Problem after rotator cuff surgery

must have been the bicep anchor screw. With mine they left too much stitching and the stitching wore a hole up through my tendon. Don't have much faith in the doctors no more and would never recommend someone having their first rotator cuff surgery done. After the first who knows where you'll go from there. Glad they found the problem and hopefully it fixes it. Good luck with the surgery and recovery

thanks, and as you I will not advise anyone to have this type of surgery unless their arm is frozen and there is no other recourse will let all of you know what happens ramsez

o dear i know it's only early days, but i had bone spurs removed from my a/c joint and decompression i also had a part torn tendon in my rotator cuff so this was trimmed up also, all in my right arm and i am right handed. I had been in a lot of pain for a year that radiated up my neck but i never lost range of movement or strength as i have horses and had to use my arm. it has been 4 days since surgery the surgeon told me he was suprised at the amount of damage in the joint but i mustn't show my pain well because i wasn't shocked to hear that. I was able after the nerve block wore off to move my arm fully and was the very next morning started on very light strectching exercises, using a support ( i use a golf umbrella) i was told by the surgeon to stretch out but to not the extent of feeling pain and up to now i am doing well, i am still on pain killers and i wasn't told to but i put ice pack on the top of my shoulder to keep heat out, i was also told to only use sling when necessary and to leave it off around house, unless i was doing housework and maybe tempted to using my bad arm to lift. he told me it would take three month before i would stop feeling pain and up to a year to gain full strenth but considering i didn't lose too much strngth in the first place i reckon as soon as the pain has gone i will be so much better

I'm thrilled to find this site as I had surgery three days ago and am shocked about how painful this is.   I was a bit naive going into this and have found the surgeon unavailable for questions.  I have gotten most of my advice from the internet.  Thank you all for the advice about using ice packs as that is helping.  

I had bicep/rotator surgery mar 11, 2011 and again aug 16, 2011 due to massive tear that didn't heal. It has been 6mos since the last surgery and i still can't raise my right arm ( i am right handed ). The surgeon says in his 20yrs he has never seen anything like it. He says the rotator is not working, and said we need to talk about shoulder replacement. I am 62yr old female and i am definately not ready for another surgery. I don't know what to do!

gthorpe wrote:

dbiggers wrote:

I had subcromial decompression almost 6 weeks ago. I did not get to see my surgeon until 2 weeks after my surgery and left the surgery center without knowing what his findings were. At the 2 week post op appointment I found out that he smoothed out the bone spur in my shoulder and found a partial bicep tear above my elbow in my right arm (that was the FIRST time I heard about this , 2 weeks after my surgery!), I am right handed. I started PT the day following our follow up, he wrote a prescription for 4 weeks of therapy two times a week. I have had the tens unit, h wave machine, done all of my exercises and followed all instructions. I still cannot sleep through the night and am in constant pain. I was informed yesterday at PT that my surgeon wanted me to have a cheaper tens machine, I had a first generation one as it was , and he refused, refused to write a prescription for a better unit, although my insurance company allows me to have one.
He appears to be totally out of touch with the pain that I am in and give me one pain pill at night, forget about the rest of the day. My PTs office actually asked me what I did to piss him off!!! My last status update done by my PTs office said my "improvement had DECREASED by 10%, I can no longer put my right hand behind my right glute, let alone raise it upward. My range of motion is worse that before the surgery and immediately after.
Has anyone else had these types of issues? This surgeon had told me he could get me back to 100%. I feel like I have had a botched surgery and I am tired of being in pain. I was an active woman who is reduced to doing nothing as I have lost the use of my right arm, my dominant arm. Sorry to rant, I am just really disappointed and no one seems to understand.
Thanks for listening.
Donna

I had bicep/rotator surgery mar 11, 2011 and again aug 16, 2011 due to massive tear that didn't heal. It has been 6mos since the last surgery and i still can't raise my right arm ( i am right handed ). The surgeon says in his 20yrs he has never seen anything like it. He says the rotator is not working, and said we need to talk about shoulder replacement. I am 62yr old female and i am definately not ready for another surgery. I don't know what to do!

It amazes me how much these surgeons have never seen anything like all of these, but this website is full of people with severe problems after surgery. I would be in your doctors office and wouldnt leave until you had answers and something for pain or go to your family doctor and explain to him what's going on. As for the person who just had there second in Aug 11, you need an MRI, that could be just arthritis or scar tissue. Personally if you are in a workers comp situation I would seek a second opinion, I have had 6 on my left and 2 on my right and they want to replace my left and I am still holding on because they only last 10 to 15 years on average so you could be looking at another later on, but they usually don't tell u that. Please let me know how everything turns out

Wow this is a great site, glad i found it.

Had Full Thickness tear in Right Shoulder with Torn Labrum @ bicep and AC Joint ARtritis scrape on 5/31/11..

