Rotator cuff repair - post-op pain

Had my surgery on 12-21-2012....still in so much pain, I do not have good range of motion after going to PT for 4 weeks now. Dr. said he may to cortizone shot at next appt if I do not have better range of motion. If that does noto work, may have to have another surgery to clean things up, which he said sometimes happen. Sleeping is random at best, so very hard to get comfy. PT hurts so bad that I take a pain pill before I go and at least one after. I still have the burning, pain all the way down to my thumb. Very frustrated and cannot go back to work yet which is causing financial problems on top of everything else.

Hi Denise,
Keep working at it as per PT instructions. I think (know) you are expecting too much from your shoulder at this point. As I have posted before, my shoulder post surgery was very definitely worse than pre, it was only at the 3.5 month mark that I started to get rapid improvement. I now (app. 5 months out) have a fully functional shoulder but it took a lot of perseverance and patience on my part.
Best regards, Grahame.

Denise,
wow, its only been a short time since your surgery was only 12/21. Thats about the time frame my discomfort was the worst, and my sanity stretched to the limits. I had too much pain pushing PT, and both therapist and surgeon had me back way off and that helped. Trying to get the pain mannaged so you can get hold your sanity. Like Grahame mentioned, somewhere in the 3 to 4 months seems when things turn to the upside. Its just that the 3 to 4 months seem like 3 to 4 years when your in the midst of it.

Hi Denise
I had a totator cuff repair Feb 1, 2o12. One year later most of the pain is almost gone. What is still there is some popping and clicking when I move my arm is different positons. Its very tough and you have to stay positive. PT is good but Ive learned that your arm should be mildly stressed not pushed pass the limit into a painful area.
Ice it and dont baby it too much and keep it moving when its not in the sling..
Jeff

I had my surgery 20-12-12. This week has honestly been the first week that I really feel like I am making progress. The pain is finally starting to recede. I have more painfree time now than painful. My recovery has been long, slow and very painful. I still have a lot of limitations when it comes to range of motion. All I can tell you is push hard but know your limits. I agree that you should stretch your arm but not to the point where it is painful. This surgery was much harder on my psyche than it has been on my body although it is a close 2nd.

I began doing Yin Yoga this week. It focuses on the joints and not the muscles. It is helping emensely with my range of motion. I have been told that my recovery will take from 6m to a year to be pain free and get full use of my arm and shoulder. I am almost 13wks and like I said this is the first week I feel major progress. Nights are still painful. My PT suggested that I sleep with my arm inside my shirt to prevent sleeping in awkward positions that ultimately end up causing me a significant amount of pain. I am going to try that tonight.

Best of luck to you in your recovery. Remember to be kind to your body and be thankful for little victories!

Namaste!

My surgery date should have read 20-11-2012 in my post.... Oops!

Hi everyone ...I had repair of full supraspinatus tear and bicep reattachment 2/4/13...my main problem is I cannot sleep....my daytime pain is manageable and I've stopped taking narcotics because they make me loopy and constipated lol...but the pain is so bad at tonight...even sleeping in a sitting position...I haven't slept in a month and am losing my mind...ice helps some ...

best wishes

.i had a full thickness tear of one tendon and a 50% tear of another repaired on 12-18-2012 and can understand the difficulty in sleeping.  I found that keeping a small travel pillow under my arm at night, laying on the unaffected side, and supporting the injured arm on a big pillow really helped.  For laying on the back, I have been putting the small pillow under my upper arm.  Also, I found Advil PM allowed me to sleep pain free without feeling drugged.

my biggest problem is spasms in the bicep muscle.  i have been taking potassium and magnesium, which helps some, but if anyone knows of how to relieve the spasms, please post!

I have the same thing, where the gave me the nerve block (my neck) is where the lymph nodes are and after doing research myself, found out they may have damamged my lymph nodes. Mine too is Workmans Comp, so I have to do all the research myself. I get swelling in my neck, goes down my arm into my hands. Hope this helps!

dr-mike, i also had RC surgery, i am also in PT, I understand exactly what you describe, its a difficult and long recovery, from talking to therapist and doctor total recovery can be up to one year, but from speaking to others in PT, some are ahead of me, some are around my pace.
I use both heat and Ice at home, more ice after my PT.
I am still taking medicine for pain, I don't sleep great and yeah I get a bit sad, but more frustrated because I am and have always been very active. The 3 months is early, and my suggestion is to take each day as it comes. There are days the level of pain IN PT has me in tears from pain but determination makes me push it as the Therapist has me slowly going. I am fortunate to have a great Therapist, Movement at home is very important, don't overdo but don't baby her arm....I'm single so I have no one to help me. Just let her know she is not alone at this 3 month marker, and everyone's pace is personal. Oh also, don't let up one home exercises, they help you progress, It's a rough surgery, even my therapist has told me its a very hard surgery. I wish your wife the best.....

stoma, i had rotator/bicep repair 3 anchors 3 months ago, I had maybe a similar problem, pain, getting comfortable is difficult. If the medications help you at night why not take them as needed ? I understand that loopy feeling, and the constipation, I began eating yogurt and increasing my liquid intake, plus fiber bars, THAT got things moving. The Pharmacist suggested a OTC to help get things moving for those taking these medications. I personally didn't get much help. It was the 2 yogurts a day :)
I understand hurting at night, I've watched a lot of movies, and am tired of it lol... You are so early in your post-op, I used ice for a while then switched to heat after beginning therapy, now I alternate. So it's going on 1 am now as I write this so the Post-Op RC cuff club is on schedule.... Try the meds at least once a night till you get further into recovery. even if it's once a night ? Feel better soon

