STARTING OVER - BOTH SHOLDERS

[chevy68]

April 6, 05 right shoulder, May 11, 05 left shoulder. In Both shoulders the acromion was shaved, damaged tissue and small flaps were removed, and the tendon was secured with anchors and sutures.
My Dr. is an Arthroscopic (BAD ASS) surgen. I have three 1/2 inch scars and one 1 1/4 scar per shoulder, not one big ugly scar.
I am not one to sit around doing nothing so my recovery seems like it will last forever.
My right shoulder, I pushed myself with the stretching and got full range of motion in four weeks. Dr. will only let me do light restriction lifting only up to my waist, no higher...Left shoulder is only five days old and still hurts like hell!!!

I do not work out, but would like to start after I am able to go back to work. My job is very physical and long hours, so I have to have a full release from my Dr.

Is there anything I can take to help me heal faster, are there certain foods I can eat, or certain muscles to work first ?

Any help and or advice would be great, other than my Dr. I do not know of a better informed group of people than on this site to ask...

[house1]

bump --not sure what you can take to recover faster -- time is the best healer at this point -

i know it sucks -- been there with the right shoulder -- injuries put you so far behind it tends to play with your mind abit

[Shibby]

Unfortunatly with surger repair of any cartlidge, ligamens, or tendons, only time will help. Work on range of motion as much as possibe. Follow your doctors orders exactly for the first four months. Within that time your at a high risk for re-ingury if not careful.

[Shibby]

You said it was work on the acromion. But what tissue was damaged? Was there also work done on the AC joint?

[chevy68]

I don't think they did any work on AC joint, maybe this will help..
POSTOPERATIVE DIAGNOSES:
1. full thickness rotator cuff tear
2. intra-articular anterior and superior labral tear associated with synovitis, anterior and posterior capsule with partial thickness subscapularis tendon tear
3. inpingement sydrome
4. AC joint hypertrophy with interal derangement

All of the above is the OPERATIVE PROCEDURES for my rotator cuff repair

They sent me a vidio of the arthroscopy, that showed the grinding of the acromion and partial removal of the bursa sac, and clean up of all damaged tissue.
i asked about the bursa sac and my DR. said my body will reform a new bursa sac now that the acromion is not tearing it up when i lift over my head.

They say hind site is 20-20, I know now the difference between pain that you can work through and the kind of pain that means STOP...
In the past i worked through any pain because I had to take care of my family, if i would have listen to my body closer and not been so damn hard headed the damage would not have been so bad..
So for all of you that care enough to read my long winded letters, the SHARP PAIN THAT ONLY GOES AWAY WHEN YOU DON'T MOVE FOR A WHILE... GET IT LOOKED AT..!!!!
I have been off work since FEB 21, 2005 unable to work full duties because of the pain I had just lifting my arms. If my company will creat a position for me I can go back to work June 1, 2005 light duty (office work only). I will not be able to work full duty until October or November of 2005
Having so much time on my hands and not being able to do anything except passive range of motion exercises REALLY SUCKS..!!! ...definitely messing with my mind abit...

[Pumpdogg]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Things will get better soon, just as your right shoulder has improved greatly. Just go easy on the therapy as shibby has already said. Best of luck in your healing process

PD

[Shibby]

Sounds like your doing what needs to be done. If I learned anything over the last year it was that when a doctor says to give it time, you really need to give it time until he fully realeases you. Saw some bad re-inguries this year.

[chevy68]

Many thanks to house1, Shibby, and Pumpdogg for replies.
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but exactly what I expected to hear.
TIME,TIME,TIME... oH AND HARD WORK,WITHOUT PUSHING TO HARD. Don't want to have to start over...
Thanks again
chevy68

[bonebreaker]

I feel for you bro. I had my left rotator cuff repaired in 1999, and my right one in 2002. My right one blew up when lifting, but my left one I had repaired just because of the aggravating pain. Not the kind of pain that stops you in your tracks, but just annoying. It took me a full year to get back to where I was in the '99 surgery, and 18 mos from the'02 surgery. I had to have "full open" surgeries, which means they couldn't do all the repairs through a "scope", mine were so bad. I not only had tears, the right one was "massive", but huge bone spurs, impingements and hooked Acromions on both shoulders. They had to remove the ends of my Acromions to get rid of the bone spurs. The bone spurs, by the way, were what ate through the rotator cuff muscles and eventually caused them to fail. I'm better than new now. It just takes time. Be patient, or you will be back for a re-do. Good luck. BB

[sekcbeast]

At what age did you guys start feeling the pain? I am turning 21 in two weeks and for the past few months, I have had pain in my shoulder. My left shoulder aches from time to time, but my right shoulder is almost in constant pain. Sometimes I cant lift it above my head the pain is so bad. I've started taking glucosamine chondroitin, but from what I understand, it takes a few months before it starts taking effect. What do you guys suggest?

[chevy68]

thanks all for replies and support. Doing better with time, patients is the key, back at work on light duty and doing good. right shoulder is great and left shoulder is about 95% range of motion at 5 weeks. Its true what they say, no 2 surgeries are the same.
NOTE : to sekcbeast if you haven't seen a dr GO SEE ONE... if you are having shoulder problems don't wait there are many things that can be done without surgery IF you catch it early... If the pain goes away when you don't use it for a while, chances are you may have cuff problems. Don't be hard headed like i was and work though the pain like it was a strained muscle. It cost me 2 surgeries...
PS: my pain started about 8 months before i could not use my arms to even start my weed eater..

[mehuge]

I had the left shoulder repaired a year and 1/2 ago. Drop all your weight to an amount were you can do about 30 reps. Example 15-20lbs for dumbell presses. Do 4 -5 sets of 30 reps for the entire upper body parts.

High reps, low weight. This will keep the scrare tissue at a min. while recouping the repaired muscle.

It will be a humbling experience for you. I sat on a bench and used LESS weight than the chicks next to me. You got to keep your eye on the goal - RECOVERY.....