Anybody here had rotator cuff surgery?

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Anybody here had rotator cuff surgery? by Slippy

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Yep

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Does this sling brace have to stay on 24/7 for 6-8 weeks?

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Nope but be careful. I would take mine off once I got into the office and of course when showering.

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Will I really have to sleep in a chair?

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You will have to wear the sling brace when you're sleeping and only you can dictate where you sleep. For me sleeping in the La-Z-Boy was the best option for the first couple of weeks.

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I've never fapped with my left hand. Not sure I can.

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Practice, practice, practice

At least 2 weeks before the surgery start doing EVERYTHING with your left hand.......really everything.

My husband had that surgery years ago. The answer to both of your question is YES! You will WANT to sleep in a chair, with a small pillow or folded towel behind the shoulder that was operated on. That will prevent the already excruciating pain from sending you over the edge. You will WANT to wear the sling for as long as the doctor prescribes to prevent damaging the surgery. Don't do anything stupid, K?

It's a bitch of a surgery. Had my left shoulder done with 6 pins put in. Mine must have been bad bc it too about 3 times as long as he said it would in surgery and he wanted to keep me overnight to control pain. Like an idiot, I didn't want to stay and regretted it about 9 pm when the nerve block wore off. It was very painful the first few days. You will want to be in a recliner. It sucks trying to lay in the bed. Follow doc's instructions and more importantly, get a good physical therapist.

Those rubber exercise bands make great slings to wear in the shower, too. Had my left shoulder rebuilt a few years ago. Just successfully rehabed a SLAP tear in my right thank goodness. Only took 7 months.

I had it done. Its not too bad. Definitely worth it.

One thing to remember is that you are going to be on pain meds so you won't feel any pain but don't think this is reason to take your arm out the sling or overuse it. You still need to nurse it for a while.

Also, don't slack off when it comes time to rehab.

I had my left shoulder done. 3 RC tears, also had to grind off the tip of my type 2 acromion. Wore my sling for about 9 days, took it off to go to a LSU football game, never put it back on. Start PT as soon as possible.

I had rotator cuff tear, shaved the bone down due to impingement and the dr detached my bicep at shoulder and reattached under pec muscle. I wore the sling for 3 weeks and I slept in bed but used pillows to sleep sitting up with a pillow under my elbow. With this surgery he made me wait a while before starting therapy almost 2 weeks due to reattaching bicep which is commonly done now to prevent impingement pain in future. Remember to push therapy as much as you can I would go 3 times a week and go to gym 7 days to redo those exercises it sped up my recovery. At 12 weeks I was lifting weights again at about half of what I was doing before and just gradually added to it. By 15 weeks I was deadlifting 400 lbs again but I did therapy probably 2 hours a day up till that point. Dr said my recovery was faster than normal because I did so much therapy on my own.

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have had a rotator cuff tear for 8 years. Physical therapy and strength training the surrounding muscles has helped me avoid surgery.

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This is ideal if possible. I would try this route first. I have been able to avoid surgery on my right shoulder, but my left got to the point it wouldn't stay in place. If I took it out of the sling before surgery following the last injury, it would dislocate.

Excuse typos on phone

Yep, for the longest time I thought I'd made the worst mistake ever in having surgery. Shoulder froze up and had to have it done again 8 weeks later. I had several issues going on with my initial surgery so I started rehab2 days after surgery to try to avoid the freeze up. Went 4 days a week for 8 and therapist couldn't get arm movement back at all. I'd take heavy duty pain meds just to go to therapy. Eventually they realized if they pulled any harder my collar bone or something else might snap. I had bruise marks on my arm from them pulling. Tried cold therapy, dry needling and everything else.

Had 2nd surgery and had to start using a CPM( continuous passive motion) chair before the nerve block even wore off. Spent 8 hours a day in that chair (not continous) for the next 3 weeks. Also had PT 3 days a week as well. Recovery took over my entire day everyday for almost a month.






It is a difficult recovery even when things go as planned. It's been 2 years now and all is good.