Rotator Cuff Tear

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I was diagnosed with a minor rotator cuff tear, probably not worth the $$ and pain to operate; my biggest concern is how this will affect my rock and ice climbing; ive been through the talk with my orthopedic surgeon.........anyone out there pulling down with a similar injury?

[Jethro]

I have had multiple rotator cuff tears, and had surgery on one arm.. The first time I tore my RC, I was skiing and fell on it. I was supposed to go ice climbing the next day, but when I woke up, I couldn't raise my arm at all. Twenty years later, and several more tears, and I had that shoulder fixed. That was two octobers ago, and it is good now

My other shoulder has had a few tears, and I was even scheduled for surgery ten years ago. I put it off and was ok, but a little weak and creaky. A month ago I tripped over some crap in the garage and tore it again. I see the surgeon on wed for an exam.

If you have a partial tear, I would bet you can heal and continue to do the thing you enjoy. However, unless you really reign it in, the odd are that you will hurt the shoulder again, and now it is already a bit compromised. When I had my surgery, the doc found out I had no cartilage left, and I had to have micro fracture to try to grow some protective covering in the joint. If I had fixed the tear earlier, the joint would not have degraded as much. It is a tough call. In both of my shoulders, I put off surgery until later, but at a greater cost.

[gonzo_lives]

I have ripped the right one in an MTB fall and it took 2 months to be able to use it at all.It took a few more months to be 100% but it did reach that point.It would have taken that long to recover from surgery,so I felt I did the right thing.
The next time it was a rather minor injury,and it took a good 7 monnths to be pain free.
So whether you decide to let it heal or have surgery,it may take longer that you had hoped to get back your full reach for rock climbing.

[EaglesPDX]

I was diagnosed with a minor rotator cuff tear, probably not worth the $$ and pain to operate; my biggest concern is how this will affect my rock and ice climbing; ive been through the talk with my orthopedic surgeon.........anyone out there pulling down with a similar injury?

If you are athletic and want to continue, you should probably tell the surgeon that and he will mostly likely recommend the rotator cuff repair as the best way to get back to a high level of performance. Not an uncommon injury in sports and the top athletes go for surgery in order to get back to pro level performance.

Continuing with a tear means a weakened shoulder. If something happens where you are out of position and you make a reflex grab, it can tear all the way at the worst time as it will disable you while trying to perform and you'd have to extricate yourself pretty much with one arm.

[Jethro]

Continuing with a tear means a weakened shoulder. If something happens where you are out of position and you make a reflex grab, it can tear all the way at the worst time as it will disable you while trying to perform and you'd have to extricate yourself pretty much with one arm.

This is what happened to me. I had hurt the shoulder several times, skiing, mtn biking, and finally moto riding. I clipped an Aspen tree with a hand guard, and completely tore the supraspinatus tendon. And the accident was really slow and insignificant compared to the earlier falls which had hurt the shoulder. It was a long, slow painful ride out, with the shoulder joint rattling around and feeling like it was dislocating.

[kingsskier]

Tore mine playing lacrosse pretty bad (did a lot of other damage to my shoulder too). I have very limited motion as far as reaching upward due to the RC tear. But, if you have a large range of motion now, you won't lose any more due to the current tear.
As for soreness, I couldn't tell you since I have bad pain most mornings but I don't know if it's from the RC or other ligament damage I did.
I should have gotten the surgery.

[mfa81]

Continuing with a tear means a weakened shoulder. If something happens where you are out of position and you make a reflex grab, it can tear all the way at the worst time as it will disable you while trying to perform and you'd have to extricate yourself pretty much with one arm.

^^this tells the story pretty well!

partial tears fixed with PT, exercise, ice and whatever will get you pain free in a few months but the shoulder won't be as strong as it was before, doctor can tell you whats likely the risky/chance of using it again on a shoulder intense use kinda sport (climbing, tennis...)

