Has anyone here had shoulder surgery that can tell me what to expect, particularly the mundane stuff that I might not think about. I dislocated my shoulder a year ago and tore my labrum, so it’s a surgery for labral repair I’m sure that every surgery may have different healing times but maybe not, I don’t know. Did you maintain your range of motion and strength after you healed and underwent physical therapy? Are there activities you’ll never be able to perform again?
I had a torn rotator cuff repaired back in 2003. The recovery was painful, and Physical [del]Torture[/del] Therapy was painful, but stick with it if you want to have any chance of getting your range-of-motion back. I don’t have any problems in that shoulder now (that I am aware of). However, I am not the most physical of men, so YMMV.
I was not able to lie down for any length of time for the first 4 weeks or so after surgery and I had to sleep in my recliner. After a week or so, I slept an hour or two on the couch until the pain forced me back to the recliner.
Make sure you get a properly-sized sling. The first sling they put on me was the wrong size and I ended up holding my arm in such a way that I got a huge knot underneath my shoulder blade. My wife had to massage that away several times, which was pretty painful. Once I got the right size of sling, the knot disappeared.
Despite the pain and aggravation, I am glad I had the surgery. I don’t have any pain in that shoulder any more. I had lived for two years with a torn supraspinatus and had learned to compensate for the lack of motion by twisting my arm and body into unnatural positions, which caused a lot of pain, but the surgery has allowed me to put all that behind me.
As far as I know, there are no activities that I can’t do. There are certain things that I won’t do out of general principles (such as strenuous lifting or chin-ups), but that has more to do with my general disregard for things physical, rather than coddling my shoulder. However, I am careful when I lift heavy things and make sure I don’t overstress that shoulder.
I had a labral repair in October 09 – took about 6 months of physical therapy post-op to regain use of the shoulder. Had quite a bit of trouble with range of motion – it’s still only about 90%. Strength isn’t a big problem, although I have little upper-body strength to begin with, and my heart problems make pretty much any strenous exercise a dicey proposition.
One tip – get slip-on or velcro-close shoes, as it’ll be pretty much impossible to tie laces for a couple of weeks post-op.
My husband had this surgery about two years ago. Recovery was painful and took about 6 months. He has continued his physical therapy (and still goes a couple of times a month) because his job required good mobility and he has regained about 95%, maybe a bit more. His strength is 100% and he doesn’t avoid any activities.
Immediately following the surgery, he was in a LOT of pain. Actually, we were talking about painful injuries/surgeries over the holidays with some friends, and he said this one was the worst of all (and he’s broken multiple bones - arms a could of times, fingers, bone in the face, spine, etc.), even worse then when he severely bruised his hips and couldn’t walk for a few weeks. He does not take any medication, but was very strict on his Oxy/Tylenol with Codeine schedule to keep the pain at bay. He needed to be with other people 24/7 just to function/eat for about two weeks (he stayed with family during the day when I was at work).
He had trouble sleeping as well, just because he couldn’t get comfortable.
But, all this said, he’s very glad he had the surgery. He would dislocate his shoulder very easily and it was interfering with his job.