Rotator Cuff

[1riot1ranger]

So, I'm in the club of looking for others experience and wondering what to expect. Short version, clumsy self took a fall over the holidays and banged up my shoulder. Dr diagnosed torn rotator cuff and did xrays and MRI. Followup appt tomorrow to discuss treatment. Is surgery always required for this injury? Is Physical Therapy possible instead of surgery? How long before getting use of arm? I'm assuming it'll be healed by next hunting season? Appreciate others experience with treatment and recovery

[PYBUCK]

No surgery is not always the only option. If the tear is complete, then surgery to repair is common. If the tear is partial physical therapy would be my first step. Just don't wait too long to do something because it will only get worse if you don't do something soon. PT is typically for 6-12 weeks. PT will not be easy and will hurt but it gets better the longer you go.
Good luck and don't wait too long.

[Big pig]

Take care of it. Modern medicine is amazing and I would get to a specialist asap. Shoulders are a very painful joint when injured. I have seen some great results with surgery and rehab.
good luck

[AntlerCollector]

My right shoulder took a couple months to recover. My left one took a year. If it’s not completely torn try therapy. You will have to baby it from now on. You never get back to 100% with or without surgery.


Of course it all depends on the severity of the damage. Mine were complete tears and required surgery. The MRI will give the doctors the best path forward for you. Most of us are walking around with some partial tear in them. They just don’t last.


good luck.

[Bard]

Tore both mine, No surgery, home therapy. Takes time but both are stronger than before, avoid the knife and suck it up for about 6 mths and you'll be wiser and stronger for it.

[stinkbelly]

Everyone is different. I have had 1 surgery on my right and 2 on my left. I have had all the issues, tear, impingement, capsulitis, etc. Everyone reacts different to surgery and therapy. Therapy didn't help me before the surgery because it was torn and strengthening the joint didn't fix it.

My left one was a year of recovery and therapy initially and at almost exactly 1 year, I was back in surgery. My therapist tore a different tendon while stretching my shoulder. So mine took almost 2 years to recover.

[PondPopper]

Good luck. There is nothing fun about shoulder surgery and the rehab that follows, and rehab is a must.
Been there, done that. Had a full reconstruction on my left 2 years ago.

[coker737]

Had BOTH Rotator Cuffs repaired. PT is the key to get your Range Of Motion back. It take time but it's worth it.

[Pineywoods]

Mine has been torn for over two years and now it's so bad I can barely use my left arm and it keeps me awake almost every night. I need to have surgery but the recovery has been long and pretty bad for everyone I know personally that's had it. And then most tore it again within a couple years. I've been told that unless the tear is minor or partial, it will never heal without surgery.

[Static1968]

My wife had it last January, other than the normal months of healing and rehab she is now fine. The only issues she had was with her work and how the doctor worded up her release back to work.
He worded it to say no lifting heavy objects for a certain period, but he meant with that arm. Her work took it as no lifting period and would not let her come back to work, so after that allotted time and having to burn all vacation, she had him re-word it to say only with that arm with the new weight she could pick up and she was allowed to go back to work .

[bboswell]

this varies so much from person to person the only real answer with the information provided is "it depends"

I had one healed with injections, then years later I had one repaired by simply cleaning up torn tissue and bone spurs which required minimal PT and recovery. Others have to have required staples etc and had a lengthy stay in a brace and then intense PT

[rolylane6]

I'm now on month 4 of rehab after surgery on my left shoulder. I had my right one done 2 yrs ago.

The right one was 3 tears and cleaning up the arthritis and other build up in the joint. Only one tear was complete. About 12 weeks of therapy and I was back to about 75% of my use and in 4 months I was at about 90%. I would say I'm right at 100% now but I still can't throw anything over handed, but then again, it's been years since I could do that anyway. My strength is completely returned and other than not throwing overhanded, I have full use of it. There's nothing I can't do that I could do before.

My left shoulder has been a much more difficult rehab. In Sept, I had 5 anchors and 6 sutures put in and he cleaned up the joint/bone of all build up. My upper bicep tendons is completely severed to the point it wasn't repairable. Rehab was really hard the first 4 months but I'm finally showing a great deal of improvement. (Of course it didn't help I took a week and a half off of rehab to go on a nilgai hunt at Laguna, but who wouldn't, right?) So this week I'm finally able to lift my arm, fully extended, from my side to over my head. Still some pain involved to do it, but before I couldn't get past about 45 degrees at all. I’ve been able to sleep thru the night for the last 2 months without any pain in my shoulder and that's the best part of it all.

Depending on how bad you tore yours, rehab could be an option but with surgery they have the opportunity to clean up the joint and I think it really help to stop the joint from grinding on those muscles and tendons which I think adds to the tearing.

No matter what, stick with the rehab plan and see it through. It gets really hard at times but find a good therapist and do exactly what they tell you. The "no pain, no gain" rule doesn't apply here. Pushing past pain can cause more problems. Some pain is necessary but, "the more, the better" is not what you want. A good therapist knows when to push and when to back off.

Prayers your shoulder gets better no matter what you choose and that all goes really well for you.

[Cosar87]

PT here.. I’m glad to hear that so many have said what I would say: if it’s a complete tear of more than 1 muscle/tendon, then most likely you’ll need surgery. PT can help if it’s incomplete or surgery isn’t an option. But as others have said, it likely won’t be the same. Good luck!

[Mudslinger]

No idea how I got a bone spur on top of my left rotator cuff but I did. After a few years and moving us from Lubbock to Central Texas the pain got so bad I went to see a specialist at Scott and White in Temple. After an MRI, X Rays and an ultra sound, they determined I had tears in 2 tendons that needed surgery to repair. Simple surgery, one incision and they would be done. 4 incisions and 4 anchors later my shoulder was repaired. The bone spur on my rotator cuff had cut a lot of tendons and such in my shoulder. One tendon from my biceps could not be reattached due to scar tissue on the tendon. This surgery was done in Nov 2020. I followed to a T everything the surgeon said for rehab. Today, I have ZERO problems and no pain. I have begun lifting again with ZERO problems in the shoulder. Very happy with the results.

[1riot1ranger]

Thanks for sharing all the experiences. Reviewed the MRI results with dr and have 3 tears, 2 major tears. Referred for surgery so more to come. Ha, he also said I had arthritis in my shoulder; guess if you live long enough you get a lot of age-related ailments. Full recovery may take up to a year, we'll see. I'm pretty impatient.