Quote:
Originally Posted by Bjeanj
An MRI will tell you if something is torn. However, except for golfing eagles, none of us have a medical degree.
I did PT for a year before going to an orthopedic doctor. Come to find out my rotator cuff was torn and no amount of PT was going to fix it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rrtjp
I have had both of my shoulders repaired. Both bad rotator cuff tears that required surgery. You need to see your doctor who will refer you to a specialist. A useless X-ray will be ordered because insurance companies will require it before they will OK an MRI. If you do have a torn cuff and need surgery I am going to be very honest with you, post surgery is no fun, very painful and you will have a long and somewhat painful rehab (everyone has a different pain threshold). For the first 6 weeks post surgery you will be in a very uncomfortable sling 24/7 the only time you will remove your arm from the sling will be at rehab. Also your doctor will order some type of narcotics to help with your pain. You will need help doing many simple chores like bathing, dressing and even eating. You will be surprised how difficult it is to do things with just one arm. Do a lot of research on surgeons that do this type of surgery. Both of my surgeries where done in Ft Lauderdale by Dr Yoldas, he specializes in sport injuries and has worked on many professional athletes.
Both my shoulders today feel great, the right shoulder as good as new, my left shoulder was torn a little worse than the right so I still have some very mild pain depending on certain motions but does not limit me from doing anything. I hope you find out that it isn’t a tear and something else. Good luck with whatever you find out it is.
Sometimes if it is a small tear your doctor may recommend physical therapy only. Again good luck and if you do need surgery feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
God bless
Ps
The sponge bathes my wife gave me after surgery I may have dragged out a little longer than what was necessary, lol.
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Where there's a will there's a way!
I hate baths! After taking one the first 2 days I decided I was going to find a way to take a shower.
I had 3 incisions, 1 big one and 2 small ones on my shoulder. I would have my wife use medical tape and tape a quart size plastic bag over them. That way it wouldn't get wet. Worked like a charm!
I had a sports ortho doc as well. He didn't believe in giving strong pain meds right off the bat. So he basically gave me very strong Tylenol. I had no desire to take anything stronger like an opioid. Wasn't ideal, but worth a little extra discomfort to me.
As a longtime runner it was killing me not running. So I did cardio on the eliptical at the gym. About 3 weeks of that and I was ready to try running with my sling on. I asked my doc, he said as long as I snugged up my sling it was ok.
I'm sure I looked goofy, but who cares?
I'm a firm believer that cardio helps the healing process.
If you do everthing they tell you to do, your shoulder can be 100%