I didn't do surgery by I had to stop playing tennis, and my shoulder is always in pain for a few weeks after hard crash skiing!

[stuckathuntermtn]

Don't slack on PT.
1/50th of a $ from someone who had a shoulder injury.

[Marshall Tucker]

FWIW I'm slightly over 50, had no shoulder issues at all until same-shoulder, non-dominate, dislocations on 4/13/2014 and 12/31/2014. both required full anesteezia -spelling- reduction to get back in place. I'm southeastern/hard manmade and Ice. I've skied maybe 5 days since 12/31/14, and now every time I go more than about 15 mph or get any speed on I'm paranoid as shit. shoulder's all loose and clicking and feel like the wrong stretch or something and the damn thing will come out again. Constantly have to fight the urge to keep up with dudes skiin faster.

sucks, but I try hard to remember that for 50 years i had a pretty good run...made of rubber, walking away from things that should have resulted in serious damage.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

thanx for the replies....

[splat]

Hey, if anyone has recently torn their left rc and needs a doctor prescribed sling, either to rest it or post surgery, and it isn't covered by insurance, I have a large Breg Slingshot 2 L NIP for sale. Insurance backed out on my surgery at last minute and I have cured the problems myself through stem cells, prp and five years of exercises.

[TBS]

What was the specific diagnosis for "minor rotator cuff tear"?

Assuming supraspinatus muscle (most common), you can recover completely with PT if the tendon is <50% torn. The key is recovering range of motion which in turn requires the damaged muscle to lay down smoothly so it doesn't catch as it slides underneath the acromium. Depending on severity, might take several months and a few cortisone shots before you can start strength training again.

Minor damage to subscapularis, infraspinatus and teres minor can be fixed with PT.

The bad news - ya gotta be real patient and like stuckie sez, ya can't shortchange your PT. It will get real boring doing stupid little moves with a tiny weight several times a day, but it works.

Surgery to repair >50% tears adds about 3 months to recovery time vs PT. And way more fucking painful.

[/beentheredonethat]

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

I think I'm in the "years of abuse after one injury years ago" category. Separated my left shoulder 10 years ago in a ski fall. Slowly been getting worse and in the last few months pretty bad. Haven't been able to sleep on that side in a year or so.

Mountain biking yesterday and hitting some jumps and felt like my arm was gonna rip off if I pulled too hard.

Had to ice it last night for 30 minutes to even think about going to sleep.

When its warmed up my shoulder functions properly. No catching or anything. I can paint, work, lift things, etc.

Think this is something I could rehab on my own?

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[billyk]

Do you have medical insurance that makes it affordable to see a doctor about this a reasonable option? If so, by all means see the doc. It’s possible he can do a simple procedure that will help you a lot. My wife got her rotator cuff fixed, and now feels much better.

That said, I think I tore my rotator cuff about 10-15 years ago when I was coaching my kids sport teams. Got to the point where I couldn’t raise my arm above my shoulder without intense pain. Like an idiot I never saw a doctor about it. After some time, it gradually got better, and after a few years never noticed it again. My shoulder is probably just hanging on by a thread.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Yeah, doc is the obvious answer. I pay out the ass for insurance anyway, but you know....I'm a stubborn dude...and I don't want them to tell me I need surgery when I got lots of work and skiing coming up.

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[savemeasammy]

I tore mine several years ago trying to break a backwards fall while skiing. I think the first step was to try rehab in an effort to avoid surgery - but I had a full tear, so surgery was a must. Maybe rehab will be enough for you? Either way, you should see a doctor to get the wheels turning.

[billyk]

And just like that, my shoulder starts hurting like hell last night after I wrote that. First time in years. Funny how the mind works.

[Jethro]

I have torn both cuff’s multiple times. On the left side I hurt it skiing. Twice mtn biking. Once after a bad kayak run on the big waterfall on Oh-be-joyful near Crested Butte. Finally the last threads snapped when I tapped a tree on my KTM. If you have hurt the shoulder multiple times, you are probably skating on thin ice.