Had tear in left shoulder with AC Joint ARthritis scrape done on 12/20/11

Injured both from wear and tear from powerlifting for years...

Once first MRI was done and saw tear did tone of exercices to help build up all muscles around it and pre-hab movements for both rotators...started taking supplements -Super Cissus, Glutamine, amped up Protein intake and BCAA's and Glutamine.

Surgery went well, PT went slow...took 4 weeks to get started and next 3 weeks were just assisted movements, stayed for 3 more weeks of strengthing but stopped and did them on my own with bands 3 days a week and weights 3 days a week, in week 8 post surgery was back at gym...able to do row/back movements, arms, legs(did from wk 2 on) some chest...(pec dec), week 9 was able to press bar with no weight...by week 14 was able to hit 300x3 in Bench. (tear occured doing 540, so this was good sign)...

 

Sometime in november i was on couch sleeping and rolled on Left arm which was under me, felt sharp pain...tried ice, anti-inflam etc..2 weeks later back at MRI, tear of the super scapula???(might be wrong name)....had the surgery 12/20...similar rehab doing strengthing now wk 3 of that, 2 weeks out of sling and back at work...Ridic PAIN...feels retorn...everyting by the book, no pain killers since week one...trying to be tough..but damn, not sure what is going on with it...

 

Wondering if came back too soon Right was 10 weeks out, left was only 6 weeks...

Could i be doing too much rehab?  Only doing the bands and what they say, everyday, icing and stim but still getting sharp pain in Left Arm at top/side....

Right side i am still getting throbbing/dulling pains from time to time, but strength is really good in both....

Thoughts to why the sharp pain in left and throbbing/dull in right...

I am 40, in NJ and i do notice when it is damp out it is 10x worse...

 

Thanks

 

you need to talk to your insurance co if the surgery was medically necessary and they refused to pay you may need an injury lawyer but don't let it go!

Have them check your internal rotator cuff. I had the very same thing happen just the other day and I am at 8 weeks after surgery.

you should be able to take your sling off by now just be careful. Get an Ice pack on it, it sounds simple but works to numb the pain and a good anti inflammatory during the day. Had 8 of them and it never gets better. Need a shoulder replacement now. Be smart fight your insurance co. and if it is workers comp fight them too. If you don't use it a little it will become frozen shoulder (no fun at all) good luck, but definitely fight that ins.

I too just had surgery 3 weeks ago for a full thickness tear with retraction. Still in quite a bit of pain but thanks to this amazing site and all who have posted I am learning that I am not alone. I am right handed and the surgery was for my right shoulder. I recently over extended my arm and felt a horrible pain in front tip of shoulder. I am also having the same fear that I may have re-injured my shoulder....certainly do not want to start over. I dont see dr until end of month, so, let me know what you find out next week...

to all:

I had my initial surgery august 16 2011 and had an adjustment done January 05, 2012 at which time I got stuck and could not 

move my arm any, without severe pain, went back to see the doctor and demanded another MRI of which he was reluctant to do

but did anyway that was on a Monday, MRI done on Tuesday and an appointment with him on Wednesday at 3:30pm,, his nurse 

called me and said for me to be ther e ar 11:00am   upon which I found out that a screw had came out and migrated to the top 

of my shoulder, the doctor tried to get me into the operating room that afternoon but it was Friday February 03, 2012 he spent 

3 hours grinding away at the scar-tissue before he could reach in and pull the screw from the back of my shoulder. Well , I went 

to see a lawyer who says that I've go neglience no malpractice but neglience since he waited so long (five months) before doing

another MRI after all my complaining. anyway my progress is excellent but very very very sore  will let you all know what happens

ramsez745    

 

 

 

I had rotator cuff and labrum and 1 1/2 other surgery done on my right arm and I am right handed. had it done on 5-5-11. I am still in pain. It never goes away. it has been a little over 10 months for me. Pain for me is worse now than before the surgery. and I can not get my arm up at all. And my neck hurts all the time too. The doctor said i have a bulging disc in my neck. I know one thing I will never do this again. The doctor stop giving me pain meds along time ago. so I suffer with pain.

I have the same thing a bulging disk in my neck after 8 surgeries, they want to to surgery and fuse my neck but I refuse. Make sure to do alot of neck exercises, I know it sounds stupid but it does work. My doctor also found in my last surgery that my muscle was pinched under a screw he put in my shoulder, he relieved that but now I have a bad disk. I would go to another surgeon and have another MRI. If the MRI is good you may have frozen shoulder. If you read the comments almost everyone has the same problem. If you take something like I do before bed to make you sleep it might relax your neck like it does mine. I have had to do it for 2 years now. It's a lovely like right?

it sounds like you do have a retear. I have actually been kicked out of rehab 4 times. You probably have either a retear or arthritis. I have had 8 and need a replacement on my left. It never gets better, hopefully yours does.