Shoulder surgery

[Patty]

I am a t 10 para 11 years post.
I have 2 tears in my rotator cuff and the doctor is talking about doing surgery.

How hard is the reocvery??

He is talking NO use of that arm for 6-8 weeks, no independent transfers for 3 or 4 months and a power chair for about 9 months. Does this sound right?

Not looking forward to this.

Thanks
Patty

[SCI-Nurse]

Patty,
I know it sounds like a real bummer, but your doctor's recommendations aren't out of line with others I have recently seen. I'm sure the recovery will seem hard to someone who has been active and accepting help will be difficult for you. Perhaps there are others who read this forum who have gone through this and can give you their thoughts. (EMK)

[Joe B]

Sorry about your shoulder, dont have much help to offer. I had right a shoulder problem but the doc put me on NSAIDs for two weeks and it got better. Still hurts but I have learned to be careful of it. Now the left is getting stressed.

I have a C6-7 fracture, 13 yrs post, and after 13 yrs of wheeling I am getting a powerchair. Save what shoulder and arm I can.

I read that because people with an SCI stress their shoulders and arms so much they need to do special exercises to keep muscle tone and balance.
The exercises were kinda funny, a lot of rotating the armin a circle, not violently just in a light way.

Anyone have specific arm exercises?

Joe B

[blue]

Patty,

Please email me at sci_guyd@yahoo.com

I have some of the info you want on recovery from the shoulder surgery.

[doog]

i just had shoulder surgey 3 wks ago. 4 tears in three places incuding 1 full thickness tear. i spent 1 night in hospital must where sling for five weeks then start therapy. doc says 4 to five months before i can do any lifting at all. honestly it's rough. do it anyway cause it will pay off later on. if not, your shoulder will bother you for a long long time. good luck.

[dunwawry]

Patty,
Good advice from doog. I know a few able-bodied people who have had shoulder surgery. Shoulders and knees are the two joints you don't want to mess with, they are very finicky. As doog said, taking it slow and following the doc's advice, doing your therapy, will pay off in the long run. You really want to do everything you can to avoid chronic shoulder problems, esp. since yours will continue to bear a lot of stress, more so than an able-bodied person.

As far as pain, apparently it isn't that bad. One of the people I know who had the surgery, also for a torn rotator cuff, was a narcotic addict. She took no narcotics after being released from the hospital, only NSAIDS. She claimed the pain was tolerable, and said she was fine after the first day home. Of course, everyone is different, and there is no reason you can't use whatever you feel is necessary, including narcotics if your doctor prescribes them (probably). I am merely sharing this story in case severe pain is one of your worries. Best of luck with your surgery.

[Claire]

Patty,
Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I hae been wondering about recovery time for this type of problem too because my left shoulder and arm have been bothering me. My problem was bursitis and tendonitis, so I'm lucky about that, so nothing drastic like surgery needed.

I then had PT for 5 weeks. I was told by the PT that it is really important to do exercises that strengthen the opposing muscles, obvious to me now!!! and that can keep you in a manual longer. I do deltoid, trapezius and shoulder exercises. I started out with no weights at all, and have been working up ever so gradually, which is extremely important. I went to www.nismat.org and www.leehayward.com and added some of these exercises to my routine after I stopped PT.
I'm a C6/7, so there are some I just cannot do. I finally am heading out the the other side of this which started in mid July.

You will have PT for sure, so follow their recommendations for what exercises are best for you. I wish I had the forethought a lot earlier to do these exercises. It can save us from a lot of headaches in the future.

Good luck with your shoulder!