# Rotator cuff surgery?



## redwood

I should clarify that I had full range of motion, after 6 months. Strength came after that.

One other problem came about during the recovery. I started using my left arm a lot more. It wasn't used to it and the doctors told me it was arthritis. At times, it hurt worse then the surgically repaired shoulder.

When they open you up and you have been in the trades as long as some of us have, they will find multiple issues. I had impingement issues, as well as some others.


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## Kent Whitten

Damn Jay, sounds like you are messing yourself up this year. What's next, knees?


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## ohiohomedoctor

Kent Whitten said:


> Damn Jay, sounds like you are messing yourself up this year. What's next, knees?


Thats wrong..


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## J F

He didn't mean it like that. Or, I hope he didn't...get your mind out of the gutter. :laughing:


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## J F

Kent Whitten said:


> Damn Jay, sounds like you are messing yourself up this year. What's next, knees?


It's only been the elbow and shoulder this year...so far. :whistling

2009/10 I had the carpal tunnel surgeries and a hernia repair. So far knees/ankles are good...must be those Lewinsky brand knee pads, best in the business.


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## ohiohomedoctor

J F said:


> He didn't mean it like that. Or, I hope he didn't...get your mind out of the gutter. :laughing:


Thats the third place it went then. I figured you would have already blown out a knee by now... :whistling


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## ohiohomedoctor

J F said:


> Lewinsky brand knee pads, best in the business.


:laughing:


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## J F

Big Shoe said:


> Here's a test. Make a tight fist, raise your arm to about seven o'clock,palm down, Have someone put pressure against your hand while trying to raise it.........Major pain in your shoulder.......get it fixed.


That definitely does _not_ feel good. :no:


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## ohiohomedoctor

J F said:


> That definitely does not feel good. :no:


Not good


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## J F

:no:


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## macbe

had mine done in 2001.had the bloodwork done when they hit the towers.
torn rotor and spurs.doctor told me to find another line of work.
right doc. been doing this 32 years what new line of work do you suggest.told me i'll be back if i don't change.
took me close to a year to not have pain,when i raised my drill above my head.
i was cut opened,so if you can don't go that way.
hope things go well for you.


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## Jaws

griz said:


> Both mine were full thickness tears. I was able to do overhead work. I had good range of motion and as the doc described "phenomenol" strength for a rotator cuff tear. When he cut me open he was shocked to see such a massive tear & coudn't figure out why I had any strength or range of motion.
> 
> Recovery. I started Physical Therapy while in the hospital and went everyday for a week. Had heavy narcotic pain relievers as well as a Morphine drip into the shoulder. First 3 days were pretty much a blur.
> My arm was in that dam sling & pillow contraption for 8 weeks.
> 
> After a week the pain was very tolerable except during & after therapy. Actually took about a year to heal. The key is for you to do massive amounbts of therapy at home. I was back at work at 12 weeks & used the shoulder as tolerated.
> 
> Now if it is Arthoscopic, 24-36 hours of pain, sling for a couple of weeks and back to full duty in about 6-8 weeks.



If you dont mind my asking, how old were you had the surgery.


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## r4r&r

Had mine done about ten years ago, tore it up playing co-ed softball. Slap lesion, partial rotator cuff tear and partial detached tendon. I was rockin' and rollin' through PT and all of a sudden if felt like someone was shoving a knife in my shoulder if it raised it to high with my palm down. I developed frozen shoulder. I had to have a steroid/cortisone shot just free it up enough for the PT therapist to work it out. I was in PT for like two months or more if I remember right. 

It still gets sore if I sleep on it wrong or do a lot of over head work. The drilled no cutting.


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## griz

Jaws said:


> If you dont mind my asking, how old were you had the surgery.


51 & 54...

