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Docemented recovery from labrum shoulder surgery
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Day 1
I had a torn labrum repaired today and I will document the recovery in case it is helpful to others. I was real nervous about the surgery and thought it might heal itself, but it will not. I had a SLAP tear "10 to 2". My bicept tendon was not damaged, thank God.
My arthroscopic surgery was today and the Dr. said all went well. He used 2 anchors, which were drilled into the bone and a disolvable string to stitch the labrum in front and back of the bicept tendon. It was a day surgery, so I was in and out of the hospital in 3 hrs. The actual surgery was about 1 hr. My AC joint was also cleaned out, which is normally a seperate surgery. However, it is conveinient to do both at the same time and I had arthritis building up (the joint would crack and grind).
A sling is optional, but I prefer it when walking around. I can straighten my arm, but I'm not forcing it. My shoulder joint feel loose and it sounds like fluid is moving around. Any sudden movements are painful. I am using ice, a pain pump, and pain medicine. I have 10 weeks before I can start rehab. -
Day 6
I took the stitches out yesterday; there was 1 stitch in 4 different spots. You’re supposed to wait for the dr. to do it, but I've had stitches 5 other times and I can tell when they are ready. The front head of my shoulder is a yellowish bruised color and the bruise goes down into my upper bicep. There is no pain to the touch. The incision on the front of my shoulder is still inflamed, but the others are healing nicely.
The first 3 days are miserable; you can’t even rollover, sit up, or let your arm dangle without intense pain. I highly recommend using the prescribed pain medicine. I still ice my shoulder and arm multiple times per day. I cannot do a lateral raise or front raise with my arm and I’m not going to force it. Sometimes it feels good to rest my hand on a dresser and step back, to get the range of motion of a front raise although throughout the day I try to restrict my motion. I am supposed to see the dr. in 2 days. -
Day 13
I saw the Dr. for the follow up visit. Apparently now the focus has shifted to getting good range of motion. You don't want your shoulder to lockup or loose range of motion. I was prescribed physical therapy of 3 times per week for 3 weeks. After my first physical therapy visit the therapist said I am already at the milestone for range of motion. So he wants to wait another week to let it heal and then start strength training. You should be able to raise your arm at least even with the floor. That is still painful and difficult for me so I crawl my hand up a wall. The incision on the front of shoulder has a lot of scar tissue built up already, so I deeply and gently massage the spot to break up the scar tissue. It looks like I am on schedule. I think the surgery was successful although my bicep still hurts by my elbow. -
Day 22
I have been to 3 physical therapy sessions. So far I don’t do much at all, small movements, no stretching, just stabilization exercises (i.e. contract your shoulder muscles without moving your shoulder). I do some assisted range of motion as well, using one arm to lift the other. My shoulder muscle is noticeable smaller because I haven’t used it in about 1 month. I have noticed a creaking sound coming from my shoulder, it sounds like a squeaky door. I’m sure it’s the thread stretching or moving over something, but it makes me nauseous to hear. My bicep doesn’t seem to be bothering me as much, although the discomfort comes and goes. I really wish I could do arm extensions and curls to test it out. I do have full range of motion in my elbow.
The scars from the stitches are healing and are nothing to worry about. I have been using vitamin E oil every day. Another thing I might note is that a couple times I have dropped something like an egg or a remote control and instinctively I was able to quickly catch the item with the repaired shoulder. The quick twitch muscles seem to function fine, I just don’t have good ROM laterally or forward. I have great ROM in the back row exercise, bending over and performing a pull.
This post was edited by Consumerland Admin at August 21, 2010 12:53 PM CDT -
Day 65
I have been through about 5 weeks of physical therapy. The therapy is very simple exercises:
1. Use pulleys to assist your arm as you raise it in a military press (elbow in front of your shoulder, not at the side).
2. Pulley assist lateral raise.
3. Climb your hand up the wall.
After 3 weeks progress to:
4. Lie on your back, hold a stick and lower it over your head.
5. Lie on your back, hold a stick and y shrug your shoulders up, and then squeeze your shoulder blades down.
6. Stretch external rotations.
7. Lean on a ball against a wall and do circle motions.
8. Lie on a bed, face down and lift your arm to the side (very painful)
Now I am at the stage where I do light weight pull ins, pull downs, military, internal and external rotations, and girly pushups. The doc says I’m 5 weeks away from aggressive weight lifting and sports. In 2 weeks I should be able to hit a tennis ball, but not serve. In 5 weeks I can force myself to serve, but it will be uncomfortable. I played darts a week ago and it hurt, I was worried, but the physical therapist said that is a good exercise. Some motions are no problem and I have about 95% of my range of motion back, but I have lost about 10 LBs and certain angles give me considerable pain. Avoid motions that cause pain. Today I did military press with 10LBs on the bar, but I’m not supposed to. Curls are painful even with 20LB weights. Tricep extensions put pressure on your shoulder too, I do with light weight. I’m going to take it easy, stretch and do very light lifting for another month. -
Day 180
I played volley ball two weeks ago and was really spiking it good. The day after it really hurt and I thought I might have done damage by coming back too soon; however I was cleared by my doctor and I had completed the physical therapy. A week later I was back to normal. The surgery definately fixed the shooting pain in my shoulder, but I still have tennis elbow. I think in 2 more months and I should be ready to push it in the gym. To date I have only tried assisted pullups, pushups, and bench with 135. On a side note, its almost impossible to do squats until month 4 becasue you can't hold the bar .
I really believe this surgery requires 7-12 months to heal. It is a major surgery even with arthroscopic. I find myself doing rotator cuff excersizes and shoulder warm ups before I lift, I never used to do that. I am going to start stretching more. I have babied my shoulder for 6 months and it continues to get better, the doc. said it just takes time.
I still don't know what caused the injury if it was back in little league baseball 15 years ago, football 8-15 years ago, or just lifting recently. I know it started to hurt when I was throwing a football around in the pool, what a bummer if that caused it.
Now that I'm almost better I'm glad I went through with it becasue everyone says it won't heal itself, the blood flow is not good on the top part of your shoulder. The only bad part is the anchors (screws they put in your shoulder). Any time they mess with the bone, get ready for a long painful recovery. Anyways, I think this about wraps it up. If I have any setbacks I'll let you all know. good luck. -
Day 290
I just thought I would mentin that my shoulder is not as good as new, but it is better than it was before the surgery. Actually I notice it is more stable than the other shoulder, which probably has damage too. I'm going to start pushing myself in the gym (in a smart way) to try and get my strenght up. Also i've been doing yoga 2 times a week.
My elbow is more a problem than my shoulder, I have self diagnosed myself with severe tendentis (tennis elbow). This is probably a result of my shoulder and wrist not being stable. No way I'm going through surgery again and the doc said its really hard to mess up your elbow.
That's about it.
This post was edited by Consumerland Admin at August 21, 2010 1:06 PM CDT