[ladila2]

I've had to give up pickleball, as I was recently told I have a torn rotator cuff, and wonder what others have done: Physical Therapy, Surgery, or both? What worked, and who was the DR? How long was the recuperation period? Are you back to full activity?

[graciegirl]

Rotator Cuff Tears Treatment | LIVESTRONG.COM

[A-4 Skyhawk]

Dr. Mitchell at Tri County Orthopedic is a shoulder specialist and terrific

[784caroline]

As an avid tennis player I had a diagonsis of a " torn Rotator Cuff". I tried Pt adn cortisone injections ..nothing helped. Finally I went for surgery. When I came out of surgery the Dr told me I have good and bad news for you. I did not have a tear but I did have major bone spurs and If I did not have the surgery when I did, I would have ended up with a "frozen Shoulder"...which is bad news for they would then have to "break" the shoulder joint to regain movement.

OK that was the good news. The bad news was the surgeon had to literally grind down the bone spurs to allow shoulder movement...and that was not a simple process..by that I mean painful in recovery. Recovery was slow but I faithfully went to PT for 4 months (3 Xs a week) and afterwards I was able to enjoy my tennis game which was a very competitive 5.0 game.

I did the surgery as elective for I wanted to get back to playing tennis at the level I was used to.....my problem is I forgot about the knees!!!

The surgery definitley helped, they did not really know the issue until they went in, it will make your quality o life much better. Do it orthoscopic....ie I had 3 small incisions in my shoulder ...I would not let them cut my shoulder...recovery time is much longer.

Good luck!!

[OBXNana]

In 1999 I had a full tear. Went through PT and injections. Sadly, they did not work. I live an active life style and found I was having to slow down. I had surgery, faithfully did the PT (seemed like the strangest things they were having me do!), and have been 100% ever since. My only regret after trying the conservative measures, was waiting so long to have surgery.

I'd put the arm in a sling and be very careful to not use the shoulder for a while. Do the other conservative things to see if they help first. But, life's too short to be side lined when there are so many amazing things left to do. Surgery may be a last resort.

Good luck.

[deano_hoosier]

I did a big tumble and left shoulder was injured. Tried living with it, etc, for 6 months but saw Dr Mitchell while in The Villages and had the MIR done. He said it was a tear about 3/4" and would require surgery for remediation. He also said he would do a spur removal from the Acromion (the tip of the Clavical, shoulder blade) which is pretty standard while in the operating site. From that view of the rotator cuff he would decide what type of surgery to use to do the tendon repair. Most likely, he said, he'd end up doing the minimal incision along with the use of special tools from the site used to do the sub-acomial decompression, tech term for spur removal.) I ended up getting the surgery in Indiana, but Dr Mitchell's analysis was exactly right.

The total recovery time took about 6 months, but I was able to start swinging a golf club after 4 months. Your role in physical therapy cannot be understated. What you must do on your own outside the PT sessions is fairly extensive and the more you commit yourself to it, the better the outcome.

The surgery was done on an outpatient basis and the first couple of nights after that were hard on sleep routine. I slept in a recliner for about 2 weeks after my surgery as it worked best to keep me on my back while sleeping. If you don't have a comfortable recliner, I would recommend picking one up, used, just to use after the surgery.

If you are in The Villages, I'd recommend Dr. Mitchell as one you might want to visit.

[ladila2]

Thanks to all who responded. I've been to Dr. Mitchell, and will see him again when he gets the MRI results. I'm sorry to hear that surgery seems to be the way to go, but I do appreciate hearing from those who've been there!