Rotator Cuff Pain after surgery????

[Nana2]

I had surgery in Feb 10 for right rotator cuff surgery. I'm still suffering from pain. As long as I stay on anti-inflammatories, it's bearable. Is this normal? Should not the pain have gone by now?

Please help! I no longer have insurance so I can't go back to doc to find out.

Thanks

Nana2

[arndog]

Hi Nana2 and welcome. I don't know if this spinal cord injury related pain is the optimal site to get your question answered. I hope you are trying other sites as well concurrently.

Although I suspect there are many people here who do have shoulder problems from wheelchair use and maybe they will weigh in. Good luck....

[David Berg]

If nothing else, make sure you're doing some range of motion exercises on your own. You should be able to track down some ideas on how to do this by searching online. If you don't have insurance, you can still do some of your own physical therapy.

[firesmurf]

let me ask you this one question? did you follow up with the very very crucial hands on PT after this particular type of surgery was performed? out of all the many surgeries i have had to have with many on my joints, when i snapped my supraspinatus like in half one morning with alot of other crappy wear and tear crap that happened to pop up on that MRI that day, this ONE type of surgery anywhere within that higly mobile rotator cuff and critical joint being there, ALL recommended PT ordered by your surgeon simply HAS TO be followed up on or you will NOT regain all of your ROMS and run the very real risk of ending up with what is called "frozen shoulder" too?

that rotator just is made up of sooo many individual ligaments,tendons and muscle along with what IS the most highly mobile ball and socket joint we even have inside our bodies. my surgery was seriously the ONLY surgery where when i was dissapating that intrascalene block(and i also hypermetabolize like everything including that) i wanted god to come and take me, it was simply THAT freakin bad. this was the ONLY other surgery i had ever had that even came CLOSE to the insane intensities of my spinal cord surgery post op pain, which only becasue my central pain syndrome was actually triggered when they 'hit" something during my surgery within that thalamic tract at all, actually triggered my central while i was STILL on the operating table and under full anesthesia, made the post op pain totally off the wall and also 'untreatable' with any types of narcotics at all. that was so sick to actually wake up to and have.

that block dissipation esp, is just that bad since no narcotics will even begin to really help til that block is fully dissipated,and all areas fully recognized again and you finally just have a 'stable base"(even if this is extremely high, its still stable and can be hit with narcotics) of pain to allow the narcotics to finally just hit, capture and bring down? while that dissipation goes on, every new area that becomes realized again actually also brings more pain along with it, which in turn just will create more real pain and just really intensify ALL of the already existing pain too, so ICE and only ice becomes your very best friend til that block is completely gone.

just what exactly needed to be done or fixed within your rotator cuff area? that does matter too as far as any residual pain would go? knowing THAT and exactly what you did post op as far as PT at home(absolutely mandatory excercises needed to ONLY move that joint and not tendon or muscle which that CPM chair also did for me too? did you use that chair too?), then with that very badly NEEDED therepist to help you hit every single ROM and also keep that ball and socket fully lubricated all the way around so it does not simply dry out and possibley either grow what are called adhesions(scar tissue) or actually start bone spurring that can attatch/fuse that ball TO the inside of that socket which will never allow YOU alone to even begin to try and move that shoulder at all becasue it has created a very solid 'bone to bone' connection? these are the ramifications for some people who feel they either do NOT NEED any PT( you do see this, more with males than females, based upon research and many people i have also talked to who have had this type of surgery done too?). that PT with THIS particular surgery is just very very much needed for any real hope of really regaining EVERY potential ROM you had pre op.

what i also found out of course AFTER my surgery was done and at a follow up visit with my ortho? this particular surgery done pretty much anywhere within that whole rotator cuff actually just IS one of the MOST painful ones that orthos actually even do,even more than a total hip replacement creates in any given patient?? i was rather shocked but man was that surgery ever horrid for me. i thought it was just me and my deranged pain i have gotten from my spinal cord dmage also hitting my pain pathway, but it WAS the standard norm for that surgery? very very hypersensitive to even the tiniest movements i tried and also, anyone simply 'touching' the very top across my shoulder since it was where my tnedon also snapped and needed most repair done was also a freakin nightmare like no other surgery.

knowing just what was done/fixed and how much real PT you did right after the surgery, and from then on and also the very specific area where you actually are experiencing your pain would REALLY help, along with the 'type" of pain you are feeling? like sharp, dull burning/stinging, inflammatory or more surface or deep... really would help me to try and figure out your situation with your pain much much better nana. believe me hon, i DO unfortunetly know how much real ugly types of pain this surgery can simply have. and its not a pretty one by any means. this seriously will always remain one of my worst surgerys ever right under my sp cord one. marcia