My wife and I both recently had rotator cuff surgery.

Get a magnetic button shirt designed for shoulder surgery. Makes it easy to dress.
Take laxatives after surgery.
Nerve blocks on the arm will kinda freak out your mind having a paralyzed arm for a day or so.
Get the ice water pump flow pads and you will have almost no swelling.
Do home therapy five times a day per Dr orders. We both had great recovery.
Be picky with therapists, they can damage the repair requiring it to be redone. I know of two cases.
Accept your restrictions if you want great results. The time goes by fast.

Pain lets you know you are still alive !

StiRep- 6 hours Post op. Right are completely numb and paralyzed. This is good. I hate the freaking sling! The shoulder strap gives me a sore neck and a headache. I only use it to go pee. This concerns me as I will need to use it during exercise and PT.

Any suggestions?

malenurse said:

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StiRep- 6 hours Post op. Right are completely numb and paralyzed. This is good. I hate the freaking sling! The shoulder strap gives me a sore neck and a headache. I only use it to go pee. This concerns me as I will need to use it during exercise and PT.

Any suggestions?

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I have had both shoulders done over the years. I wrap the shoulder strap in a thick microfiber towel to soften it. I would also lengthen it to place the weight on my other shoulder instead of my neck as it taking weight was much more comfortable than my neck. I would also keep that damn thing off most of the day while sitting in my recliner as i was resting my arms weight on my chest then. Good luck, it will be a rough week. Feeling will be back or start back around the 24-48hr mark as the nerv block wears off. Tbh, i actually looked forward to the nerv block wearing off on my second arm because the pain was manageable but the numb noodle arm pissed me off to no end.

I don't think anyone warned you about peeling that surgical tape off in a few days. It's one of the worst parts of the first week. You can't move your arm and it feels like your skin and body hair are coming off.

I am a very hairy person

I would drink heavily beforehand and tell whoever is doing the peeling that you will eventually forgive them.

Fishing shirts are your friend. Do your rehab. Don't be a hero and try to return to function earlier than prescribed. The only thing that sucks worse than cuff surgery is revision cuff surgery…

Hot sponge application for 30-45 seconds prior to removing tape helps…

ComeAndTakeIt said:

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I don't think anyone warned you about peeling that surgical tape off in a few days. It's one of the worst parts of the first week. You can't move your arm and it feels like your skin and body hair are coming off.

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Baby oil helps a ton to loosen the tape's glue. Just selectively apply it to avoide sutures. Although it won't really hurt you even if it does touch the sutures because by that time, you should be using the liquid antibacterial wash each day on the sutures.

malenurse said:

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StiRep- 6 hours Post op. Right are completely numb and paralyzed. This is good. I hate the freaking sling! The shoulder strap gives me a sore neck and a headache. I only use it to go pee. This concerns me as I will need to use it during exercise and PT.

Any suggestions?

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https://www.txstrapco.com/quix-straps

I took of existing strap and replaced with strap above. The Velcro let go and shoulder went in to free fall scaring the crap out of me. Plus is looks cool.

Then I would have a tacticool shoulder immobilizer. Anyway we could put some molle on the cushion and attach a kydex holster for my shield

malenurse said:

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Then I would have a tacticool shoulder immobilizer. Anyway we could put some molle on the cushion and attach a kydex holster for my shield

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According to tacticool.com, a shoulder immobilizer does not have tacticool status until a punisher sticker is attached.

Update:

2 weeks post surgery. 1st followup yesterday and 1st PT today.

Those of you that recommended the ice water pumps, praise to you. That thing is a game changer.
I have been able to mostly use OTC pain meds. Using the Norcos primarily at night to sleep.

PT was not bad today. Mostly passive range of motion

Hope your recovery goes well - thank you for posting!

Just found out I need Repair as well. One friend isuggested I put off the surgery and look into PRP first and some PT

Does that make sense?

TIA

It depends on the type, and severity of the injury. In my case, I had two full thickness tears in My rotator cuff. No amount of therapy or treatments was going to fix that.

If you are having trouble sleeping, place a small (very small) pillow behind your shoulder blade to keep your shoulder from falling back towards the bed. Think of it like one of those inflatable lift things for furniture and it will help keep your shoulder in a neutral position. Granted you may have to reset it if you move a lot during sleep, but this could give you the chance to sleep on your back if you are aching for that type of sleep.

Take the PT seriously, do your HEP, and don't go faster than your doctor's protocol says. Doctors, nurses, and us therapists are the WORST at being a good PT/OT patient

Had RC surgery about 4 years ago. All the above is spot on. After about 6 months a was back to normal. That lasted 1 year. Pretty much hurts all the time now. Doc said I need replacement.

Anyone have experience with shoulder replacement? I've heard it's easier than the repair.

It can be but loss of motion is almost a guarantee and depending on if it is a regular or a reverse, there are different pros and cons.

I personally would always get a second opinion on something like that if your skeptical.

Much shorter recovery. In your case with failed cuff repair, I would assume your doc is suggesting reverse TSA. That procedure has great results. Do rehab as rx'd and you'll do great.