Hang in there everyone! It does get better over time.  Last week had 2nd surgery on the same shoulder (non-dominate). In 2010 the OS via open surgery anchored the Supraspinatus back onto the bone but I think there were other problems which were not addressed. However was off the pain meds after one week and out of the sling after 4 weeks.  Some pain for the next few months if I moved it wrong or too fast but not terrible pain.  OS did not want any PT until month 4 but had me doing hanging circles on my own.  Came through it ok and was playing golf, little to no pain month 7.  But he did a crappy job apparently (current OS said this in so many words) and it came unattached sometime in the next year or so.  I didn't feel anything unusual when it happened.

Early 2013 it was just not feeling right and always had weakness lifting in the front and overhead after initial surgery so new OS had MRI and sure enough Supraspinatus and Infraspinatus full thickness tear (off the bone), Subscapularis hanging by a few threads and long bicep tendon not where it should be; likely torn as well and an older tear in the labrum.

Had all this fixed last week arthroscopically except the Supraspinatus which was too atrophied to reattach which is unfortunate but OS seems to think it will result in some lack of strength in certain range of movements.  But it was off the bone at least a year and I was still playing golf and doing normal stuff without any obvious pain.

Surprised and pleased at this point actually (day 9) and stopped the pain meds on day 5. Still in the sling and pain is about 2 out of 10.  If I move it there is increased pain but doesn't last.  Just trying to be extra careful and not move the darn thing but you all know how hard that is.  The sling just sucks and I am forever moving it and adjusting because it won't stay put, but that is a small nusance.

Seeing the OS for 2 week checkup next week.

But message is that many shoulder surgeries go very well with very good results. That being said, shoulder has the longest time to return to reasonable condition.  If all goes well, most people are fairly normal after 6 months but one year is about the time frame for full recovery.

Try hard to keep your attitude positive, try not to dwell on it and keep your mind busy and challenged and time will pass and pretty soon you will be nearing normality.  Do your PT extra well!  Especially your at-home exercises. 

Best wishes to those who are having longer-term problems.  Keep your chin up!

 

DD

 

 

I had dominant rotator cuff repair on Feb. 4th 2013. Right now I am just over 9 weeks out. My pain is at times horrific still depending on how much I do with my exercises. I was in a sling for the first six weeks. I did some range of motion exercises at home after six weeks. I can get to 45 degrees with all of the exercises at 8 weeks. I have intense pain most every night and still trouble falling and staying asleep. I had numerous spurs removed, 7mm of my acromion/clavicle removed with a type III hook end, my supra and infra spinatus tendons were frayed to 75%. That was cut off and sewn back together and bolted to my humerus bone (anchored) so it would grow back onto the bone. The bolt used is an 18 month disintegrating plastic bolt. I also had a leaked labrum and bursa which I think was cleaned up too. I am in PT for a month (7-10 weeks) for pain management and range of motion only, then from 11 weeks forward PT for strengthening the muscles. I had two scope holes but my Doc wasn't able to repair the cuff using scope method so he had to use a 3inch incision from the top of my shoulder down and outward to do this repair. The pain was horrible, worse than my hip scope to repair that labrum and remove bone and spurs 1.5 yrs ago. Most of these injuries are from a fall as I stepped off a curb and rolled my ankle off the edge of a pothole and I dropped like a ragdoll onto the curb and into the road.  To this day, I have a lot of trouble trying to lift my bent arm up off my side and I can not lift it on my own over my chest. With all that work I had, I too have pain down my arm, in my shoulder, up my neck into my head (headache) and my bicep and deltoid are quite painful with spasms as well as my scapula. I also have pain that radiates into my clavicle bone area and chest. Does this all sound normal for post op 9 1/2 weeks from surgery? Just curious if anyone else had this much work done and how their recovery went. I am fairly physically fit 60 yr old female who does not drink or smoke. (I read smoking makes one heal slower and with less success) but I do not smoke at all. I am taking #10 hydrocodone when I need them every day, some days are worse than others depending on my exercises and work load, and 10 mg of flexeril for spasms when needed usually at night, along with 5mg of valium when needed. At times I'll also use naproxin for inflammation, and ice packs. I'm not at the heat pad place just yet. Any suggestions greatly thankful. Good luck everyone. This is not a nice surgery to endure. I am very patient but I am also in a huge amount of pain with the exercises. I also have fibromyalgia which I think makes it worse with exercises.

I'm at 6 weeks and driving just fine. My good arm does most of the work. I've been in PT since a week after the operation and do 3 daily repetitions of the prescribed exercises.

 

My shoulder still hurts so I use ice after each session. I'm out  of the sling but still sleeping in a chair. Motion is still getting better and things improve a small bit each day.

I'm at six weeks post op and continue the PT at home and at the hospital. I'm really interested in understanding the local message therapy, what it was and how it worked.

Do you specify a particular type of message, can anyone do this?

Some guidance would be realhelpful