Rotator Cuff Surgery-4 weeks post-op

Co-incidentally I was browsing the forum last night.  My surgery was over 18 months ago and I was thinking that at that time, I was doubtful that I would ever be pain free again.  Even when the pain post op pain subsided, there were many months of night pain.  I think the turning point came probably a year after, having been very cautious re: exercise etc. and lifting very light weights at the gym (I'm not a body builder or anything) and I booked a deep tissue massage that I think broke the cycle.  I realised that I wasn't as delicate as I thought I was.  The massage was uncomfortable but I felt that the muscles actually 'moved' properly after that around the shoulder joint.  She told me I could easily do exercises with 3 or 4kg weights (I have stuck to 3kg) and do this two or three times a week now.  Full range of movement, no pain - some nights a few aches but changing position sorts it easily.  There is no difference now between shoulders and I believe that I am actually probably stronger now than before surgery so hope to keep up the regular exercise.  I wish I could have told myself to be patient and it would come right.  My husband did tell me this, but I didn't believe him.

Thank you so much for the response! I completely understand when you say it was hard to imagine ever being pain free again. I was very active before surgery, I can't wait to be able to have a good, hard workout again. I am willing to be patient, I don't ever want to go through this again! There seems to be such a fine line between doing too much and too little....but my biggest complaint currently is the pain. I definitely didn't expect it. My shoulder of course, but down my arm into my elbow and wrist was a surprise. The constant aching is the worst. I really appreciate you responding, congrats on being back to normal!

It seems we had our surgeries nearly at the same time. I'm 3 weeks in with 1st PT coming next Thursday. We should compare notes during recovery. I'm still wearing the abduction sling but I do take it off every now and then to let my arm breathe and to work my hand and elbow. It's been uncomfortable but I'm glad I didn't wait and jumped right into getting this fixed.

I am now 16 months post surgery and found it a nightmare recovering . I also have Fibromyalgia and am a single mother with two young sons and no support. I did not drive for over 5 months and found car journeys juggled my shoulder badly. Two months ago just when I was nearly feeling stronger some car gives me whiplash !

How is your recovery going? I am now 3.5 weeks post op and until yesterday was feeling a little better everyday. I got read the riot act at PT today. I was feeling better yesterday so I increased what I did at the gym a little bit. I had been just walking the treadmill but I added 10 minutes on the elliptical, I did very light weights on my good arm and I did some sit ups (all with sling on). I woke up in the middle of the night in almost as much pain as I was in after the surgery. I couldn't believe it. She said absolutely nothing from the waist up, including elliptical which is too jarring for a while longer. Oops! 😩

Your post gave me hope when I've been ready to throw in the towel!  I am 3 months post op and still in a lot of pain (especially at night).  I still have limited range (90 degrees in front & 110 degrees out to the side), and very little strength.  I was an avid yogi before the surgery and have wondered if I will ever get back to it.  I recently had a deep tissue massage which like you, was incredibly painful but definitely helped.  I'm considering doing it more often.  Thank you for your candid report of progress!

3 weeks ago had surgery for full thickness tear and SAD. In immoblizer for 10 days then told to wear sling for 4 to 6 weeks. Had first pt Friday and it hurt but wasn't excruciating then today went to my regular pt and it hurts so bad!! My muscles were doing spasms while she was trying to move my arm. She told me to take muscle relaxer and pain meds Thursday before I come for my next session. I wish I had of researched the recovery before I had this surgery as I'm afraid it's going to be a long time before I'm able to do my job. I hope your pt is going well

Thank you for this blog. I am only 2 days post surgery and did not expect this much pain.  Has anyone experienced huge throbbing when going from lying or reclining to sitting

joint throbbing with joint position change is pretty common after surgeries. It's probably more common in lower extremity surgery. position change affect circulation. Circulation may be a bit luggish and the swelling in the area contributes to that. when you are lying down, the blood flows easily...on the level. When you begin to come upright, the blood now has to flow uphill and may pool a bit before making it up the hill, causing pressure. Yes, I would say the first few week 4-5 days was the most painful and then decreasing from there. I am now 8 weeks out and I do remember those very first tender days. change position slowly, use the cold. Hope your recovery is smooth.

