Shoulder surgery

I have a bum left shoulder. Fell off a seized rd400 at road Atlanta in 2006 and landed square on it. I have tried physical therapy and it's not working. The surgeon I talked with said she could not guarantee a fix. I'm getting older now and the pain is increasing to a point I can't really use my arm well and riding more than an hour gets painful. Any suggestions for a surgeon or medical center that can help me?

Thanks

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Do you know what the original damage was? I had a class 3 AC separation on my right side and a blown rotator cuff left side-1" full thickness tear of my supraspinatus including a shredded biceps tendon that took a surgical repair.

Virtually no physio for the AC but full on 3 days a week physio including massage plus 5 days a week in th gym to get back from the rotator cuff for pretty much full recovery but I do feel it every night in bed.

You need to know what you're trying to fix before you can figure out how to fix it.

It is unfortunate about the shoulder. I am 67 and two years ago I had surgery on by shoulder to repair 20 plus years of damage. I did go through 6 months of physical therapy with out much progress. In non technical terms here is what they fixed, tore rotator cuff, removed arthritis, removed bone spurs, removed the AC joint (due to arthritis) and reattached two tendons. First they told me before surgery it will hurt, and if I do not follow the guidelines they give me the second surgery will hurt more.

I spent three months in a sling and PT twice a week. Full recovery for me took 9 months. The orthopedic DR that did the surgery stated that after 9 months it will be as good as it gets.

So a bit of a backstory I originally went in to the orthopedic DR because of neck pain. I could not turn my head to the left without a lot of pain. The DR I saw about the neck suggested that my shoulder was causing my neck pain. Now that is not to say I don't have neck issues because it does. But now I have 90% plus moment in my neck without pain.

I was riding after about 4 months but it did take a long time to recover. In fact I am still doing things to get it back up to strength. With todays technology I would get a second opinion on the shoulder. Also having it repaired now maybe difficult until COVID 19 is under control.

I can't remember exactly what the pieces are called in there. Rotator cuff is torn, two tendons are torn. The problem the surgeon had was the initial injury was so long ago she didn't know if it would "take". I'm waiting for the plague to calm down so I can proceed. Any recommendations for a surgeon in eastern pa?



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I will warn you rotator cuff is a long and painful process, you will want to make sure you find a good physio to work with. If you want to be up and at 'em I highly recommend find a good sports med person to work with. Then it will be up to you to do the work. I got back to 100 pull ups in one workout in 3 years, I was back on my road bike in 4 weeks and working full time ski patrol in 3 months. I pushed hard to get there.

New options

skibum69 said:

I will warn you rotator cuff is a long and painful process, you will want to make sure you find a good physio to work with. If you want to be up and at 'em I highly recommend find a good sports med person to work with. Then it will be up to you to do the work. I got back to 100 pull ups in one workout in 3 years, I was back on my road bike in 4 weeks and working full time ski patrol in 3 months. I pushed hard to get there.

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A very good friend just had a complete shoulder replacement at age 75, it was so successful he had his other shoulder done. They have reverse engineered the shoulder joint and the replacement hardware is a reverse of nature’s engineering, amazing stuff when you study the forces on the joint. He had 2 weeks of PT then 2 months of home PT, it’s supposedly good for 20 years.

Another option

174713 said:

A very good friend just had a complete shoulder replacement at age 75, it was so successful he had his other shoulder done. They have reverse engineered the shoulder joint and the replacement hardware is a reverse of nature’s engineering, amazing stuff when you study the forces on the joint. He had 2 weeks of PT then 2 months of home PT, it’s supposedly good for 20 years.

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I was having pain in my right shoulder for over 2 years. When I had to start sleeping with a donut travel pillow under my shoulder I decided to have an MRI. The surgeon said the MRI indicated tendon damage but not a torn rotator cuff, he convinced me to have exploratory surgery. Turns out it was a bone spur which only took 30 min to remove, 3 days in a sling to prevent me from doing stupid things since the nerve block (Highly recommended) made my arm useless. Started driving and riding 5 days later and completely healed 3 months later..

A shoulder replacement sounds pretty wild.

rus23 said:

I have a bum left shoulder. Fell off a seized rd400 at road Atlanta in 2006 and landed square on it. I have tried physical therapy and it's not working. The surgeon I talked with said she could not guarantee a fix. I'm getting older now and the pain is increasing to a point I can't really use my arm well and riding more than an hour gets painful. Any suggestions for a surgeon or medical center that can help me?

Thanks

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A big question is your location, that will determine your available options.

36654 said:

A big question is your location, that will determine your available options.

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Near Allentown, Pa. I'm 48 now and am looking at the next 30 years thinking about the limits this puts on what I can do. I was hoping to hear of a surgeon in Philly or NJ that has had good results. I did not get a good feeling from the conversation I had with the first surgeon.

Thanks for all the replies.

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Definitely go for multiple opinions, find someone you want to work with.

rus23 said:

I have a bum left shoulder. Fell off a seized rd400 at road Atlanta in 2006 and landed square on it. I have tried physical therapy and it's not working. The surgeon I talked with said she could not guarantee a fix. I'm getting older now and the pain is increasing to a point I can't really use my arm well and riding more than an hour gets painful. Any suggestions for a surgeon or medical center that can help me?

Thanks

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Just saw this post from last year, so by now you've probably had surgery, but if not, and you're looking for a referral to a great shoulder specialist, I highly recommend Dr. Scott Sigman. I had rotator cuff surgery from him on November 12, 2020 and I had my last follow up appointment with him today, and I've been cleared with the only restriction being to not over stress my shoulder with heavy lifting until I hit the 6 month mark. From the day of the surgery, I had very little post-Op pain, even with the PT exercises. He credits my speedy recovery to his Cold Laser PT therapy. My PCP told me that at 66 years old, I should expect significant pain for 4 - 6 months. Dr. Sigman repaired my rotator cuff and detached tendon with a cow patch, and it worked great. Check out his website for more info.....good luck.
https://scottasigmanmd.com
Kevin