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After Rotator Cuff Surgery-when will the pain end?

Posted , 94 users are following.

TNteacher
TNteacher

I am a 56 year old female who usually has a high tolerance for pain. I had rotator cuff surgery on 12/15/16. I had one anchor placed during arthroscopic surgery for a full rotator cuff tear and bone spur removal. I'm having lots of pain, especially at night. I slept in a recliner for one week. Now I'm sleeping in the guest room propped up on pillows. And by "sleeping" I mean a few hours here and there. I miss my real bed and my real life. I'm weaning myself off Demerol, because I don't want to become an addict living in a van down by the river! No offense to drug addicts; I just don't want to join them.

Physical therapy is very painful, but I'm doing my exercises daily....well, not as many reps as I should because it hurts so much afterwards. About a week ago a "therapist" we'll call Hitler just about yanked my arm from my body. Things have been going downhill since, and it isn't me on skis!😣

I'm really over this whole experience!

I want my right arm back...the one I use for everything!

I'm hoping to return to school to teach 95 seventh graders in four days. Too ambitious? I did practice driving left-handed for a month before my surgery,

Thoughts? Advice?

5 likes, 413 replies

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  • sfatula
    sfatula TNteacher

    Posted

    Now that I am in week 12, and on my own, I was thinking of good gym exercises. I ran today at the gym for a mile, was exhausting, but, need some strength in the legs, and some cardio. So, I thought wouldn't rowing be great? Seems like it's mostly a full body, and certainly handles all the back shoulder muscles. I quit at 15 minutes so see how bad I hurt tomorrow, if not bad, I'll up it. 

    I still have a lot of weakness over my head. Hopefully, I can get going on that also. 

    • christine_61665
      christine_61665 sfatula

      Posted

      Ask your PT about rowing. It sounds okay but be careful! You're still early.

    • sfatula
      sfatula christine_61665

      Posted

      I have done well apparently. Doctor released me from any PT, said at this point I can do anything I want, any exercise in the gym. I was more commenting on the usefullness of rowing.
    • william25046
      william25046 sfatula

      Posted

      hi sfatula. Running at 12 weeks is quite earlier. It puts a lot of strain on my shoulder. In my opinion rowing could be worse.
    • sfatula
      sfatula william25046

      Posted

      Running was fairly easy (other than lack of cardio skills at this point), no pain today from that. 15 minutes of rowing definitely exercised my higher back and shoulder muscles, I feel it today, which is good. That's what I wanted. But I won't push it and do more than 15 minutes for a while, until I am used to it. 

      It is 6-8 months (or more) for total recovery. My orthopedist said however the repair is complete at around 8 weeks. Now, there's still pain, etc., but, the tendons are as solid as they ever will be at 8 weeks. What he told me at least. So, I am taking his word for it and not limiting myself. Could be based on my exam and PT reports, so, not suggesting that's a good idea for anyone else. I would love to recover a bit faster so I can do more things sooner. But I think I am going to keep with the rowing since it seems to have exercised so many of the weak shoulder muscles pretty well. i.e., ow!

  • peter_66704
    peter_66704 TNteacher

    Posted

    Just to let you know that we are all different..obviously as I’ve been reading everyone’s progress with great interest.  I had Rotar cuff repair with five pins mid Feb 2018, saw a physio in hospital who gave me an instruction sheet with a group of exercises to do starting in a couple of days after surgery. We all know how painfull this opp is and the exercises nearly killed me. They weren’t major movements but things like putting hand on table and leaning forward or bending over and do small rotations with arm hanging etc. I had sling for six weeks but only wore it to bed after week two as ok to take out and rest on pillow etc. Saw surgeon after week one and he indicated to start physio, which I did weekly with continuous improvement. Very small stretching and arm up door sliding etc, then every two weeks as I was very lucky and it improved immensely and after three month visit to surgeon again he gave me the all clear .  I’m now back at golf and work. Hope this helps someone, somewhere...don’t worry I do sympathise with any one who has gone through this.   The reason they started exercises straight away was so the shoulder didn’t freeze up and my advice was to keep it moving. By the way I’m sixty, not thirty. I’ve had both knees replaced and a snapped Achilles over the years and this was ten times worse,  good luck all !!
    • william25046
      william25046 peter_66704

