On my 9th day following rotator cuff surgery

[Wasatch Rebel]

This sucks. I can't hardly type and keep messing things up and having to redo them. Anyone else had this surgery? How did it go for you?

[RedMan]

This sucks. I can't hardly type and keep messing things up and having to redo them. Anyone else had this surgery? How did it go for you?

Not yet but soon. I keep putting it off. Let me know how it works out.

[Bo_Beck]

This sucks. I can't hardly type and keep messing things up and having to redo them. Anyone else had this surgery? How did it go for you?

I had a class D rotator cuff repair on my left shoulder a year ago this past october. Pretty bad tears from my Narrows Kayak accident. Thought I'd have to die to get better. Now my left shoulder works better than my right! My wife Maria had a class B rotator cuff repair on her right shoulder 8 weeks ago. She's healing nicely, but still very limited on use. Just be sure to do your PT religiously!

Did you have serious repairs i.e. supraspinatus, infraspinatus, decompression etc? Cheer up....it does get better after some weeks! Hope you are getting some sleep? I went almost 6 weeks without any real sleep!

[kkemp]

I had an R.C. injury back in 2000. I didn't have surgury fortunately but I went through bunch of PT till my insurance wouldn't pay for it anymore then the clinic refused help me anymore. So I lived with some pain until two years ago when I started swimming. That was all I needed to finally make it heal. So, I would recommend swimming once you get to the point where it's possible.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Did you have serious repairs i.e. supraspinatus, infraspinatus, decompression etc? Cheer up....it does get better after some weeks! Hope you are getting some sleep? I went almost 6 weeks without any real sleep!

I don't think it was real serious as far as those injuries go, because the doc told me that it was good I came in when I did, because if I'd have let it get much worse it would've been much harder to repair. And no, I'm not sleeping well at all. I have to pretty much sleep on my back and that's causing me some severe sleep apnea. I've been able to sleep a little on my left side (right shoulder had the surgery), but no....I'm having a tough time with that.

I would recommend swimming once you get to the point where it's possible.

I think I will. Although the stuff I've read about swimming says the crawl is bad, but maybe that's before the repair.

[double moo]

I had an R.C. injury back in 2000. I didn't have surgury fortunately but I went through bunch of PT till my insurance wouldn't pay for it anymore then the clinic refused help me anymore. So I lived with some pain until two years ago when I started swimming. That was all I needed to finally make it heal. So, I would recommend swimming once you get to the point where it's possible.

A motorcycle injury left my shoulder 3 -1/2 inches out of socket... for 8 hours... the PT was brutal and seemed to make minimal progress until I started swimming. If you know how to swim well - good stroke and form - it will improve muscle strength and function faster than anything else. This was recommended and encouraged by my Physical Therapist. First half dozen times in the water I pushed it until the pain took over - then it got easier and the benefit outweighed the hurt!

[Felicia]

This sucks. I can't hardly type and keep messing things up and having to redo them. Anyone else had this surgery? How did it go for you?

It sounds like you made the right decision. At least you can walk around.

[Wasatch Rebel]

It sounds like you made the right decision. At least you can walk around.

Yeah. I've actually been able to get some good, long walks in for exercise, so that's good as far as being able to keep in shape aerobically. I'm gonna lose my Captain America upper body though.

[Felicia]

It sounds like you made the right decision. At least you can walk around.

Yeah. I've actually been able to get some good, long walks in for exercise, so that's good as far as being able to keep in shape aerobically. I'm gonna lose my Captain America upper body though.

Captain America - meet Bubba! This is what I look like right now:

[Wasatch Rebel]

Captain America - meet Bubba! This is what I look like right now:

Wow! What happened?

