Who Else has had a torn and detached rotator cuff repair?

[pumpkinhead]

Curious as to who else in here as torn and completely detached their tendons in their rotator cuffs (complete tear and retracted 1.5 inches, now reattached with baseball stitch and 5 pins)... how long untill you could start lifting on it, and if so what did it look like? After Surgery my doctor put me in this god awful sling I have been wearing for 6 weeks now, Rehab starts tommorow. The only thing the doctor told me was, "don't use it for six weeks, wear your sling, do your rehab, and start back light in the gym"..... what kind of time frame did you guys follow? Think it is safe to use super super light weight on it week 7 , i.e. 20-30lbs on a pec dec, bar only bench presses.... no clue here, last thing I want to do is tear it again and take another forced lay off.

 

[Alzadosghost]

I had all three rotators completly detached . Super spinatus and infraspinatus were conpletly detached for over 12 years and it was successful reattaching it.

 

[pumpkinhead]

I had all three rotators completly detached . Super spinatus and infraspinatus were conpletly detached for over 12 years and it was successful reattaching it.

how long before they cleared you to start lifting weight...i don't care if it was 20lbs....i am going insane here. My wife calls it "the incredible shrinking man"

 

[Knight9]

Ive had my labrum completely torn now for almost 2.5yrs with 40% supra tear and tendonosis on my left side + 20% supra tear on my right. I have worked around it but still cant externally rotate my left arm and have to be very strategic and careful when shoulder pressing. Can really only do smith at 75-80% angle with up to 2 plates..maybe an added 25 on a real good day.

If I haven't completely deteriorated the area, I hope to get it fixed at some point.

 

[pumpkinhead]

Ive had my labrum completely torn now for almost 2.5yrs with 40% supra tear and tendonosis on my left side + 20% supra tear on my right. I have worked around it but still cant externally rotate my left arm and have to be very strategic and careful when shoulder pressing. Can really only do smith at 75-80% angle with up to 2 plates..maybe an added 25 on a real good day.

If I haven't completely deteriorated the area, I hope to get it fixed at some point.

The surgery sucks man...the pain is not so bad, but the imobolization of the arm and the strict marching orders of "do nothing" with it make it the hard part.

 

[socialdfan]

Fully torn supra. Five anchors was a perfect break. Arm sling for months then very slow rehab. Look up Joe DeFranco he had a very successful recovery and detailed it on his IG.

 

[Alzadosghost]

how long before they cleared you to start lifting weight...i don't care if it was 20lbs....i am going insane here. My wife calls it "the incredible shrinking man"

I didn’t start pumping iron at all for about 6 months. Just tons of rehab.

 

[lookslikesausage]

torn labrum...six months if I recall until I could start lifting (not heavy). Surgery was a success overall. Eventually all strength was back and later on I got even stronger than before the surgery. Never regained complete ROM though. Pretty sure I re-tore mine doing something incredibly stupid though a few years ago.

 

[MooseKnuckles]

I just had right rotator cuff surgery on Jan 27, it was a 1" tear in the infra and supraspinatus, full thickness and detached, fixed it with 2 screws and reattached, and May 26 I had my left rotator repaired 1.5" full thickness tear and detached in the supraspinatus also repaired with 2 screws. Doctor has released me on my right shoulder, my left I just got released last week to start phase 3 strength training with resistance bands.

 

[buck]

Had my supraspinatus and infraspinatus reattached and had a ruptured biceps taken care of in the same surgery 20 some years ago. Quit using the sling after a week. Back to work after a week and a half. Went to PT, on the second visit they told me i didn't need to come back as i was actually doing stretches multiple times a day and the exercises once a day. I kept training the other 3/4 of my body from the 8th day after the surgery. I would let my injured arm just rest on the bench or row machines for the movement and let my good arm do all the moving. At 6 weeks the Dr asked me if i was doing any lifting with it and i said yes and he said he would release me to do start using it on the next visit. The next visit he was impressed with my recovery and said to keep doing what i was doing and not go crazy. Was back to full strength 8 months later, but it was a little achy. PT is nothing magical from my experience. It is mostly their to actually motivate people to do something as most don't. After my spine surgery and shoulder replacement the Dr's told me they would not be sending my to a PT as i was self motivated enough.