Currently 59 & both are doing well...:thumbsup:


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## Tom M

Man I still havent even gone for the MRI for my chest because I know the answer and am trying to think out how I can finacially manage the down time. I couldnt imagine a few months or a year. I would have to sub everything out and sell for someone that long.
Good Luck JF


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## Kent Whitten

J F said:


> He didn't mean it like that. Or, I hope he didn't...get your mind out of the gutter. :laughing:


Not sure what I said :laughing: 

Straighten up or I'll bust yo knees?


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## Inner10

Are you looking for an excuse to not work for another year?


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## J F

:laughing: Maybe two, if I play my cards right. Swmbo is a soft touch. :whistling Don't tell.


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## J F

griz said:


> 51 & 54...


So...you were 105 at the time? Damn. :clap:


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## J F

Kent Whitten said:


> What's next, knees?





ohiohomedoctor said:


> Thats wrong..





J F said:


> He didn't mean it like that. Or, I hope he didn't...get your mind out of the gutter. :laughing:


Matt just had his mind in the gutter. It _was_ funny, though.


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## summithomeinc

Isn't it past your bedtime?:jester:


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## summithomeinc

Guess what I did today? It wasn't work..


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## J F

summithomeinc said:


> Isn't it past your bedtime?:jester:


:laughing: Yes, yes it is. Swmbo said I could stay up a bit longer tonight. :thumbup: 

(I thought she meant in front of the 'puter.) :whistling


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## Dirtywhiteboy

summithomeinc said:


> Isn't it past your bedtime?:jester:


I just got home from work:blink:




JF when you goin to the Dr.?


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## summithomeinc

Fine...Don't guess... I went to take the wife to lunch....We got home 6 hours later....Partly because a guy told us if you go "right" you will come out in Cleveland, We assumed he meant Cleveland GEORGIA...:no::no::no: NOT Cleveland Tennessee.


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## J F

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> JF when you goin to the Dr.?


Oct. 10. :sad:


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## J L

Do you have a good ortho doc? I could recommend one if you need.


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## J L

summithomeinc said:


> Fine...Don't guess... I went to take the wife to lunch....We got home 6 hours later....Partly because a guy told us if you go "right" you will come out in Cleveland, We assumed he meant Cleveland GEORGIA...:no::no::no: NOT Cleveland Tennessee.


Better than Cleveland, Ohio


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## MAULEMALL

Had Both shoulders scraped and some ligament damage repaired.Both sholders at the same time... 
Best drugs ever...
Made the fact that I couldn't wipe my but a non issue....


As Soon As You Can Start with the bands and DO NOT STOP....


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## J F

RemodelGA said:


> Do you have a good ortho doc? I could recommend one if you need.


Thanks Jake, I'm going to the same practice (different doc), that did my carpel tunnel surgeries/elbow stuff. (Resurgens)

I wish I could have the same doc that's patched up my hands, as he did a great job and had a great sense of humor to boot. Everyone specializes though, which is probably a good thing.


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## J F

MAULEMALL said:


> Made the fact that I couldn't wipe my but a non issue....


:laughing:


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## Tom Struble

that no problem for the guys from GA.


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## Tom Struble

and don't :w00t: at me poopie pants


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## J F




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## ADKRemodeling

Tore my cuff and opted not to have surgery (15 years ago) and just do physical therapy with sports medicine people (luckily I live close to Olympic training center, so they are good). 3 months it was good to go with no lasting effects. Had bone chips and ligament damage to my elbow opted to get surgery (arthroscopic) it was a quick recovery time but still to this day it bothers me from time to time. I really think it depends on the doc and what options you have for physical therapy. I would also say age can and will be a factor, I was 17 & 18 years old when those two things happened so my body was much better at repairing itself then than it is now


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## J F

Yeah, I know what you mean, just _watchin' _football on Sundays now takes me a day or two to get over. :laughing:


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## Inner10

J F said:


> Yeah, I know what you mean, just _watchin' _football on Sundays now takes me a day or two to get over. :laughing:


More wrist action less shoulder.:laughing:


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## redwood

By all means, give physical therapy a try. Give the cortisone shot a try. If they don't help, you will always have the surgery option.

