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Pain 3 months after surgery

Posted , 10 users are following.

nicole200965
nicole200965

In april i had shoulder surgery. The dr was able to fix the rotator cuff tear with debredement and I also had subrascapular nerve entrapement. I am still in a lot of pain. Some days the pain is worse than before surgery. The surgeron keeps saying there is nothing in there keeping me from lifting heavy things and there is no weight limit restrictions. I have been going to PT since 2 weeks after surgery. I have 6 visits left. I have only lifted 2 lbs at tberapy and my ROM is not back to what is was before surgery. It hurts to raise my arm over my head, behind my back, lifting, pulling, sleeping on that side. My arm feels tired when i try to use it. But the pain is a deep ache, buring on the front of shoulder and back of shoulder towards the armpit, and a pain that almost feels like an electric shock. I have become so depressed from this injury. I was injured 11 months ago. When I went to my surgeron 2 weeks ago he said i still had time to improve and dont give up hope but at the same time he says this may be as good as it gets. Has anyone else had this injury? At this point im afraid its the nerve thats causing the pain. Has anyone had improved with thia type of injury?

0 likes, 26 replies

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  • ShazBenn
    ShazBenn nicole200965

    Posted

    I'm up to 10wks on Tuesday. My arm is fairly close to raising straight up without support now. I had Physio a couple of weeks ago. One more visit left next week. I am going to try light weight squats with a barbell next week. I can only just get enough backward reach to hold the bar, but the more I do it, the easier it will get. Frustration is getting me more progress. When I know there is nothing structurally wrong with my shoulder now, the only thing holding me back is stiffness, so I am determined to move more. Behind the back reach will be the last to happen, but that took the longest time, after my opposite shoulder repair. I am still taking one sustained release Tramadol a day. It is taking away most of the constant ache, which then helps me stretch more. The strength is returning, and it doesn't feel like it is 'dropping' out of the socket so much any more.

    Keep pushing everyone. As long as you keep the frozen shoulder away, you'll get there in your own time! My left shoulder took 12mnths to return to what it was before surgery.

    • stevepil1980
      stevepil1980 ShazBenn

      Posted

      Thank you, so good to know this is quite normal what I am experiencing.... I am 3 weeks behind you so hopefully soon I will see some improvement...
  • stevepil1980
    stevepil1980 nicole200965

    Posted

    I am 7 weeks now, and I am doing my PT but wow does it hurt.

    I am approx. 90 degrees if I lift my arm up with my good arm.

    I have today though tried to put my elbow bent on my desk so my arm is like a V and move my arm to the side and wow I got such a pain down the back of my arm and it still hurts now....

    I am so worried about my movement as I have hardly any and all videos you see online show remarkable recoveries and struggling to find people with real experience like some of you on here,  just don't know if what I am going through is normal or not

    Thinking about driving and holding steering wheel properly or simply washing my hands - IE stretching my arms out to the sink seem unthinkable at present and I am 7 weeks, how long will this be like it as I am getting really depressed now too.

     

    • scrapbooker56
      scrapbooker56 stevepil1980

      Posted

      You are right where you should be. Stop watching the video's. It takes 6 months to a year to fully recover. As time goes by you will notice that you do something you couldn't do the other day. Do your PT and be patient. If you try and make things happen you could reinjure.Good luck!

    • stevepil1980
      stevepil1980 scrapbooker56

      Posted

      Thank you,  really appreciate it.

      Just anxious I suppose due to the pains still, when I had the athroscopic bankart repair it was nothing like this and I was back after 6 weeks, where as this is taking much longer but I know its a bigger op,  im not going to push myself you are right as last thing I want to do is cause any damage

  • nicole200965
    nicole200965

    Posted

    I went for my follow up with the surgeon and got another injection. This time in the bicep. He said during surgery he cleaned up some inflammation around the bicep tendon but didnt think it was bad enough to cut and reattach. But now he said he is thinking he should have. If this shot works but the pain returns then i am looking at another surgery! I just dont know. I feel this should have been taken care of the first time. Still the same pain as before surgery.
    • arj50436
      arj50436 nicole200965

      Posted

      I had a lot of bicep pain but the steroid shot and a good masseuse helped a great deal. 
  • stevepil1980
    stevepil1980 nicole200965

    Posted

    Sorry to hear this, and I hope the injection works for you

    Having surgery again so soon on the same arm is not going to be nice I wouldn't think so I hope it settles!

    I am still similar, lots of pain especially in side of arm (bicep area) and when lowering arm, I still have the fear of dislocation when lowering my arm but I am still doing my PT and hoping it will ease soon... 8 weeks on Monday sad

  • bwollens
    bwollens nicole200965

    Posted

    I had Latarjet surgery 11 months ago and then had a revision surgery 3 months later because I was experiencing similar symptoms. The revision surgery cleaned things up a bit and helped with some of my mobility but arm is still really weak and I have a lot of  trouble getting the muscles to fire properly. I have also got numbness and tingling all down my arm and burning/heat sensation in my hand. Doctors keep telling me to give it time as well and its super upsetting. 

    I was recently referred to a nerve doctor to see if he could help me and he told me that I still needed to give the shoulder another year before he could try to do anything for me. 

    This has been an extremely frustrating experience through and through. I definitely know what everybody in this thread is going through.

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