Shoulder Pain 6 weeks Post Operation- No Help from Doc or PT!!

Hi...

This definitely sounds like a question you should be asking your therapist. The first thing out of my therapist mouth every session: "How's your shoulder feeling?" I would tell him it was fine, or a lil sore, or whatever it was I was feeling. If necessary, he would dial back the exercises, or try and adapt the regimen whether strengthening and/or ROM to my personal needs.

Also, every therapy session began with electro-stim, hands on massage, and Biofreeze. Every session ended with ice. At home I followed this regimen with a tens, machine, my own pain ointment if necessary (you can buy biofreeze from the store otc), and ice after I exercised. I also had an ice machine which is a unit you fill with ice and water and it attaches to a tube that circulates this water through a pad that you attach to your shoulder. It numbs the shoulder. You can wear it as you sleep if you want to.

Sometimes pain meds might be what you need, but I personally preferred my ice to that.

Does and of what I just described reflect what your therapist and what you do? Has your therapist suggested or done any of this or tailored your therapy to your needs and personal situation? Has your surgeon suggested pain meds, an ice machine, etc?

Perhaps you aggravated your shoulder with exercises too early on in your recovery. From what you described with the after pain, it's quite common not to feel the pain until hours or even a day later after your exercise. Everyone seems to recover at their own rate. My therapists said everyone is different and some recover faster, some slower. I think if you start pushing too much too early it results in what you may be experiencing. I don't think you retore the repair. My suggestion is try the ice. Yes, it may be as simple as that because ice really does calm down everything and seems to promote healing reduce swelling, inflammation and pain . Also your therapist should massage and use that biofreeze daily . And you might also try getting a Tens unit which you can use for hours on end when you're at home or even out and about.

Seems like we all experience pain from these surgeries and everyone has a different degree of pain and ways of dealing with it. I think no patient should have to suffer with constant horrendous pain.

ok, Im an RN and ive had 2 rotator cuff surgeries. Im always having to lift things. For the 1st 6 weeks you should be in a sling. After that, its passive range of motion and slight exercising directed by PT. The only way to tell if you've torn it again is not just an MRI but an MRI with an injection of dye right into the shoulder. NO F---- WAY. ICE, ICE, ICE. Scale back on PT. You still want to do mild movement but nothing heavy. If your shoulder continues to hurt, you'll have no choice but an MRI. (Arthrogram). Ive been very careful because I retore my right one 7 mos post op and I have no intention of screwing up the left one. Personally, I'd take pain meds, ice my shoulder frequently, continue with PT but go easy and if you're still in pain in 2 weeks, ask MD for an arthrogram. It's actually the only way to see a tear so soon after surgery.

After my rotator cuff repair surgery my doctor had said it’s impossible to see much from an MRI about a possible retear until around 1 year post surgery. Things are still healing and anchors and sutures need time to dissolve before you can get a clear image.

Anyway, I had thought I retore mine many times during the recovery process and luckily I didn’t. It was only inflammation and things were still healing. I doubt you retore anything if you were doing light movements under PT instruction. Your pain is probably related to the fact that it is so soon after surgery and shoulders take a very long time to heal. I would say take a couple of weeks off from trying to do any resistance stuff. Just do some light stretching and passive assisted movements to try and prevent things from getting stiff right now. In the meantime, I would say ice and anti-inflammatory meds for 2-3 weeks. Celebrex at 400mg per day works the best for me.

Sorry, it didn’t register that you are still only 6 weeks post surgery when I first read your post. I was only doing passive assisted movements at 6 weeks, no active motion yet. Active motion didn’t start until about 3 months post surgery if I recall correctly. I would go back to just passive assisted movements for now. As I said, you probably have pain from the fact that you are only 6 weeks post surgery and you may have caused some inflammation from those exercises you did. Just back off any movements that really cause any pain for now, but try and keep the shoulder moving at least every other day with some passive assisted movements to prevent too much stiffness, weakness, and muscular atrophy from developing. Use ice at least 5 times a day for 15 minutes to help manage the pain and inflammation and perhaps take anti-inflammatories as I mentioned for a few weeks. You should get back on track again after that and what happened is probably only a minor setback. I had plenty of those setbacks and scares during my recovery process too.