Mine is torn and I'm debating getting it fixed or not. I can do about 90% of the stuff i want to do with no pain (including riding a motorcycle) but throwing a ball is out of the question and hanging from my arms hurts as well. The surgery is only about 30 minutes but the recovery is several months +. Looking for anybody that's had the experience and their thoughts. Thanks!!!
My wife had a full-tear of her rotator cuff in her right shoulder. Had it fixed here at Duke, she's good to go now. I work here at Duke, if you want me to hook you up with the top surgeon for this, just let me know. Since you're here in Raleigh, you won't have a long travel to get to her. Recovery is about 3 months before you can do much with the arm, and about 6 months to be back to normal. But you want to get it fixed before it's a full-tear. Much more difficult to mend a full-tear than a partial-tear. Let me know if I can help you out.
I tore every piece of tissue in my shoulder from a horrific kickball accident... Anytime I tried to play sports or just jump for something my arm would come out of the socket since nothing was holding it in. I had the surgery in 2012 and my arm was strapped to my chest for like 4 weeks to prevent me from moving it while it was healing. Rehab was a killer to get the full range back. I am able to ride and throw again but my strength is still not where it was yet but that is my fault. Do the surgery and do the time, it's better than having to keep dealing with the pain of dislocations and the mental distress of being limited in your having any fun.
I low sided at BHF years ago and mashed my right should into the pavement pretty good. Riding in the weeks after wasn't an issue, but turning a steering wheel was still torture a 6 weeks later, so I had it looked at. Torn Labrum. Surgery was simple. Just two small incisions. In and out in 2 hrs. Arm in an immobilizer sling 24 hours for two weeks. Could only sleep on my back as my arm was strapped to my side. Two more weeks in a loose sling. 3 months of PT. Range of motion took a few months to come back. In the end, my repaired shoulder is about the same as my other shoulder. My shoulders have always been weak, so there was no joy at the end of recovery...just a lack of pain.
Copy and pasted from the triumph forum I am on. I figured I'd post about this now that I am repaired. I could have summed this up in probably 2 sentences but I am feeling creative and not feeling like working on this holiday. On June 20th 2009 I was recruited to be apart of a Fundraiser and play Kickball on a team called World Domination. We were a collective group of athletes considered to be the best of the best for a game meant for children . We did end up winning the tournament though I only completed 1 whole game...read on to find out why at 28 years old I got hurt playing kickball. First game in the tournament my team kicks ass, dominates if you will. All is well and we all come out injury free. At this point I should mention 2 things. One its absolutely pouring, literally buckets were falling from the sky and smashing unsuspecting adult children in the face. The field was just pure mud, you couldn't move in it. So we decided to play in the outfield grass. Second the only thing flowing more free then the rain from the sky was the beer from the kegs. By the time the 2nd game started there were puddles the size of ponds forming. And by the end of the 2nd game home plate was a miniature lake. In this lake were girls wrestling each other for fun and having clothing either see through, missing or riding up to areas that covered nothing. It was at this moment while I was on third base I was going to REALLY make an entrance coming home...read that as you will. Ball gets kicked and I run home. Remember I had predetermined these actions and they were by no means necessary. I ran as fast as I could and tried to slide from as far out as possible and still make it into the puddle with the ladies. I made it there alright, but with only one arm intact. Somehow in my exuberance my arm went behind my back and when I slide feet first I landed on my back because the grass was just too slick to have any body control (plus drinking). With all the weight of my body on my arm awkwardly pinned behind me it decided it had enough of being attached to my shoulder socket and ripped out violently. I knew something was wrong immediately and every muscle in my neck/shoulder/arm went into full blown spasm because they didn't know how to react. They locked up to the point my arm was stuck wherever it ended up. Everyone was assuming it was a sprain or something else minor till I showed that I could stick my fist into the socket where my arm was missing. It wasn't missing or lost, I knew where it was...below my armpit sticking out above my ribs. Ambulance was called and it was the most painful wait of my life, followed by the most painful car ride of my life. Just breathing was enough movement to have pain shoot through my body. Here is me in the back of the ambulance using my right knee as a support to have my arm rest on. I completely ruined the sheets on this gurney by the way and the hospital bed. I was covered in mud, you can kind of make out that my lower leg is not white. I get to the hospital and have the wondeful experience of the doctors needing to follow protocol. Which