Rotator cuff injuries?

KatieinBkln · April 2015

Has anyone here hurt their rotator cuff or had shoulder surgery? I hurt myself playing softball last Thursday and I'm told I'll need an MRI to determine exactly what is messed up in there, but I'd love to hear some stories about what I might be in for if it is, in fact, a tear that requires surgical repair.

So frustrating not to be able to do my usual physical things! Even if it's relatively minor I'm totally resenting having to slow down even for a week. >:/

littlepep · April 2015

The one time I played softball, I got hit in the face with a ball and had a black eye for a week. I am not at all coordinated and thus do not play sports and thus do not get sports-related injuries so I have no advice, but I'm sorry to hear you hurt yourself! Hopefully it's nothing major!

TrixieJess · April 2015

My step-mother has a rotator cuff injury from 25 years ago when she caught a Harley motor that fell off the back of a truck. Suffice it to say, she requires surgery now. You may be able to stave off surgery for a while with physio, but eventually you will need surgery.

jenna8984 · April 2015

My brother had it a few years ago. I was actually unemployed and lived with him at the time so I kinda took care of him. He was out of work about 1 week. Had a sling for maybe 2-3 weeks. Then I had to do physical therapy with him, like lift his arm certain ways and push it certain ways. It's worth it to do it sooner, my dad has been putting it off for years and he complains a lot about the pain and stiffness.

KatieinBkln · April 2015

jenna8984 said:
My brother had it a few years ago. I was actually unemployed and lived with him at the time so I kinda took care of him. He was out of work about 1 week. Had a sling for maybe 2-3 weeks. Then I had to do physical therapy with him, like lift his arm certain ways and push it certain ways. It's worth it to do it sooner, my dad has been putting it off for years and he complains a lot about the pain and stiffness.

2-3 weeks is much shorter than I had feared! A friend had complete reconstructive shoulder surgery and she was in a sling for upwards of 2 months.

Was your brother out of work because he needed to use his arms, or is it such a hard recovery that he couldn't even do desk stuff? (Luckily it's my nondominant arm, so in theory i could type/click one-handed and log in from home).

novella1186 · April 2015

So this is actually within the realm of my clinical research. If they decide to do surgery it will most likely be a debridement, which is pretty routine and not a big deal as far as surgeries go, or they'd use a tendon anchor to reattach your tendon (probably to the humeral head which is where it usually dislocates from) in which case ask them which company they get their anchors from. This, again, is not a big deal.

You won't be able to do anything majorly physical for a few weeks because of the pull-out force it would put on the tendon anchor, but after that you're fine. I had a friend who recently had this done and he was back to normal within 6 weeks, and the pain went away after just a few days.

When you find out what the specific surgery is (if they decide to do surgery) and you want more info, let me know. All my friends who have surgeries like this ask me to look stuff up/give them data so they can feel more at ease about it, and I'm always happy to help. A friend even asked me to look up the type of break that happened to his daughter's arm in gymnastics last spring. When I gave him the data, it was much less severe than he originally thought, with low risk of complications, and she turned out fine

jenna8984 · April 2015

KatieinBkln said:

jenna8984 said:
My brother had it a few years ago. I was actually unemployed and lived with him at the time so I kinda took care of him. He was out of work about 1 week. Had a sling for maybe 2-3 weeks. Then I had to do physiceven chamherapy with him, like lift his arm certain ways and push it certain ways. It's worth it to do it sooner, my dad has been putting it off for years and he complains a lot about the pain and stiffness.
2-3 weeks is much shorter than I had feared! A friend had complete reconstructive shoulder surgery and she was in a sling for upwards of 2 months.

Was your brother out of work because he needed to use his arms, or is it such a hard recovery that he couldn't even do desk stuff? (Luckily it's my nondominant arm, so in theory i could type/click one-handed and log in from home).

Oh wow that is a long time. I know he only has one small incision scar so I doubt that it was as much work as your friend's. He is in sales so he doesn't really need his arms, I think it was just the pain level/ pain pills for the first week that had him out. Well plus he couldn't move his arm to even change shirts or put on a dress shirt lol. Same when I broke my collar bone and was in a sling- I had to wear tank tops that I pulled up over my ass- nothing over the head for 3 weeks.

KatieinBkln · April 2015

novella1186 said:
So this is actually within the realm of my clinical research. If they decide to do surgery it will most likely be a debridement, which is pretty routine and not a big deal as far as surgeries go, or they'd use a tendon anchor to reattach your tendon (probably to the humeral head which is where it usually dislocates from) in which case ask them which company they get their anchors from. This, again, is not a big deal.

You won't be able to do anything majorly physical for a few weeks because of the pull-out force it would put on the tendon anchor, but after that you're fine. I had a friend who recently had this done and he was back to normal within 6 weeks, and the pain went away after just a few days.