I don't recommend this surgery for anyone that has other viable options. It sucked and it hurt.


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## J F

:laughing: I hope it ended up helping afterwards.


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## Jaws

griz said:


> Both mine were full thickness tears. I was able to do overhead work. I had good range of motion and as the doc described "phenomenol" strength for a rotator cuff tear. When he cut me open he was shocked to see such a massive tear & coudn't figure out why I had any strength or range of motion.
> 
> Recovery. I started Physical Therapy while in the hospital and went everyday for a week. Had heavy narcotic pain relievers as well as a Morphine drip into the shoulder. First 3 days were pretty much a blur.
> My arm was in that dam sling & pillow contraption for 8 weeks.
> 
> After a week the pain was very tolerable except during & after therapy. Actually took about a year to heal. The key is for you to do massive amounbts of therapy at home. I was back at work at 12 weeks & used the shoulder as tolerated.
> 
> Now if it is Arthoscopic, 24-36 hours of pain, sling for a couple of weeks and back to full duty in about 6-8 weeks.



My dad and you have similar issues with the knees, back and shoulders. :no:

My doctor told me to operate on my right one 7 years ago, sustained a severe dislocation and tore some capsular ligaments and a rotator cuff tear playing nose in high school. Never got it operated on and played another 4 games on it:no: Setting steel on boat docks, framing and forming didnt do ita good turn. 

It aches at night, especially after over head or heavy work. Im sure I'll have to have it fixed eventually


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## redwood

J F said:


> :laughing: I hope it ended up helping afterwards.


Yes, in the end it was worth it. :thumbup:
I couldn't lift my arm above a right angle to my body without sharp pain. Now I'm fine and a little smarter as to how I deal with my body.


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## griz

Jaws said:


> My dad and you have similar issues with the knees, back and shoulders. :no:
> 
> My doctor told me to operate on my right one 7 years ago, sustained a severe dislocation and tore some capsular ligaments and a rotator cuff tear playing nose in high school. Never got it operated on and played another 4 games on it:no: Setting steel on boat docks, framing and forming didnt do ita good turn.
> 
> It aches at night, especially after over head or heavy work. Im sure I'll have to have it fixed eventually


That ache at night is what finally made me go for the surgery. Got tired of taking dope & trying to sleep in my recliner. All is well now.
When working over head they growl a bit, but do not ache at night anymore...:thumbsup:


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## Big Billy

Had orthroscopic in '09. Couldn't even raise my arm, complete tear. Very successful reattachment, No problems. Thank god I have disability insurance.

The Key is Therapy & not going back to work early!


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## Big Shoe

Forgot to mention one of my scars itches a lot sometimes. Drives me frigg'n crazy.


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## Kent Whitten

Is that why you are scratching your balls all the time :w00t:


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## Dirtywhiteboy

Kent Whitten said:


> Is that why you are scratching your balls all the time :w00t:


Kent if your ballz are itchy you might have a fungus:blink:


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## J F

...or just itchy balls. They're balls, we're supposed to scratch 'em (just our own, pervs), keeps the wife jealous. :laughing:


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## griz

J F said:


> ...or just itchy balls. They're balls, we're supposed to scratch 'em (just our own, pervs), keeps the wife jealous. :laughing:


SWMBO gets jealous when you scratch your balls?...:whistling:laughing:


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## J L

Scratch more than twice and yer playin :whistling:laughing:


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## Leo G

What if the wife scratches them more than twice?


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## J F

griz said:


> SWMBO gets jealous when you scratch your balls?...:whistling:laughing:


When I hear _"Quit that"_, I tell her she's just jealous. :whistling:whistling:whistling
















Taught her not to drag me to any more of her family's funerals. :jester:


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## griz

J F said:


> When I hear _"Quit that"_, I tell her she's just jealous. :whistling:whistling:whistling
> 
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> 
> Taught her not to drag me to any more of her family's funerals. :jester:


Small world...