 

[Scorpyd]

Don't start weights so soon at 7 weeks or you will regret it if you don't give yourself time to heal and re injure yourself..
Use a light stretch band as many times per day as you can for rehab and hit the angles your comfortable with while healing.
6 months till lifting is suggested as noted above.

 

[pumpkinhead]

Had my supraspinatus and infraspinatus reattached and had a ruptured biceps taken care of in the same surgery 20 some years ago. Quit using the sling after a week. Back to work after a week and a half. Went to PT, on the second visit they told me i didn't need to come back as i was actually doing stretches multiple times a day and the exercises once a day. I kept training the other 3/4 of my body from the 8th day after the surgery. I would let my injured arm just rest on the bench or row machines for the movement and let my good arm do all the moving. At 6 weeks the Dr asked me if i was doing any lifting with it and i said yes and he said he would release me to do start using it on the next visit. The next visit he was impressed with my recovery and said to keep doing what i was doing and not go crazy. Was back to full strength 8 months later, but it was a little achy. PT is nothing magical from my experience. It is mostly their to actually motivate people to do something as most don't. After my spine surgery and shoulder replacement the Dr's told me they would not be sending my to a PT as i was self motivated enough.

I get the feeling you are correct about PT....not really doing anything special, just a bench of stretching, some light band work, and working on ROM....Have completed 2 weeks of it, I might give it another week then just start doing it on my own.

 

[TrippplePPP]

I work with a guy who does this surgery. He will have people immobilized like you said for 6 weeks and tells people only to do the PT for following 6 weeks. He doesn't even want them lifting their arms under their own control when he examines them during those two phases. He says that time is the greatest time in which you can re-tear the tendon. I would not go against the doctor and start lifting until he says so. I see ton of follow ups doing well and returning to life following this protocol.

 

[buck]

My experience with Dr.'s is that they give very conservative advice. As they have to gear everything for the biggest idiot out there so that they don't get sued for malpractice.

 

[Bandy0974]

I also had a supraspinatis tear with some retraction from trying to continue to train. Surgery went well but it seems like it was about 3 months before I could do even extremely light training. About 6 months before i could train anywhere near heavy. I did try to do cycling on stationary bike, some very light leg machines making sure not to tense up shoulder area during recovery though. I figured the increased blood flow in my body could only help speed up recovery in the shoulder ligaments.

 

[fisther69]

I’ve had 2 in each shoulder and I need another one on my right side…your mileage may vary.

I’m not getting that surgery again..just making the rear delts strong as hell to compensate

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

I work with a guy who does this surgery. He will have people immobilized like you said for 6 weeks and tells people only to do the PT for following 6 weeks. He doesn't even want them lifting their arms under their own control when he examines them during those two phases. He says that time is the greatest time in which you can re-tear the tendon. I would not go against the doctor and start lifting until he says so. I see ton of follow ups doing well and returning to life following this protocol.

you are aware that the recovery protocols they use for all these surgeries are for 60 plus year old natties right? Almost none of us fall in those classifications.

 

[TrippplePPP]

you are aware that the recovery protocols they use for all these surgeries are for 60 plus year old natties right? Almost none of us fall in those classifications.

Where do you come up with this stuff?

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

Where do you come up with this stuff?

That's a simple fact, they have to formulate those for the LOWEST common denominator. That being the oldest, most decrepit option that would ever have the surgery. Doctors in my experience aren't exactly thinkers and do not deviate AT ALL in what they parrot for a given condition or recovery. Whether this is just apathy or fear of reprisal or what, I don't know.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

1 inch tear, full thickness detached supra + 360 tear of the labrum years ago. Dont did some crazy surgery to reallly lock my L shoulder down with all the instability.
What it did though was completely take away my external rotation of that shoulder. No matter how much PT or stretching, never came back.

I can barely put my L shoulder up and behind my head to wash my hair. It essentially fucked my FRONT DOUBLE BI up because i cant rotate that L elbow down to flare out the late. Ugh, fucks my best pose up baaad. Took 8-10 weeks off and go back to lifting, slow and steady. Told me id never really press heavy again (this was back in college) and i eventually hit a 500+ bench raw. So the shit the Dr's and PT guys tell u IS bullshit....but still prepare yourself to stay safe and slooowly get back into it.
Shoulder injuries are the worst, that ball and socket joint is just neeever the same after something like this. But u got it