Rotator cuff surgery

I had shoulder surgery on October 10 to repair 3 torn tendons and the rotator cuff. I tore and dislocated my bicep tendon at the shoulder and it had to be reattached,I also had arthritis shaved off the clavicle and a bone spur shaved down. I was in a sling and immobile for 6 weeks. I began going to physical therapy at week 2. By the end of the 6 weeks the pain was unbearable and I kept getting told that it should not hurt that bad. I have a high pain threshold and it was exceeding that limit. I just had a TKR in May and did not have near the pain as this. I went for my 6 weeks follow up on Friday and was told that I had Frozen Shoulder, which explained the pain. The doctor does not want to continue pain meds and I am do not want to either. I can't drive when taking them and I need to be able to drive myself around. I read that Frozen Shoulder is very painful and can take a long time to loosen up. At the moment I am on Ibuprophen and tylenol and using my ice pack as often as possible and during the night. The last time I went to PT was before the doctors appointment and I was up all night in severe pain. I am dreading having the PT move it anymore. I have been using it as much as I can, but am seriously afraid of the exercises that I am about to begin. I need to hear from people who have had this problem and any advice on how to ease the pain, as well as how to speed up the recovery process.

Hi @ssbionicknee,

I merged your discussion about finding others for suggestions regarding frozen shoulder into this discussion. Since you previously shared your insights here, I thought it would be beneficial for you to reconnect with the members in this conversation.

Thank you! I haven't been on much since the surgery and forgot I had posted.

The doctor gave me a prescription for 600 mg of ibuprophen. He gave me a cortisone shot to help. But I just want to get the arm moving more.It is harder to move because of the "frozen shoulder." I believe I read that it is caused by extra scar tissue and a thickening of the tendons.

@ssbionicknee The Dr. Back in the 80,s called it frozen shoulder since thats what they called it then .Now I have arthritis in both shoulders.with everything else The Dr put me know n Tramadol 50 mg 2x a day .

@ssbionicknee, I was not aware you could be diagnosed that quickly with frozen shoulder. I had my torn rotator fixed on June 15th, 2018. I was not allowed to even move it or begin any PT until that 6 week mark, and my mobility was extremely limited and very painful. I just had an appointment a few weeks ago (around the 16 week mark) and was told mobility is often not fully regained until closer to a full year or slightly beyond. My progress in PT has been so slow that it is beyond frustrating. Like you, I had a knee replaced, and even though that recovery was hard for me (had to have two manipulations due to aggressive scar tissue), you are right that you at least get to start PT right away.

I am closer to the 20 week mark now for my surgery, and I can say I have finally started to make some big gains with my shoulder. I am finally back to lifting some weights and doing more aggressive exercises. The mobility is still not near 100% and it is still really stiff, I am making progress.

I only bring this up, because progress when i started PT at that 6 week mark was so slow and for weeks it felt like I was getting nowhere. I still have pain at 20 weeks, but it is not near as bad. I still am not sleeping uninterrupted because it is just impossible to get in the position that I preferred to sleep in before surgery.

@ssbionicknee, may I ask how they diagnose frozen shoulder? Did they take MRIs? Were you in an immobilizing brace for 6 weeks? My ROM after I came out of my immobilizer was next to zero as well, but they said that it was normal and that shoulders are the most difficult joint to rehab.

@JustinMcClanahan When I worked in O.R in the 70,s Dr gave orders to get people up out of bed and started to moving slowly but no P. T yet but to move the muscles or they started to get stiff then that causes more pain

@JustinMcClanahan
Good Morning!
My husband has had a frozen shoulder for some time. The orthopedist did an xray and physical exam to help diagnose him. He also gave him a steroid injection to see if it would help. It didn't. My hubby went to PT for several months to work it out. Although he is somewhat better, he still needs to be careful how he stretches his arm. BTW...he is a golfer and had no problem when he golfs.