MIL's birthday.....wife says "if you go with me please don't scratch your balls".....:laughing::laughing::no:

I went & I did...:laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## J F

It's pretty much an unwritten rule.


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## J F

Leo G said:


> What if the wife scratches them more than twice?


She's a keeper. :laughing:


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## J F

Awww hell, this isn't in the HH section, is it? :laughing::laughing:






















Some 15 y.o. has hacked my CT account and is responsible for the last few posts made under my account. :whistling:whistling:whistling


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## J L

Kent started it :laughing:


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## Dirtywhiteboy

:whistling http://www.freshballs.com/us/ :jester:


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## griz

Where do you find this chit....:thumbsup::thumbup::thumbup::laughing:


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## Dirtywhiteboy

:whistlingFrom this guy:laughing:


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## Dirtywhiteboy

So JF I see the Dr. app. is coming up tomorrow:whistling I'm hoping all goes well and the nurse is there too:blink: My ortho. Doc. has a good nurse.


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## Big Shoe

RemodelGA said:


> Kent started it :laughing:


He's a sick, sick man. :no:


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## J F

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> So JF I see the Dr. app. is coming up tomorrow:whistling I'm hoping all goes well and the nurse is there too:blink: My ortho. Doc. has a good nurse.


:laughing: Actually, I've got to reschedule, my own personal nurse :whistling ended up picking up a shift tomorrow, and she really wants to go with me, so I'll have to wait...darn.

I'm not allowed to go the the doc by myself anymore, as I've been known to minimize my symptoms to get out of there quicker. :whistling


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## arnldmtman

Had my right shoulder done (Complete reconstruction of the Rotator cuff) was told by my doctor "NO WORK" for 9 months. I'm now back working and i have totally recovered without any problems. It is a total pain of a surjury but something you must do if it is torn and you are in the Construction trades. I'm a GC working since 1977 in construction. Yea I know Sorry for me! I'm looking at getting my left side done next. 
Hope this helps


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## Dirtywhiteboy

Any updates:blink:


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## BKFranks

Wow. Hearing all these stories about rotator cuff makes me glad I never had the surgery. I originally woke up one morning and couldn't even lift my arm. I did physical therapy 3 times a week for 6 months and it only helped somewhat. It took about two years for the pain to completely go away, but even to this day I won't sleep on that side. Still have tightness in that area. 

I did just have hernia surgery though and did it arthroscopic. That's been an adventure. Three incisions that only got steri-strips(no stitches). Should have taken a week to heal and back to work. I ended up with complications, a seroma at the main incision under the belly button. It filled up with fluid and blood. Woke up one morning and the incision opened up and blood starting pouring out. Went to the ER and ended up getting stitches where the incision opened up. A few days later I woke up to half of my shirt covered in blood. Incision opened up again on the other side. I used gauze and tape for the rest of the day. Then squeezed the crap out of it after work to get all the fluid from the seroma out. Then it closed up and never had a problem. A few days later it was healed up pretty good and surgeon said I could resume all activity.


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## J F




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## J F

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> Any updates:blink:


No, I still haven't rescheduled. :whistling


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## J L

Pansy


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## J F

:laughing: Yep.

Arsehole.


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## I Mester

I had mine done in 07. hospital for special surgery in the city. in and out same day. full thickness tear. I tried physical therapy for a year. a few cortizone shots. nothing helped. 
Recovery sucked. arm in a sling for 8 weeks. then almost 6 months of PT till full recovery. but was well worth it.
Need to do the second one now. but I'm not about to give up another 6 months. so sucking it up for now. but I can see its in my future.


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## J F

Thanks for the post.

-------

Gotta name?


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## I Mester

name of doctor?


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## Paulie

Just ran across this thread. 

Get your lame azz in the doctors.

We need some excitement around here.

Wifey can take pictures, except when they have you turn your head and cough.

Don't feel bad, I don't get to go to the doctor alone anymore either.


