SLAP tear, impingement and physical therapy
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hey there,
First I had problems with my right shoulder, but now it's taken care of with bicep tenodesis. However half a year ago problems with my left shoulder started - diagnosed not precisely as impingement and minor SLAP tear (after MRI). For now I'm recommended to keep doing at home physical therapy - and that leads me to my question. Any success stories with physical therapy resolving significant (in terms of pain) shoulder problems? Especially I would like to read how bad it was, and how good it got with physical therapy.
I'm not anti another surgery (it would also be tenodesis) - but not sure when to say that physical therapy is not working anymore.
Looking forward to reading other people stories!
Thanks!
1 like, 4 replies
colin1964 inezk
Edited
hi inezk
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glad you have been and going through the mill hey and the knife.
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home physio and at clinic did it work and benefit me . this is a marmite question. me i tried and still trying with physio.
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resolving the pain. mmmmm, for me i dont think it helped the actual injury but it helped all the referred aches and pains.
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still ended up three times under the knife. personally i think it just relaxes the injured area helping recovery to take place.
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had two ops in the past 12 months three in 18 months.
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i am the one usually giving my advice on here. now i can reverse this. can i pick your brain.
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i am 12 weeks tenodnesis recovery on top of 360° capsule removal and decompression 9 months before that. to be honest pretty fragile at the moment. and being refused a return to work as a carpenter.
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post tenodnesis was fine for 10 weeks now having deltoid and tricep issues ( general ache again). how was your recovery. i have done all that has been asked . now past the golden 12 week recovery. muscle atrophy is at 40%
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i have mainly posted on the frozen shoulder group as i am bi laterally frozen as well lol.
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colin
barbara66703 colin1964
Posted
shoulder injury is very finicky when it comes to healing. dealt many years with both shoulders popping out of joint an frozen shoulder.
if there was a true fix i would be on it in a second. there just is not for me . over time almost 20 plus yeas these shoulder issues become more serious. some days cant even lift my arms, but over time i have learnt they will heal to a lessor degree of pain which can present a handicap in many job skills to overcome.
in my management technique is to rest by not using my shoulders has been the only occasional relief from severe shoulder pain as healing occurs. over time there are many tasks i just could do not do with bad shoulders . but by turning this into a positive has been a goal of mine by relearning new ways to do the same job. its a long list of redo's for many daily tasks. but I have managed this pain for years with ice, rest and immobile shoulder wrap and jell heat wraps. sleeping on back while wearing shoulder sling at night for several days until when the arm is released from sling the weight of my arm alone is not painful. then time stop the shoulder sling refrain from activity and slowly build up the arm muscle .
once the type of injury to rotator cuff/shoulder has been identified then it must be managed knowing what activities can cause more injury. for instance I cannot lift over a gallon of milk so i use leverage to replace daily tasks. today many tools for gardening are battery op, less heavy and i trim my trees, shrubs, and fix a leaky roof and care for a 2 acre garden by myself, ride and care for my horses and household chores daily with two bum shoulders. also have hip joint replacements on both and one knee due to osteo.
maybe chores , gardening and many things are done differently now and taking a longer time to accomplish tasks than before the injury but its worth protecting what shoulders i have left by using techniques to lesson the re-injury rate now well into my 70's is well worth the extra efforts.
colin1964 barbara66703
Edited
Hi Barb
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not herd from you for a long while
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yup the bum shoulder gang lol.
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got all the toys and gadgets. like you love the ice. so instant. so " bisto". aaarrhhhh bisto. when you put the ice on its a aaarrrhhh moment. i depend on my ice machine so much. beats the pain killers.
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on that post when i asked inezk had a lot of post of issues again, we ( the royal we ) . physio rehab and surgeon pinned it to subscap playing up.
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now working the issues out and again kind of on the mend "again". how many times have you said that !!!.
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having work issues. as in they will not let me back via occupational health meeting. being a carpenter. two big ops in two years have mad it a tad fragile for humping fire doors and kitchen work tops around..
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i may be refused permanently to go back. i am awaiting the report from them. this is a acknowledged work place injury so it may get complicated to say the least..
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piper and looby have missed you on the FS chat room.
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piper is struggling. not going well with injections.
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glad to here from you and i hope you are safe and well.
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colin
barbara66703 inezk
Edited
It's so messed up when a shoulder injury side lines your whole life and everything you have worked for.
by the way good carpenters are hard to come by here in the US. your job skills can be set forward in the management dept on job sites. no lifting anything but a pencil or other type job similar.
also there are machines designed to lift heavy doors and counter tops and regulations in place in the US to protect workers against harm. no more lobbing heavy doors ...
if your in a workman compensation system your stuck following their procedure's - surgery etc. ..do they offer another job with same pay at the same company if your shoulder is not healed at full capacity.
in the US workman's comp regulations and laws must find a position for the injured worker and he cannot be fired or laid off or loose financial compensation.
just seeing that pic of you in a sling and knowing what surgeries you have had to endure gives me the shivers. its a great deal of pain, pressure and much more.
you always seem to be in good spirits a big plus with a positive outlook is 90% of the healing process . sometimes all the positivity in the world will not help healing correctly or with less complications.
its probably going to take time to help you get appropriate replacement skills and job in the future. these injuries take years to heal properly it's not just as simple as a rehab stint and some just never get back to original state. in many cases it can be useful to adopt other techniques as I described in above description ..."How do things differently ". life doesn't have to stop due to injury , but we can amend techniques to accomplish the same tasks differently.
sending healing blessing's your way.