[Bo_Beck]

I set up a pulley off of my ceiling; run a rope through with a loop in each end of the rope. Make it so that when you are seated that you can, with assistance from your good arm raise your repaired arm up with assistance from your good shoulder (arm slightly bent at the elbow) until you reach a pain index of 2 or 4. Do this to the front initially and then later on start rotating to the side. Best single PT for range of motion you'll do. Also take a tennis ball, stand in front of a wall (about 18 inches away facing the wall), put the ball on the wall in front of you, palm it with your hand and do circular motions, sliding the ball upward until reaching a pain index of 3-4. Great PT as well for range of motion. Remember to not use force or exertion with the repaired shoulder for at least 4 weeks.
My PT doc was Michael Palmeiri. He had spent various years as a personal trainer for the Bears and Bulls. He now resides here in SG and my wife is and has been going for his treatment twice a week for the last month. He's awesome and the main reason that my repaired shoulder is better than my other shoulder. Again I suggest RELIGIOUS adherence to your PT! BTW....Eventually the sleep will come. You will have muscles totally unrelated to the surgery act up...totally weird, but true. The PT will address these issues.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I set up a pulley off of my ceiling; run a rope through with a loop in each end of the rope. Make it so that when you are seated that you can, with assistance from your good arm raise your repaired arm up with assistance from your good shoulder (arm slightly bent at the elbow) until you reach a pain index of 2 or 4. Do this to the front initially and then later on start rotating to the side. Best single PT for range of motion you'll do. Also take a tennis ball, stand in front of a wall (about 18 inches away facing the wall), put the ball on the wall in front of you, palm it with your hand and do circular motions, sliding the ball upward until reaching a pain index of 3-4. Great PT as well for range of motion. Remember to not use force or exertion with the repaired shoulder for at least 4 weeks.
My PT doc was Michael Palmeiri. He had spent various years as a personal trainer for the Bears and Bulls. He now resides here in SG and my wife is and has been going for his treatment twice a week for the last month. He's awesome and the main reason that my repaired shoulder is better than my other shoulder. Again I suggest RELIGIOUS adherence to your PT! BTW....Eventually the sleep will come. You will have muscles totally unrelated to the surgery act up...totally weird, but true. The PT will address these issues.

Thanks, Bo!

[Felicia]

Captain America - meet Bubba! This is what I look like right now:

Wow! What happened?

I tore the ligaments in my ankle. They had to repair the joint and ligaments and attach the ligaments back to the bone. I'll be down for awhile.

What did you do to your shoulder?

My plan is to follow Bo's suggestions: do what you are told and keep working at recovery.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Captain America - meet Bubba! This is what I look like right now:

Wow! What happened?

I tore the ligaments in my ankle. They had to repair the joint and ligaments and attach the ligaments back to the bone. I'll be down for awhile.

What did you do to your shoulder?

My shoulder began hurting a couple of years ago. I don't know what I originally did to it. I may have hurt it falling and added to it when my one handed basketball shot was blocked by a young tall kid. But in October of last year I went to sight in my 30.06. This gun kicks like a mule and after the first shot, my shoulder was hurting bad. I didn't think much of it, other than I had not held the gun snug enough into my shoulder, so I shot it again. I did this nine times because I was trying to make sure I could hit the target at several distances. Afterward, my shoulder was killing me. And right after that, my usual daily pain started increasing week by week. It got to the point where I couldn't take my grandbabies when they were handed to me without nearly dropping them because of the pain, and I couldn't roll over in bed without waking up because of pain. I couldn't do anything that required using strength at arms length, like pushing open a heavy door with my right arm, or lifting something heavier than a couple of pounds over head. I had been seeing a doctor for it over the past couple of years who had treated it with therapy, and cortisone shots, none of which actually worked--well, they worked somewhat, but not enough.

So, I switched doctors because I was tired of driving clear across the valley, and this doctor, who isn't a surgeon said, "well, it seems to me that you can keep trying the same stuff, but you'll probably get the same result." He then said that a professional pitcher would opt for surgery at this point to see if he could maybe pitch again, but that he wanted me to make the choice. I saw no alternative. I could get it done now and maybe be good to go for all my summer activities, or I could wait on it to get worse. I decided now would be the better option. I ended up having a torn rotator cuff, some spurs, a bone that needed some trimming, and some bone cysts. They had originally seen a bad biceps long head on the MRI, but when the doc got in there, he decided that that injury wasn't necessary to be repaired. So, longs story over, that's what happened.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Yesterday was a freakin' bear. I don't know why but for periods of the day I was in the worst pain since I had it operated on. Is this normal, or is my healing going badly?