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## redwood

You want a picture. Now remember, I'm on some pretty good drugs in this picture.


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## Leo G

No, not really.


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## Chad McDade

I had been having pain in my right shoulder for about a year - couldn't do overhead work, could barely get my right arm past 90 degrees most days. It finally got to the point where the arm was so bad that I couldn't sleep at night and was having difficulty holding on to things with my right hand. 

I went to my family doctor, he gave me a cortisone shot that did nothing for the arm. After the steroids failed the doc ordered an MRI of my shoulder - my family doctor and the doctor who read the MRI both stated that they believed that the rotator cuff was torn. Scheduled a consult with the surgeon recommended by my family doctor and by a couple friends who had their rotator cuff repaired. 

At the consultation with the surgeon he stated that he believed there was not a tear in the rotator cuff but that I had a large mass of bone spurs in my shoulder that was restricting my range of motion and causing the pain. I went through with the arthroscopic surgery to remove the spurs in January of this year, went to physical therapy 3 days a week for 8 weeks (after the 8th week I did the therapy at home) and returned to work after 10 weeks to light duty (making punch lists, ordering, etc.).

After a few weeks of therapy I was making noticeable improvements, after about 9 weeks I was able to raise my arm to almost 90 degrees to the side and about the same raising my arm to the front. Today I am back to where I was pre-surgery, the pain is not as bad it was before but my range of motion is horrible. I am planning on going back to my family doctor again (one of these days) to see what needs done to get the problem fixed.


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## J F

redwood said:


> You want a picture. Now remember, I'm on some pretty good drugs in this picture.


Ouch!  Did you get some trepanning done too, while they were butchering ya? :blink:


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## Kent Whitten

redwood said:


> You want a picture. Now remember, I'm on some pretty good drugs in this picture.


I think they needed to give you some better ones because you look nothing like being on drugs :laughing: Except you got some herpes thing going on with your chest :w00t:


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## Big Shoe

Chad McDade said:


> I had been having pain in my right shoulder for about a year - couldn't do overhead work, could barely get my right arm past 90 degrees most days. It finally got to the point where the arm was so bad that I couldn't sleep at night and was having difficulty holding on to things with my right hand.
> 
> I went to my family doctor, he gave me a cortisone shot that did nothing for the arm. After the steroids failed the doc ordered an MRI of my shoulder - my family doctor and the doctor who read the MRI both stated that they believed that the rotator cuff was torn. Scheduled a consult with the surgeon recommended by my family doctor and by a couple friends who had their rotator cuff repaired.
> 
> At the consultation with the surgeon he stated that he believed there was not a tear in the rotator cuff but that I had a large mass of bone spurs in my shoulder that was restricting my range of motion and causing the pain. I went through with the arthroscopic surgery to remove the spurs in January of this year, went to physical therapy 3 days a week for 8 weeks (after the 8th week I did the therapy at home) and returned to work after 10 weeks to light duty (making punch lists, ordering, etc.).
> 
> After a few weeks of therapy I was making noticeable improvements, after about 9 weeks I was able to raise my arm to almost 90 degrees to the side and about the same raising my arm to the front. Today I am back to where I was pre-surgery, the pain is not as bad it was before but my range of motion is horrible. I am planning on going back to my family doctor again (one of these days) to see what needs done to get the problem fixed.


That sucks......Find a better orthopedic surgeon/second opinion.

Bone spurs are what ''contributes'' to a tear. They rub on the muscle.
So I've been told.


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## Chad McDade

That's what I've been told also - the muscle run across the top of the spurs and they slowly fray the muscle. Not a fun experience and I'm not looking forward to doing it all over again but it's better than being the right handed carpenter who can't get his right arm over his head.


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## Big Shoe

Shoulders are a little sore..........Chiseling tile off concrete on one job and cutting /pulling up tile,thinset,paper back lathe stapled to plywood on another.

I'm getting to old for this crap. That rotary hammer gave some seldom used muscles a workout.


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