Although I never had rotater cuff issues, I have had cartilage (?) tear, twice! After the first tear, I have surgery followed by PT after an inital healing. I NEVER got my range of motion back, which made driving difficult. Those days, I exercised with hand weights and a an weight machine. I really got a high using these pieces of equipment even though that is probably what caused the tear.

I really missed using the equipment after my surgery. After several weeks I asked if I could use the weight equipment. My surgeon said it would be fine and my PT said NO!!! I went along with what I wanted to hear. So, I started with the equipment again. And what happened? I reinjured the shoulder. I was not ready in any way to have the surgery again. It was only a couple of months since the prior one. This time, I started with PT immediately as I didn't want to lose strength. I did this for several months.

When I finally had surgery, my recovery was so much better even though my doctor did a bigger surgery by also removing a bit of bone to clean up the arthritis. I was amazed how much easier it was to recover from thie! I healed much more quickly and got full range of motion back.

I AM A GREAT BELIEVER THAT PT PRIOR TO JOINT SURGERY HELPS WITH HEALING !

Good Luck!r
Ronnie (GRANDMA80

After reading several of the recent posts. I’d like to add some comments. Re. exercising before rotator cuff (or any surgery) is definitely, infinitely helpful. Prior to my 1st. right shoulder sugery (bone spur, torn rotator, bicep tendon cut and relased bc. of damage) I had worked out really hard at Curves for 2 years. Whether the shoulder pull-down machine actually contributed to the problems is moot at this point. Anyway, after really painful 10 days or so recovery was pretty swift. Back in garden picking blueberries at 7 weeks, playing tennis with powder puff overhead serve at 4 months. Of course that was a) straight forward surgery for damage +minor arthritis in shoulder, and b) no scar tissue problems or frozen shoulder, and c) I was young-ish then (59). 5 years later surgery on left shoulder, ditto no problems. 100 % motion eventually in both shoulders.
TKR at age 69 10 weeks ago. Also supposedly very quick recovery, but the low- to midgrade pain still persists, especially at night, after (not during) exercise, and after extended activity. Progress toward full recovery (not full range of motion, that’s not happening even with the most optimitic expectations) seems slow(er) to me. Perhaps it just seems that way since I’m in the middle of it right now and may have forgotten some of the challenges of the shoulder rehab. I am happy for all the people who sailed through their procedures, and I find this forum an excellent source of information for those who experience problems and are looking for practical advice from fellow sufferers.

I had the surgery on Oct. 10. I was in a sling for 6 weeks. It was the one with the wedge. I was told that I could not move my upper arm away from my body. I went back on Oct. 19 and was told to go to PT and that I could sleep without the sling, but I could not move my arm away from my body. I was allowed to move it some from the elbow down. I began PT on Monday and he moved my arm. The PT worked on range of motion, which was excruciating, but I was told that I could not move it at all. I was in a lot of pain and unable to sleep, I called to refill the pain meds at 4 weeks and was told that I should not be in that much pain and normally pain meds were stopped at 2 weeks. I have a high threshold for pain and really felt like I was doing something wrong. I was given 600 mg of ibuprofen and took that with Tylenol. At my 6 weeks check which was Nov.16, I was having severe pain all down my arm. They took an x-ray, the surgeon looked at it and said it was healing fine. Then he moved it around, told me I was resisting, which I was not. That is when he came to the conclusion that I had frozen shoulder. He gave me a cortisone shot, told me to take the ibuprofen and tylenol, and to ice it. He also told me that I had to move it as much as I could. I have been moving it a lot, using biofreeze, icing it and taking the 2 meds. The surgeon also said he wanted me to have aggressive therapy. I am doing both water and land therapy. It is painful, but I am trying to get the ROM back. I can only lift 5 pounds in my hand. I feel like I am being rushed. They repaired 3 tendons, reattached my bicep, which was torn from the shoulder, shaved arthritis off the clavicle and shaved off a bone spur. What all did you have done. I was also told no more sling after 6 weeks.