Sorry about your RC tendon Amy. RC injuries seem to be very hard to fix, and from what Ive read, harder to recover from than a total shoulder replacement.

I've been told the wait time for surgery after a cortisone shot is 3 months. Maybe your situation is different. My understanding is the shot is long gone by 3 months.

One band-aid approach, see if your surgeon will prescribe 5% lidocaine patches. Just a temporary fix.

Reverse total shoulder replacement may also be an option. It has to be "reverse" because of the RC damage, with the titanium ball of the humerus placed on the end of the clavicle and the glenoid (cup) placed on the top of your humerus.

I wish you the best. Im getting a TSR in may. My RC is fortunately intact and so I can do an anatomical replacement.

All the best to you.

Joe

Hi Amy,

Sorry about your RC. As far as cortisone, my surgeon required me to wait 3 months after the shot before doing an anatomical TSR. The reason - cortisone weakens the immune system, so greater risk of infection. I had the surgery 5 weeks ago and, so far so good.

And I believe it is correct that cortisone can damage or partially dissolve tendons and ligaments. In the last few years, it's been my experience that surgeons don't see this is a high risk. The bigger problem, IMO, is that cortisone stops working after one or two shots.

As far as whether or not you should get surgery - that depends. Just my opinion but most RC repair surgery has a lengthy recovery and doesn't work as well as just getting a reverse TSR. Do you have arthritis in your shoulder? Are there things you can't do, like certain exercises involving the shoulder like overhead presses or bicep curls?

I ask because with my shoulder, some muscles in my upper back on the surgical side had weakened because of so much time NOT doing those exercises. And that's because I put off surgery too long.

I waited until I had daily pain before getting a TSR. I've also had both knees and one hip replaced, all at the point where I had considerable pain.

My suggestion (and that's all it is) is to talk with your surgeon about a reverse TSR versus repairing the RC versus doing nothing for now. Last note - a reverse TSR is required when the RC is damaged, but I'm guessing you know that.

I hope this is helpful, and all the best to you and everyone battling shoulder and other joint pain.

Joe

@amywood20 I too have a full thickness tear, right shoulder, had great results with PT and holding for 2 yrs. Just found out i have another full thickness tear on left shoulder. 1 cm tear. Ortho says it is larger than the first tear ( MRI did not give measurement of the first tear) With this tear i have no pain and full ROM. First instinct is to resume PT for this new tear as I really want to avoid surgery. But then the doubts creep in :/ Ortho shoulder Doc says I may never have pain or weakness snd never progress to the need for surgery while also making me aware of the dire sounding end results of waiting too long, muscle atrophy , total shoulder , yadda yadda . As a worrier I go to the worst scenario in my mind . Reading your comment gives me hope . How do you know your tear is holding ? Are you basing it on absence of pain and good ROM or have you had follow up MRI’s ? And is that even s thing to get follow up scanning to check ? Thanks !