Anyone here have major shoulder surgery?

[89911]

When growing up, I got caught up in the late seventies, early eights obsession with weight lifting. 6 times a week for 10 years. I got pretty big (6" 225lbs) for a while and then figured out that nobody cared about it but me. Fast forward 20 years to today. I've had my share of MRI's and diagnosis, (Impingements, rotator tears, and generalized pain). Still able to do mostly anything but certain weightlifting maneuvers that I would avoid. Fell the other day shoveling snow over a covering of ice and racked my left shoulder pretty bad. Torn labrum and infraspinatus portion of rotator. I have trouble putting on my jacket or generally reaching for anything. Scheduled to have another MRI to check. Facing the facts that I may not be able to do much with my hands above my head without pain. I'm hopeful some rehab will eliminate the pain, but I am contemplating surgery if not. The surgery sounds like a major *****. 3 months of recovery, with at least one month with absolutely no use of my left arm. Oh yeah, the right is almost as bad. Wondering who out there has had successful surgery and regained most of the use they once had. Growing old sucks!

[Sonic dB]

Have you tried rehabbing your shoulders through excercising with
light weights?

I had some serious problems myself, especially in my right shoulder
which started from throwing baseballs...and then got worse over the
years via weightlifting.

A friend of mine showed me some excercises that I do every day with
15lb weights. Extending both arms out to the sides, up and down,
extending to the front and also doing a round-about excercise where
I extend the arms forward, then move to the side, rotate my hands and
the weights and return the arms to the sides.

These excercises have worked WONDERS! It takes a few months of
doing them to get the benefits, but all of a sudden you wake up and
the pain is gone. Start with small weights like 5 or 10 lbs and work up
from there. I do 3 sets of 10 on each excercise.

Rehab beats surgery any day. These excercises strengthen the area
around the impingements and tears, and take the pressure off of those
areas. Believe it or not it works!

Too many people have told me about shoulder surgerys that have
gone wrong and caused more problems.... My closest friend's
brother had serious problems after his rotator cuff surgery.

Rest and inactivity are not
your friends with the rotator cuff...you have to attack the problem by
strengthening the area first.

Get a second opinion from a doctor
regarding the surgery...and see if you
can rehab it first! Maybe you can if you do it light.

Here are some links

http://familydoctor.org/265.xml

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Rotator-cuff-home-rehabilitation-exercises#ue4831

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm

[89911]

Good advice and I agree with everything mentioned. When you look at the mri and see all that is going on though, it is hard to picture it improving immensely. I'm not hurting that bad though. I installed a dishwasher the other day by myself. Opened the door with one had while I held the unit with the other. It could be worse.

[Sonic dB]

Its quite possible that you damaged it beyond what excercies will heal.
Slight tears and impingements can be quite painful in that area. I used
to wake up in the middle of the night in total pain if I rolled over on it the
wrong way. The excercises cured this...however in your case, the MRI
should tell you what to do first. good luck

[azasadny]

My father was just disgnosed with a tear in the infraspinatus (sp?) and the Dr recommended physical therapy. Ther therapy has gotten my father back to about 90% range of motion and he's happy with that. He's also 68 years old so that's a factor. Always get a 2nd or 3rd opinion and good luck! Do what the Dr says and don't "work through the pain" or you'll make the injury worse!

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Did you tear the labrum completely?

I had a SLAP Lesion, a complete tear of the ligament around the rotator cuff, or so this idiot understood it. It took about a year to heal and I still don't try and throw anything. I used a very good doctor in Houston, TX.

Some of these injuries cannot be repaired by proper exercise, they have to be surgically repaired and then rehabbed. Some can be fixed without surgery. See a good orthopedist surgeon is my advice.

[89911]

Originally posted by Groesbeck Hurricane
Did you tear the labrum completely?

I had a SLAP Lesion, a complete tear of the ligament around the rotator cuff, or so this idiot understood it. It took about a year to heal and I still don't try and throw anything. I used a very good doctor in Houston, TX.

Some of these injuries cannot be repaired by proper exercise, they have to be surgically repaired and then rehabbed. Some can be fixed without surgery. See a good orthopedist surgeon is my advice.

Actually have seen about three, including my old roommate who is an orthopedic surgeon. I know him too well to let him operate on me. The last group I saw are the team doctors for the Pirates. I asked them how come I'm reading about players getting operated on then throwing in a few months. He said with the way my shoulder looked, I would of retired years ago . I tore the labrum a few years ago playing volleyball. The fall did some more damage to the rotators. The upcoming MRI will tell the tale. My question is if anyone had the surgery and resumed near the level prior to it. From what I gather, it should only be contemplated if your shoulder is: A. Hurting constantly B. Preventing you from carrying on you daily routines. C. Preventing you from sleeping properly. Mine's doing none of this.....yet.

[Dixie]

I feel your pain...

For five years I walled around with a fully detached supraspinatus. I tore it loose lifting. MRIs showed nothing. For five years I could not lift my arm. For five years I was in constant pain. For five years I heard, "you’re getting older..." And, "it's tendonitis... "

Once I explained I could no longer play golf, they agreed to operate. (Okay, I’ve never played golf in my life, but it got me what I wanted.) After the surgery the orthopedic surgeon apologized. The muscle was fully detached. Today, my arm works better than it has in the last decade or two.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

I had issues with all 3. The operation helped. I can now lift my arm over my head and I'm working in more activities every month. Recovery was about 11 months for me, but I might have babied it.

A former boss of mine took more than two years to recover but he had MAJOR surgery as he blew out his shoulder during a motorcycle accident.

[pdx944]

I just got in an injury skiing, tore 4 leg muscles dislocated my hip, and compressed my lower spine into my pelvis. Its been about a month and it is *pretty* much healed, it helps being young. I went to physical therapy, and everything. I am nervous about the long term effects of this injury.

[Evans, Marv]

pdx,
From someone in their mid 60s, I can tell you almost all of those things come back to bite you in the a$$.

[Moses]

I had a torn labrum/SLAP lesion. Suffered for a year before surgery. Long, miserable recovery after surgery. It will NEVER be 100%. I don't have pain anymore, but I can't realy throw well anymore and I can't do pushups.

On the bright side, I can cast a fly rod and swing a golf club without pain. But I guess I'll never pitch a no hitter in the big leagues.