 

I am 4 months post right shoulder rotator cuff repair. Have had 2 ops on left side and this is my third on the right. Wore sling for 6 weeks but would often slip my arm out whilst relaxing without fear of damaging it. Only had pain meds for 1st week. Have managed ok since then. Had Physio one every 2 weeks but did lots of therapy at home each day too. Surgeon told me I could start back swimming at 12 weeks (breast stroke only). I swim 3 times weekly and I really felt the pain for first few length then it eased slightly. 3 weeks swimming later and I'm 16 weeks post surgery and pain is unbearable. I can barely raise arm at all (I did have a good ROM) Was terrified repair had failed. Surgeon thinks it's inflammation and says take anti inflammatory pain killers + ice shoulder every 2 hrs. Am seeing him again in 2 weeks time and if it's not settled he will try a shot of cortisone. After 5 rotator cuff repairs, this is definitely my last one. I cannot bear going through all of this again. I live in hope of the current 5th rehab process.

I know it feels as if the pain and discomfort is never ending and I agree it is a very long slow process but hang on in there. A few months down the line, you can look back and see the bigger picture and realise it is worth taking the time to recuperate properly.  I am making sure I keep my joints as healthy as possible these days by sensible exercise and movement.  I don't want to go through this ever again. There really is light at the end of the tunnel, even if it seems never ending.

Thanks for your post. You give me hope that I'll make big strides in the next two weeks. It's nice to hear from a PT, and how nice that your surgeon can understand by his own experience. I am now 3.5 weeks post op, passive exercises to 90', pendulum swings and shoulder flexion. My pain I still bad and I am not sleeping well, but overall I think I'm getting a little better every day. I pushed it too hard yesterday and paid for it last night and this morning, my PT set me straight and also helped by massaging. I then came home and I accidentally knocked into a wall which shoved my shoulder forward. I have not felt that much pain since surgery day. I cried hard, and I am not a cryer! I definitely was not prepared for how hard this would be. I have given birth to four children, three of them with no drugs, I was a college athlete and I have had my fair share of injuries over the years. This takes the cake.

I am seriously going to spank myself for what I did today. I hiked 5 1/2 miles...with the sling on and am so  sore everywhere! Tomorrow is my last day and night in the sling and now just taking it off when sitting or short walks from living room to bathroom. No one ever told me not to do hiking/walking or elliptical. I was even considering the elliptical but figured I would wait till the sling was off. I think hiking is a little easier than elliptical...I just went too far. I feel your pain walking into a wall  I came close yesterday. Maybe you need to put bubble wrap around your shoulder  Hopefully some extra cold will help your pain subside. I'm sure that hurt a lot!

Hello: I see you are a PT and I did something stupid a week ago. Wondering what you thought. I was 7.5 weeks out. 6 weeks in sling; things were fairly controlled. Pt was going to start after 8 weeks. I was feeling good and felt like I could built a picture frame. I bought molding that was about a quarter inch thick and went to saw it in a miter box. Left arm was operated on. Wound up sawing with my dominant right and just holding wood down with left; thought it would be easy cut but not so had to work at it and unfortunately wound up putting a fair amount of pressure downward on left arm to hold wood in place; wound up making five cuts. Should have just stopped but wanted to do it. My supraspinatus was completely detached from humeral head. It was reattached but was noted to be frayed at surgery and I am 65. That was a week and a half ago; ever since I have had increased pain and stiffness; a definite change from how it was. I am having an MRI this week. Walking my arm up the wall was going well but now it is more difficult. My injury was 15 months old when I had it repaired. Do you have any thoughs on this? I knew better. I guess I wish I had just been told to keep every movement passive. I am praying I just agitated muscles which were going to need  good rehab and that I didn't detach the fix. I actually feel that I had been doing better than alot of the stories here but now I feel like I might have ruined the surgery. Not even sure that the MRI will give a clear picture at this time. Thanx for your input. Hope you are progressing.

Ricochetred:

​Addendum: of interest, I had excellent Range of Motion and good control with steroid injection for a long time; pain developed about a year again and not controlled which is why I went with the surgery; my ROM remained good.

 