When you find out what the specific surgery is (if they decide to do surgery) and you want more info, let me know. All my friends who have surgeries like this ask me to look stuff up/give them data so they can feel more at ease about it, and I'm always happy to help. A friend even asked me to look up the type of break that happened to his daughter's arm in gymnastics last spring. When I gave him the data, it was much less severe than he originally thought, with low risk of complications, and she turned out fine

Thank you! When I know more I might PM you!

novella1186 · April 2015

KatieinBkln said:

novella1186 said:
So this is actually within the realm of my clinical research. If they decide to do surgery it will most likely be a debridement, which is pretty routine and not a big deal as far as surgeries go, or they'd use a tendon anchor to reattach your tendon (probably to the humeral head which is where it usually dislocates from) in which case ask them which company they get their anchors from. This, again, is not a big deal.

You won't be able to do anything majorly physical for a few weeks because of the pull-out force it would put on the tendon anchor, but after that you're fine. I had a friend who recently had this done and he was back to normal within 6 weeks, and the pain went away after just a few days.

When you find out what the specific surgery is (if they decide to do surgery) and you want more info, let me know. All my friends who have surgeries like this ask me to look stuff up/give them data so they can feel more at ease about it, and I'm always happy to help. A friend even asked me to look up the type of break that happened to his daughter's arm in gymnastics last spring. When I gave him the data, it was much less severe than he originally thought, with low risk of complications, and she turned out fine
Thank you! When I know more I might PM you!

No problem! There's not a lot of things that I can help with in life, but this happens to be a thing I know a little bit about lol. So like I said, I'm always happy to help!

southernbelle0915 · April 2015

DH partially tore his wake boarding a few years ago. He did the MRI to confirm the partial tear. They offered up surgery but he opted for the more conservative physical therapy approach to see if that improved things. It did, but he still has pain from time to time. He still does his PT at the gym.

KatieinBkln · April 2015

southernbelle0915 said:
DH partially tore his wake boarding a few years ago. He did the MRI to confirm the partial tear. They offered up surgery but he opted for the more conservative physical therapy approach to see if that improved things. It did, but he still has pain from time to time. He still does his PT at the gym.

Can he still do the things he likes to do? That's my main worry--that I'll have to stop playing sports or doing the kinds of body-weight workouts I love in favor of all spin class all the time (no offense to spinning; I've done it and it's fine, but it is not my joy).

southernbelle0915 · April 2015

Mostly, yes. Wakeboarding is still hard because its so jerky. Same with jet skiing when he really gets crazy, but that's of his own doing.

But he can play softball and work out as normal. Very occasionally he'll have some pain. He's lifting at the gym 5 days a week (not shoulders every day obviously), but he seems to do OK 95% of the time.

FutureMrsN3312 · April 2015

I tore my rotator cuff, dislocated my shoulder, and did some nerve damage when I was 17. I opted to do PT instead of any type of surgery.

After a long period of PT and lots of time in a sling I was able to resume all activities. Which included cheerleading (complete with tumbling and stunting) and swimming. I believe that summer I actually ranked in the state.

13 years later its good as new. Every now and then when it rains or is brutally cold I'll have some pain but nothing major.

Good luck!

twoleighs · April 2015

Almost 5 years ago I fell on my right shoulder (my dominant hand) and the next day my parent's basement flooded so my step-dad and I were carrying a shop-vac full of water around all day.

That is what the doctor's *think* tore my shoulder. I went through 3 months of PT which didn't do a thing and the contrast MRI they did showed a bone spur. 10 days later they operated and found out my bicep had come unattached from my shoulder. They did what they called a SLAP repair and reattached it. I think the SLAP part was to fix the bone spur part but I don't really remember clearly. I have three 1/2 inch incisions on the front of my shoulder and one on the back (for the camera).

I was out of work for 10 days, had PT for 16 weeks, and was in the padded sling for 12 weeks.

The whole thing was horribly painful. I have most of my full motion back, but a few things still cause pain (bowling, certain ranges of motion), but I don't exercise it as much as I should or I'd probably not have those issues. Let's just say I'm not the best at following instructions.

Silver lining: I am now ambidextrous.

Sending thoughts and prayers everything's okay!

KatieinBkln · April 2015

twoleighs said:
Almost 5 years ago I fell on my right shoulder (my dominant hand) and the next day my parent's basement flooded so my step-dad and I were carrying a shop-vac full of water around all day.

That is what the doctor's *think* tore my shoulder. I went through 3 months of PT which didn't do a thing and the contrast MRI they did showed a bone spur. 10 days later they operated and found out my bicep had come unattached from my shoulder. They did what they called a SLAP repair and reattached it. I think the SLAP part was to fix the bone spur part but I don't really remember clearly. I have three 1/2 inch incisions on the front of my shoulder and one on the back (for the camera).

I was out of work for 10 days, had PT for 16 weeks, and was in the padded sling for 12 weeks.

The whole thing was horribly painful. I have most of my full motion back, but a few things still cause pain (bowling, certain ranges of motion), but I don't exercise it as much as I should or I'd probably not have those issues. Let's just say I'm not the best at following instructions.

Silver lining: I am now ambidextrous.

Sending thoughts and prayers everything's okay!

Oh my gosh, I am so sorry you went through all that!

Rotator cuff injuries?

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