      Posted

      I concur. I'm fifty nine.  As we age starting at 40 we start losing muscle fibers.  This is the reason I'm been circuit training for years. You should keep at least light, if not heavier, muscle training for the rest of your years. We also recover from surgery injury (i.e., any) slower than the "good old days...smile"

  • sfatula
    sfatula TNteacher

    Posted

    Well, I had a massive setback today. In my life, I've always been able to take any amount of pain, any. It hurts, but, not a problem. Today, after my weekly massage (second one since surgery), I experienced pain like I have never felt before. I have a super rare disease, and I believe it interacted with the massage today. It's a very painful disease (many commit suicide rather than feel the pain), but, it somehow combined with the rotator cuff and just flattened me. I have never been so broken down, I was completely and totally out of it. It's almost midnight here, and I can still barely walk, am weak, in tremendous pain, freezing like it's 0 degrees, can't really eat, have no balance, and am just broken, and, sadly, I can't tolerate any pain meds. I've almost fallen just trying to move 10 feet, many times today. So, not sure why I am posting this, but I will forge on though earlier, I honestly was not so sure. I'll have to be very very careful with future massages, which helps my rare disease and generally makes it more bearable by reducing pain and actually enabling me to walk, but not this time. On the off chance this helps someone else I guess, pretty unlikely! But still, I want to remember this moment in case another bad day comes down the road before I feel 100%. That, and, be careful with massage in week 13 or whatever week I am in (+/-1)

    • kamibri
      kamibri sfatula

      Posted

      Very sorry to hear this, sfatula. Do you have any help at home?  Setbacks are frustrating, but this sounds like a doozy. Do you need to get to a doctor?

      Hoping you feel better soon.

    • william25046
      william25046 sfatula

      Posted

      please check with a specialist to see if messages should be continued.
    • arj50436
      arj50436 sfatula

      Posted

      Oh no...I'm so sorry that you are in so much pain. My massage therapist who does medical massage usually gives me a workout but he's been taking it super easy on me since my surgery. I can't even imagine having a normal massage at this point. Thanks for the tail of caution.

  • martin83324
    martin83324 TNteacher

    Posted

    Been a while since I chipped in on this thread.

    I had dreaded the PT based on a lot of the comments. Yes it made things sore but it has really helped me. Took a couple of weeks to kick in but well worth the pain.

    I was week 11 post op two days ago. Only hurts now if I push beyond the comfort zone, even sleeping ok! JOY.

    See surgeon in 2 weeks time but feeling at long last that it might have been worth it.

     

    • kamibri
      kamibri martin83324

      Posted

      That’s great, Martin! It’s good to hear when things are going well! 

      Ah, sleep. I’m still in the recliner at 9 weeks. The bed just isn’t comfortable yet.  Or at least not as comfortable my 12-year old recliner. 

    • sfatula
      sfatula kamibri

      Posted

      I think I was not in bed at 9 weeks, or barely. I just got so sick on being in a recliner (that started to hurt too), that I finally tried at first just taking an hour nap, lay down a few minutes (but got up, hurt too much), etc. i.e., practiced. Eventually, I could sleep in our hardest bed. After a few weeks of that, I'd try each night to sleep in our regular bed, but would fail at first. Finally, I was going overseas and really had no option except a bed. So, it worked out, and I got used to it. 

    • kamibri
      kamibri sfatula

      Posted

      Maybe that’s my problem...I tried one night in the bed and immediately gave up, lol. I probably should work my way up like you did. I miss my bed. 🙁

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