that sounds like something I did while I was still in the sling...around 4 weeks. I had a picture frame I wanted to refinish. I had to sand the frame...did some tests with two different stains before deciding i needed to do paint instead. The sanding was harder than I expected it to be. Like you, I sanded with my dominant, non operated arm and just held with the operated arm with the sling still on. I was more sore than I expected. The day I took the sling off at 6 weeks and got that lightning volt stabbing in my biceps I was sure I had messed something up. The Dr didn't do any MRI but did examine it and said everything looks intact. I am still having very sore biceps and sometimes crampy feeling and hoping it's just irritated tendon in the bicipital groove or nerve irritation that will eventually go away with time. I am still doing ok with ROM but always worried that everything I do will mess up the surgery. I think we are working/over working recovering and fragile structures. I took a complete day of rest yesterday and my bicep felt a bit better this morning. I just walked with my kids at the beach today and still got sore biceps by end of day. I truly think that the tissues need a good 6 months or more to heal. Healing is not linear. When you are very active normally, it's very hard to take a big step back...we do little things that seem like not much...but for healing tissues, it's still a lot. If my ROM is comiing along ok and I am sore, I actually back off on the exercises till the soreness decreases. The exercises are to help gain ROM...not to make us sore. I always tell my patients to stay in pain free range. It's hard to take my own advice. I also had cortisone before my surgery that helped a lot with pain so I could get back to normal ROM...but the strength was not coming back completely...so I decided surgery sooner than later would be a good idea. The Dr said to think of it as an investment in the future. I hope everything turns out ok with your MRI. Keep us posted. Some things just can't be rushed. Heal well!

 

Almost 4 weeks post op. Started pt last week and I hurt bad!! Decided to go for a walk yesterday with my husband. Didn't think anything about a walk but it was through our local forest preserve so there's up and down inclines. I had my sling on and wasn't swinging my arm but I am hurting so bad today. I've taken muscle relaxers and Advil and Tylenol but doesn't seem to help much. Also using ice. How long did you hurt after your hike? I'm supposed to have pt tomorrow and not looking forward to it😫😫😫

I'm really glad you are here, ricocheted, your insight has been very valuable! I am now 6.5 weeks post op, out of sling for 4 days and all was going well. Started pt at one week and was only having problems sleeping. Yesterday I was out running errands and without thinking I grabbed our heavy truck door as I was getting in to close it. It was not a gentle pull, and it felt as tho I completely tore my arm from my body. I couldn't believe the pain. I immediately tightened up and exercises last night were very hard, ROM was much worse. This morning my pt really worked the entire area, she doesn't think I retore anything. I am still worried I did. The pain feels more like it did right after surgery. I don't see my surgeon for two weeks. Once again, this surgery is no joke!

thanks Janna. it's helpful for me to be here too.  That sounds very painful and I wince just reading it. I actually backed off of my exercises a little as my pain increased. I hope all is well...just take it a little easier so the new pains can settle down. I feel like I hit a turning point at week 8. Seems there are gains and then plateaus...and the occasional incident/setback. When I was still in the sling I accidentall reached with my operated arm to move my mountain bike out of the way and was sharply reminded I am not supposed to use that arm. Being out of the sling presents a danger zone and I find I have to do everything with greater awareness of what and how I do it. It's all about mindful movement. Hand in there!

 

I do hurt after hiking and it usually takes 1-2 days if I actually give myself the time to rest. I had more soreness when I was hiking with the sling vs now hiking without the sling. One week I hiked 3 days in a row and then had to rest 3 days cause I felt like I was hit by a truck. I was putting cold packs on my neck, both shoulders and low back. This weekend I did 3 miles each day, one hard hike and one easy hike and today I was too sore and tired to do anything. Even though your arm is not swinging, the muscles are still working. I think in the long run it is beneficial because the increased circulation will lead to faster healing. But listen to your body as to how far and how much. It will get easier!

Hello jannashoulder: I just read your post. I think you should have contacted your Ortho about this. But, just to ease your mind a bit, I have a post somewhere here asking ricochetred. 7.5weeks out from my surgery and 1.5weeks with sling off, I wound up attempting to build a wood frame. I was feeling really good. But as I went to work on it, sawing with my right arm and just holding the wood with my left; it did not cut easily; I wound up spending a good bit of time cutting 5 pieces and holding the wood down with left arm(surgical arm) Should have stopped. I also mopped the kitchen floor the day before. Pain started and limitation of raising arm up the wall. I was very upset. The following week I had an MRI; Ortho was livid. The tendon which had been totally torn and reattached was still attached but a joint effusion existed with inflammation. I am  3.5 weeks out from that now; started PT this week(11weeks post op) and minimal PT. Things are improving; joint effusion(fluid in the joint) will eventually resorb. I did set myself back a few weeks. But at least did not ruin the tendon attachment. Thought that might make you feel better.  I remember my Ortho tellingme that the reason for the 6 weeks of sling is to help remind you not to do things. and it is so true! I have done a few things, although minor that probably should not do. Good luck! Also, I am 65 years old therefore my tendon was not the healthiest; if you are younger, yours probably is healthier and less chance you did something.