means even more waiting without any meds. They decide they need to xray it before proceding in case I need surgery because stuff is broken. Fine...except that I had to wait 30 minutes for the xray people. Eventually they see this picture. Which confirms, yes my arm is not where it should be. And luckily no bones are "really" broken. I did crack the head of my arm into a few pieces but it was "intact." This is where it gets interesting, I am sure if you have read this far you thought this was already interesting. The doctor says he needs me to relax so he can get my arm back in the socket. I am relaxing about as much as a guy finding out that all of his HS girlfriends had every STD in existence. He cannot budge my arm, so he shoots me up with a double shot of dilaudid, some morphine derivative he told me. He said it was strong and would relax me. It didn't do anything and he still couldn't move my arm. He proceeds to do another double shot of the stuff and now I can feel it. But he still cannot budge my arm. Now this next part I REALLY wish I had video/pictures of. He had a nurse get a bed sheet. He tied my wrist/hand to one end of the sheet. He wrapped the other end around his waist. He had nurses hold my body on the left side, while he grabbed one of those handicap bars on the wall in the room. The doctor played TUG OF WAR WITH MY ARM! At this point I think every doctor and nurse in the ER were watching, the room was packed and there were people in the hall ways. So while he is pulling with both arms on the railing, 2 nurses holding me around my waist on the left, and another nurse pulling up on my dislocated arm it snaps back into place. My body felt like I just came 10000 times. After more than 2 hours with my arm not in the socket the reunion was so sweet. So sweet in fact, the mixture of all that booze and morphine stuff wanted in on the party and I puked everywhere immediately. Fast forward a couple years and I finally had the surgery to repair everything I fucked up on October 18th, 2011. I am in rehab now and everyday it feels like I have my arm back more and more. If you really read this all I applaud you and your ability to procrastinate and waste time as much as me. See you on the track! And don't play kickball, it's dangerous
^^ i gather you didn't get to really enjoy the mud party going on. At least your team won. Glad you're getting fixed up.
Note to self...when playing kickball in the mud and home plate is protected by partially clothed females, slide head first. If your friends were nice enough to take pics of you in the ambulance, surely they have pictures of the shenanigans going on at home plate????
i have a partial labrum, and rotator tear in my right shoulder, verified with an mri. i did mine last october/november. the docs cant promise after the surgery and therepy, no pain, or that i'll be as strong, and have all movement back. i have opted to wait till at least after the riding season, and decide if i want to risk it. then in june at grattan i crashed and broke the same arm, shoulder blade in 2 places. stayed out of the gym for 4-5 weeks, and started back in with a little pain (to be expected). like the op, i have 90%+ function, no pain, unless i throw something. i'm still in the gym, benching, flies, deadlifting, military pressing ect... just not pushing max weights and being stupid. i am doing extra rotator exercises and stretching, to help the muscles around the injury, help the injury to be "normal". and it appears to be working. now my other shoulder hurts worse than the torn up one. LOL! we are just busy people, and i either have to give up a summer riding bikes, or the winter riding sleds, or miss bowhunting for a year. i just cant pick a time to get it done and rehab without missing a big portion of a sport i like to do. it isnt really that bad so.... i may not ever have it fixed. your results may vary. Ski
You would think so...but to this day I have yet to see any pictures, video, or any drawings of said activities. All I have are some fading images in my brain.
I had a suspected partial tear of my rotator cuff. I say suspected because my insurance declined an MRI and instead ordered 8 weeks of physical therapy first. Fine, I'll do the PT and see where we go from there. Session after session I go in, do the exercises, do them at home, then go back and do them again. Still severe pain laying flat on my stomach and lifting my arms up in a wing flapping motion along with the same pain while pulling a band from a neutral position to a arm straight out position, much the same motion as signaling a left turn from a pointing ahead position. One week, I couldn't make PT because I was swamped at work and it was the end of the month. Wouldn't you know it, it starts to feel better. The next week I make PT and it hurts all over again, just as much as before. The therapist and I talk, he talks to my doctor, doctor calls insurance company, insurance company still declines MRI coverage! Keep in mind, this is the 8th week that they determined to be the tipping point for an MRI! Finally I just said EFF IT! I stopped all PT at home and at the therapist. Three weeks later, I feel just about as good as I did before I hurt it. My point: none really Perhaps just listen to your own body and take the steps you need to feel better. Oh, and don't play kickball!
