your side.

Easy eh?  Worked wonders for me in just a week.

Now for week two!

Exercises as above but then add in :-

3 Standing up.Hold the weight palms up and do a slow biceps curl, again without bending in at the wrist.Then on the way down, do not stop alongside your hip, carry on further back and you should feel a stretch from the top of the bicep to around the lower neck area. Do this for as many as you can and at the same time as you are doing the other two.

4 This one was, in my opinion , the one that finally did it for me. If you have a small ball,like a soccer ball or a basket ball. Then stand upright and sideways away from the wall and press your hand onto the ball and let it support your weight as you lean into it ( with a straight arm ) against the wall. Hard to describe really. You must be well away from the wall and then the ball will move about and you will be steadying it with your weak shoulder.

This gets all your stabilisers firing and it is hard at first to stop yourself from sliding along and falling into the wall. But if you persivere then you can stand there for quite a while until you get fed up!

5 This is just a stretch. Sit on a chair and sit on the hand of your poorly arm. With the other hand reach over the top of your head and SLOWLY pull your head to the opposite side . Feeling a stretch and hold for a few seconds and relax and then do it again until you feel that you have benefitted enough from it.

Thats it! Two weeks of that and i was benching pain free.When i went back for the third appointment he discharged me. I am still doing the exercises but for both sides now.
 Best of luck
           Nobby.

Hey guys,

Sorry to hear about your shoulder problems, I haven’t had the pleasure of the knife yet, but I do have issues with my shoulders, my left in particular. I really messed it up when I was playing sports in University. Popped it out 3 times…

A couple years ago I really did some stupid shit while at the gym and really stretched my bicep or pec muscles where they attach into the shoulder…end result…6 months away from lifting…I could not bring my arm behind my back.

I am starting to lift now, although my shoulder does get a little tender from certain exercises ie bench, mil press etc. So far I have really focused on the whole shoulder stability exercises found here at the nation. My PT had me doing all sorts of stretching the get the ROM back which seemed to help out. I try to do stretches everyday.

I’m just babbling so I will shut the hell up now…

Good luck guys. Go slow and be safe.

[quote]Nobby wrote:

2 This one is for the rotator cuff which he said was not firing.You must know this one anyway! I new exactly what he was talking about when he told me.

 In the position as above, but this time bend your arm so that the weight is resting against your stomach.Raise your arm as high as possible without bending at the wrist again and without raising your elbow from your side.

[/quote]

Nobby, I have some issues w/right shoulder from seated military. I haven’t been to a doc or had surgery. Mine is more preventative maintenance right now. I do this exercise with both internal and external rotations. Those are some great exercises that I’ll do preworkout and on my day’s off. Try as we may, but the body will break down as we age. I hope I don’t see a “hip replacement” thread for a long, long time.

HawkCapt

Ha!Ha1. L.M.A.O. i like the “Hip replacement” thread.
nice one Hawcapt.


I have just found a picture of me squatting.This was taken at the meet 3 weeks before my op.If you look at my left shoulder you are able to see that i cannot drop my elbow under the bar as with my right arm.The pain was so bad that this was as far as i could get it with any comfort.With my arm in this position i had a tendency to push the bar forward as i was squatting and i would compeste by leaning forward. I have now managed to correct my form.

Sorry for all the double posts.Everytime i try to edit one , i get a message saying i am not the author so i cannot edit it.
W T F?

When my shoulder was bad (but not at its worst*), I was fine getting under the bar and squatting. But getting out from under the bar was torture. I had to let go with my left hand and then carefully move forward with my left side and dip the right side to get it to disengage. I hated that.

I never thought to take pictures to see if I was angling my arms differently because of it and I don’t work out with partners so no one told me if I was.

  • At my worst, I couldn’t grab the bar.

I know what you mean Pencil Neck. I was always in pain when getting under the bar. I was just looking back at the photo and you can see the problem much better if you look at the image in the mirror and not at the subject!
Nobby