I need both of my shoulders worked on, for now I can get by with the pain so I just suck it up. My PT gave me exercises to do that help a lot.

Also need hip surgery but the PT fixed me up there too, still have issues but a lot better. Yes I am not even 40 and am falling apart. I got hurt a lot in sports growing up.

Go see an orthopedic surgeon if you're that age. The longer you wait, the more degenerative the tissue can become which will make it less likely to heal when you do get it fixed. Waiting can also cause arthritis to develop and progress, which is irreversible.

I've been putting off starting the process because of work issues. It's on my schedule for Q4. Not sure if it's a regular or reverse. Doc told me after last surgery that there wasn't much left so I'm assuming that means bone on bone. Whatever it is, I'm getting it fixed this year..

Good luck

Had 3 big tears repaired 4 weeks ago. Attached are pics of before and after on one of them. All info provided on this thread is useful

Ask for, and what I really mean is demand, an OnQ Painbuster.
Years ago when I was in medical device sales, this was the product I represented. It's a lot like a nerve block, but it lasts longer.

The only issue is that it controls pain so well, you might be tempted to think you can do things with your shoulder sooner than you can. Follow the doctor's orders and be the best rehab patient ever.

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE WATER COOLED SHOULDER SLEEVE!!!!

And don't sneeze!

Make a note of where your arm rests on your chest in the sling when you go to sleep that first night. If you wake up in terrible pain and the meds do nothing to relieve it, recheck the position of your arm. Mine had slid up on my chest and cause horrible pain that three different pain killers wouldn't touch. As soon as I realized what the problem was and gently slid my arm back down, the pain went away instantly and all those meds sent me to the clouds.

I had it done on both shoulders 6 months apart. Not particularly smart, but I am too cheap to pay 2 deductibles. Agree with everyone here about your PT…take it serious.

Also, make sure you've got your pain management onboard before the nerve block wears off. I'm allergic to opioids and thought I could just tough it out on the first one. If someone would've handed me a loaded gun, I might've just ended it right there. Used MJ gummies for the second shoulder, and they worked like a champ.

I've got some arthritis, which sucks, and I still get some pain from over-use, but for the most part I'm good to go. I was 47 when I had them done.

That is the greatest invention of all mankind

I just used an ice pack. You are only super to cool for 30 minutes at a time. The ice kept only lasted about that long. Over cooling causes vasoconstriction and can lead to delayed healing.

Do the PT, but don't over do it. I wound up injuring my neck, and caused me to be off work for an extra month.

I still do PT daily, 20 months later. It does get better.

my surgery was friday 6 am. DR had me start rehab monday am. 5 screws to put it all back together plus i had torn biceps tendon so they re-attached that.

they put an epidural somewhere in my neck to numb the arm and taped it up to keep it from moving. saturday about 3 am i woke up in the worse pain of my life. called ER and they sent an ambulance to take me back in. turns out whoever taped the epidural hose had kinked it and i was not getting the drip from the ball. holy **** i took 3 max strength vicodins before the ambulance got there and it did nothing for the pain. they fixed the kink in the epidural line and in 10 minutes i was out.

make sure to take a pain pill before you go to rehab. they will start range of motion immediately and it hurts. ****ing PT dude stuck his knee in my arm pit and forced my arm in a circle motion the first day.

also, i could not sleep wearing that arm brace so after a few days i started taking it off. DR told me it was more for stability in case i fell, so if i was going to do that, get down somewhere you plan to sleep for the nite and do not get up to move without having it put back on. and you cannot take that off or put back on yourself. wife or someone has to do it. sleeping in a recliner or some upright position is your only chance. laying flat will not work

get ready for some serious pain thru recovery but it is worth it. i throw footballs and baseballs again, play basketball, play golf, can cast fishing poles again - all pain free now

suggestion: mix miralax in the beer you are drinking while you take those vicodins. the constipation from the pain meds sucks ass and your gut will hurt almost as bad as your shoulder until you can **** regularly

Get moving as soon as you can! I cinched the slong up and took a 30-45 minute walk every day. It helped the gut, I only had to take a ducolax tabs a couple times to keep the gut going.

Mr. Dubi said:

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Get moving as soon as you can! I cinched the slong up and took a 30-45 minute walk every day. It helped the gut, I only had to take a ducolax tabs a couple times to keep the gut going.

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What's your shoulder have to do with your slong?

Non-Typical said:

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Mr. Dubi said:

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Get moving as soon as you can! I cinched the slong up and took a 30-45 minute walk every day. It helped the gut, I only had to take a ducolax tabs a couple times to keep the gut going.

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What's your shoulder have to do with your slong?

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I think my hubby meant sling, but slong certainly makes for a better story.

dubi said:

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Non-Typical said:

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Mr. Dubi said:

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Get moving as soon as you can! I cinched the slong up and took a 30-45 minute walk every day. It helped the gut, I only had to take a ducolax tabs a couple times to keep the gut going.

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What's your shoulder have to do with your slong?

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I think my hubby meant sling, but slong certainly makes for a better story.

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I saw slong, you say tally whacker....