Shoulder Replacement: Still having pain

Justin: I hope you get full recovery and an end to the pain soon. I was super lucky with my 2 shoulder arthroscopic surgeries, compared to you. Right shoulder was rotator tear, bone spur, and a biceps tendon that was frayed beyond repair and had to be severed. Exactly 4 months to the day after that surgery I was back to playing tennis (with wimpy, but full overhead serve). Left shoulder was “only” rotator cuff tear and bone spur. Equally fast recovery. Of course it took almost 9 months to get to the full motion and total absence of pain. I agree that sleeping was a major problem. Contrary to some advice I never used a recliner. Just built a support system in bed with lots and lots of little pillows to brace the shoulder. Worst part was when I had to turn over to reach the pain pills on the nightstand every 4 hours.

I had a total shoulder replacement of my right shoulder on July 30th of this year. I have had a number of surgies in the past without trepidation but I did feel some anxiety about this shoulder. They only kept me one night in hospital and from there I went to stay with a friend. I am still staying with a friend rather than at home so that I will not be tempted to overuse my body. I had about a week of intense pain that was modified greatly by the pain medication. I took them as prescriibed until I realized that I could go longer and longer without the medication. The nurse told me to take them as prescribed but I did not need them so I did not take them. I am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic and did not feel any desire to use them other than for the pain. I slept sitting up in a chair with pillows for support...especially for my arm and shoulder which were in a sling. I have been sleeping in my bed for awhile now and that works as long as I use the positions suggested by the doctor. I went on youtube and watched videos of proper sleeping positions for post shoulder surgery over and over. I have a healthy respect for the need to keep the upper part of my shoulder stabilized, etc. Today I can wear my sling or not around the house with no problems. As with my knee surgery I have followed doctor's ordes and made provisions to stay somewhere to begin recovery rather than at home. Physial therapy starts on September 9 and I do not look forward to it at all. I know the purpose and I will comply but OUCH! I attribute my reasonable amout of success to obeying doctor's orders and using the internet to watch relevant videos and read other people's experiences.

I had shoulder replacement surgery on March 12, 2020. After a few days of initial pain, I had tolerable pain for a few weeks that NSAIDS handled. I was able to get through rehab quickly and am now working on getting back to as close to normal ROM and strength. My remaining concern is with sleeping on the affected side. It still isn't a comfortable position and if I do roll over to that side, I'll wake up after a few hours with unpleasant achiness in the joint both at rest and through my range of motion. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this, did it eventually go away and did you do anything to help? (FYI - I'm 71).

Thanks.

Hi @mdgarnett, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You'll notice that I moved your message to this existing discussion about shoulder replacement, pain and sleep. I did this so that you can connect with @ellerbracke @anncgrl @rascal1 and others.

In this article, John Sperling, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester states:
"Many patients six weeks after surgery are able to drive again, sleep on the side that bothered them before and resume a wide variety of activities, such as golf and gardening, he says." from Mayo Clinic News Network - Mayo Study Finds Shoulder Replacement Eases Pain, Improves Motion in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/shoulder-replacement-eases-pain-improves-motion-in-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-mayo-study-finds/

This is obviously not been your experience. Are you able to fall back asleep or does the pain keep you awake? Have you talked to a physiotherapist about this persistent pain interrupting your sleep?

Thanks for replying and moving my message to the right place.

I guess I over-stated things. I haven't had any serious pain since 5 or 6 weeks after surgery except for a couple of occasions where I know I over did it. I purposely avoided sleeping on my right side until recently and that's what my message refers to. I wouldn't call what I feel now as pain - more an uncomfortable aching that usually goes away after I'm up for a few hours but sometimes lingers for the day. I usually fall asleep again if I change position. Taking an NSAID before bed doesn't seem to make any difference.

At the risk of making things more complicated: I also can get the same issue if I rest my elbow and leaning on it like on my desk or a chair arm. This tends to push the humerus up into the shoulder and I think stresses the joint - and I'm going to guess that is what happens at night. I don't think this is going to be an ongoing problem but you never know.

My concern is I had a CMJ fusion and trapeziectomy several years ago and I still have problems with my hand and wrist and am just having to learn to live with it. The ache is random and doesn't affect what I can do but it is sometimes demoralizing. The surgery trigged CRPS that fortunately responded to pain treatment but it also triggered Dupuytren's Contracture that is gradually growing worse.

I haven't talked to the surgeon yet - I have a follow up on 7/20. I just wanted to see if my experience is typical.

Pardon me for rambling on. I had rotator cuff surgery on my other shoulder 10 years ago. I was able to find a wealth of info about what to expect and many people's experiences to prepare myself. I wasn't able to do this with the replacement surgery, I think because there just haven't been as many are there are rotator cuff repairs.

Thanks for listening.

Good afternoon @mdgarnett, You know what, you're right. It does seem like there are fewer standard shoulder replacement surgeries at least from my position here. I do notice posts about reverse shoulder replacements and have had one of those myself.

Here is a link from @itsally, who describes her repair as a Tapezius Tendon Transfer. She wants to play tennis again and it appears that this surgical procedure may work for her.

I had two attempts at rotator cuff repair including cadaver transplant which failed rather miserably. Therefore, none of the four rotator cuffs were functional by the time it was recommended that I "volunteer" for a reverse shoulder transplant. I say volunteer because the reverse was new at the time and insurance companies were resistant about approving something that might require a revision or other procedure.

Evidently, I was also fighting an age restriction set by the insurance company. My surgeon got on the phone and after about 30 minutes, the decision was reversed.

The manufacturer of the prothesis sent an engineer out for the actual surgery. And I was welcomed into the surgical room as if there was a celebration going on. The recovery was really well thought out by my "team" and other than the inconvenience of the immobilizer, everything went well.

I wish you well with your recovery. You may want to talk to some former recipients of a shoulder replacement. Just promise to share with us so we will be able to help others.

May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Chris

I had a total replacement of my right shoulder a year ago. I thought it would be an awful experience. The truth is that the surgery, recovery qand p.t. went well. My shoulder only bothers me if I overstress it or make a sudden twist motion. The difficult things: having my arm in a sling for a long time and maintaining my arm close to my body. I learned so much 00ggc4

I was lucky with my rotator cuff years ago. I had fairly significant damage and the surgeon was suggesting immediate surgery. I delayed it because I traveled for work and I needed 4 to 6 weeks to get my schedule adjusted to permit staying home. About a week before the scheduled date I fell on ice and completely wrecked my shoulder. I had a few days of pain and a useless arm until surgery.

The surgery went very well, virtually no pain after the nerve block wore off and about half the time in rehab as it was expected to take. I was hoping the shoulder replacement would be as good an experience but it wasn't tho' it wasn't bad. Lots of pain for a few days and more trouble sleeping. Still, I'm thankful for the availability of the procedure - any pain I experience now is a tiny fraction of what I had before surgery. Every one's experience is different but I would tell people facing the experience to not fear the process.

thanks for your note.

My experience has been pretty much the same except that I still have trouble sleeping on my right side. I do occasionally do something I shouldn't that I later regret - usually picking something up in an over-extended way. Sometimes it is a surprise - I recently did my semi-annual cleaning and buffing of my table saw top and the long reach over the table to buff produced a little pain later. Live and learn I suppose.

4 weeks out from surgery. Sore, trouble sleeping. Do home exercises 3 x's. How long before you can move arm to side and be able to lift 10 lbs?