My advice is to have it looked at and fixed while it is somewhat intact. When I finally blew out my shoulder, it was an 3 hour he’ll ride out on the Moto, while the joint wanted to dislocate at the slightest bump.

[Jsun]

I have the same problem.. just keep in mind that rehab exercises are not to be done too vigorously. It should be smooth movement type exercises, no jerking, etc. Better to do 3 times a day the normal number of times than many, many times each session. Aspercreme helps me and so does a heating pad. I do not mix the two for fear of burning. I agree it takes a while to get your arm at just the right spot in order to get relief. Have patience, it will get better, then don't stop doing the band exercises like I did, misery will return.

[splat]

CBD pain creme has been a blessing for my left shoulder.
You know what I mean if you wake up when you roll over in your sleep and/or wake up in pain.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Well, I have laid low for a few days and it feels fine. No MTB, no morning yoga, I guess being extra mindful and not accidentally sleeping on that side. When I do, I wake up and my whole arm hurts like crazy or is totally numb. I'm sure this is just a tease. Will maybe try MTB again this weekend and if it's still fucked I guess I am getting it looked at Monday. Pretty nice there is a full service urgent care just for ortho stuff in this town.

[bigdude2468]

shoulder surgery sucks. I have had it twice on my left shoulder for rotator cuff tears. Hurt it again about five years ago and decided to live with it. Bothers me at night and if I am doing anything with an overhead movement it bothers me. If yours feels fine after a few days I would question if you have an actual tear.

[Jethro]

If yours feels fine after a few days I would question if you have an actual tear.

This seems pretty true from my experience. It would take me about a month to regain the ability to raise a straight arm above my head after a tear. But then several months later I was back doing my normal routine, but in a weaker fashion and with more shoulder noise and pain

[gretch6364]

Quick question...I dislocated my left shoulder in college playing rugby. I am right handed. I don't have much pain, can sleep on it, I can swing a golf club fine, can raise my hand above my head....however if my muscles are warm and I do the wrong thing with it, it will pop out of socket. I can get it back in my self, but it kind of sucks.

It probably has popped out 2 or 3 times a year for as long as I can remember. Things like, I was swimming in a warm indoor pool, breastroke, and threw it out of socket on my forward stoke. I was sitting on the couch in front of a warm fireplace with my are out on the back of the couch and turn the wrong way and it popped out. I was pulling skins apart in front of my chest with both elbows out the the side once, and it popped out, pulling myself back into a raft why whitewater rafting

Day to day though, I don't have pain, but I do worry sometimes in a life or death situation, like a fight to protect myself, or falling of a raft in rapids and needing to swim, or save my kid...that it would pop out and I would be useless.

Anyone else have this and see a doctor? How long were you out to get it fixed? Has the surgery gotten less invasive in the last couple years? Should I just do strength training with dumbells?

Thanks

[Dantheman]

So, dropped my truck off at BobMc's yesterday afternoon and rode my bike home. About halfway home I went to pull into a park to take a leak. Turns out there was an inch of mud in the gutter hiding under some standing water and went down moderately hard on my right side. Picked myself up, took said leak, and rode the 8.5 miles home from there caked in mud with blood running down my forearm.

Right shoulder was fine on the ride home but does not feel good today at all. Brushing my teeth was almost wince-inducing. I can raise my arm in front to overhead with almost no pain, but raising it to the side hurts and it hurts worse if I try to stretch it behind me from there.

This does not hurt, and if anything feels good:




This hurts:




Rotator cuff? Labrum? Other? Upper trapezius is also sore on that side. No direct impact to the shoulder itself as far as I can tell. Impact was to the forearm and force was transferred to the shoulder from there.

Desert bike trip planned for this weekend, guess I'll need to pack more beer than normal


Edit: Feels about 80% better today, thank Dog.