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had a flipflop malfunction on holiday around 18 months ago and went down like a sack of sh1t. went to see doc when i got home, he sent me for physio. got to the point where we thought theres going to be no more progress now, its as flexible as its going to be, so he arranged an ultrasound scan. that showed a full tendon tear in the shoulder, so followed up with consultant and MRI. NHS at a private hospital, so i consider myself lucky there.
consultant was annoyed that itd been over a year before his involvement as he said it could have been fraying all this time, and he wasnt sure what he could do til he went in, but i was only following doctors orders/procedures :-/ ive generally not known what to do due to the conflicting advice. physio said keep exercising to strengthen muscles around it, consultant said stay out of the gym so ive pretty much done nothing.
MRI was met with whistling of the teeth and 'theres a lot going on in there' 😀
fast forward to my op last week. good news was he said there was enough tendon left to re-stitch, he also scraped off some arthritis, bad news was he said somethings about a bit of bicep dangling loose and he had to snip it. so 2 weeks in a sling, stitches out friday and start physio next week (already doing light physio).
ive always liked the gym, weights more than cardio, and have been dismayed at my muscle loss due to no weights for a year or so, and also my expanding waist due to boredom/ alcohol/ no activity/no motivation. when i asked consultant about this, he just said i need to be realistic about what i can do at 60 😢
i'll talk to physio about recovery and gym etc next week, but thought id ask you about your experiences on here whilst im waiting for my appointment.
will i always now have a 'dicky shoulder'? or will having it stitched back actually mean it could end up as strong if not stronger than my 'good arm'? i'll obviously be a model patient and only do as advised, and build up exercise, but can you generally go back to what you were doing before after maybe a year or so say? or are my days as an 'arnie lookalike' over? 😎
cheers
I tore mine off entirely, and snapped my humerus, in a crash about 3 years ago (age 54 at the time), It was also left a bit too long, about a month in an immobilising brace, before second consultant went in, plated the bone and did a full shoulder reconstruction. They were worried about nerve damage, but thankfully tests showed that to be ok.
I have various weak points in it's rotation, and about 80% movement. For example, if I was to hold my arm out straight at 90 degrees in front of me and you pushed it down, I would have virtually zero resistance. It doesn't impact much on life though, I do weekly physio, and have done right though since surgery, I do a couple of 2k front crawl swim sessions every week and some yoga classes, along with regular road, gravel and mtb.
It will catch me out if I am lifting things above waist level - boxes from high shelves, bike over gate/onto rack etc, but otherwise much better than both I, and the consultant, feared.
You’ll just have to be patient, do what the physio says and see what happens.
I tore the supraspinatus right off the bone and after a failed op to re-attach it spent over a year of physio trying to improve movement and strength.
It got to the point where we both realised that regardless of what I did, it wasn’t going to get any better and I was going to be stuck with a ‘dicky’ shoulder.
Like you I was 60 when it happened, I manage ok.
I wish you the very best of luck.
I had tendons in my shoulder replaced with string (literally) in 2009 after 20 years of increasing instability (to the point that it would dislocate trying to engage reverse in my Landie).
I did the physio religiously and was able to swim 3 months later. 14 years on, its still as good as new (better than the other side)....100% range of movement.
Do the physio
A pal of mine has had rotator cuff surgery 60 yr old woman. worse than yours I think. worked hard at her rehab, now back on a bike with little deficit. Been 6 months hard work but she got there
I suspect the shoulder will always be affected but not in a way serious enough to stop you doing stuff. Physio, physio and more physio.
Follow the advice of the consultant, and access private physio if you can. The NHS physio's can't really give you more than a few exercises and post op check ups - that's been my experience after an AC Joint decompression and after a broken spine - got two physio visits after a busted spine. I went private, which helped me get back to work, and riding.
I suspect it will be painful if you push it - I was back riding within a month or 6 weeks after the AC joint decompression, but I couldn't climb or pull on it for ages. Took 18 months to settle down, but I was commuting to work 5 days a week on the bike.
Physio, physio and more physio.
yep, im getting that impression from you all 😀 but tbh i would anyway, makes sense.
and access private physio if you can.
i thought id be sent back to the NHS physio, so i feel lucky that theyre keeping me within the private circle, at least for now. so, private physio for zero cost.
I suspect the shoulder will always be affected but not in a way serious enough to stop you doing stuff.
yep i feel like ill definitely be able to swim, ride a bike etc eventually, but not sure on how strong internal stitches are, thats why i wondered if id be able to push it with the weights again. i dont want to feel scared of them, like if i lift too much itll undo the surgeons good work and back to square one. i'll see what he and the physio say next week. i suspect itll be dont push too hard.
thanks
im 59.
Without the details of the operation I'd listen to the consultant and physio. Follow their advice to the letter.
For general advice/information - google shoulderdoc.com. It should take you to a website by Professor Len Funk, have a look in the patient resources section and look for your surgery, it might be titled something like rotator cuff repair with subacromial decompression (that's what it sounds like from your description).
If you have torn off the long head of biceps then you will have a "popeye" look to your biceps. Don't worry, it will still work perfectly well and is painless.
Good luck
My pal was only doing mobility exercises for months and was months off the bike but once the ligaments and tendons are well on the way to healing ( months) she started with strengthening exercises as well and then back on the bike. road bike first then MTB
Its not so much you need to see a physio regularly - its that you need to work hard at the exercises. If you are told 6 exercises with ten reps 3 times a day then do that every day religiously
I was able to do a very tame ride 4 months after a full repair - open surgery with metal work in my arm to anchor the supraspinatus down. I'd been in a full sling for 6 weeks then two weeks of weening off it.
12 months before I could ride properly off road, 18 months before I had full confidence to risk a crash.
Do the physio religiously. Pray that you heal well. I have full movement but lots of nerve damage, it feels pretty freaky sometimes. Worse in the cold and damp.
Kevin is in recovery after an incident in Verbier on 8th July. Dislocation and 2 fractures. All the Rotator Cuff tendons were ripped off.
Operation was private on 15th August as NHS were messing about and couldn't give a date. His arm had no movement and just dangled at the side of him. He also has nerve damage which isn't helping.
One of the tendons couldn't be repaired. He was in a sling 24 hrs a day apart from physio for 2 months.
He's doing exactly what the Consultant and Physio tell him to do but is still in constant pain and is along way from getting anywhere near full movement.
He's not expecting to be back on the bike or in the gym soon.
Just left Finale after 8 days. At least one of us got to ride 🤣
ewwwww that sounds nasty tracey :-/
For general advice/information – google shoulderdoc.co.uk. It should take you to a website by Professor Len Funk, have a look in the patient resources section and look for your surgery, it might be titled something like rotator cuff repair with subacromial decompression (that’s what it sounds like from your description).
cheers for the website, plenty of content, can really go down a rabbithole on there! cant specifically see my surgery but its still an interesting read.
just dug out my scan report which says its a 'complete tear supraspinatus (19x14x5mm with the space showing fluid) with subacromial bursitis and biceps tenosynovitus' if that means anything to anyone?
If you have torn off the long head of biceps then you will have a “popeye” look to your biceps. Don’t worry, it will still work perfectly well and is painless.
ive been trying for a 'popeye' look to my biceps for years, but its never happened 😎
thanks
Definitely be very careful to follow physio and really work at it. Also worth asking if considered to be purely traumatic or any degree of pre-existing weakness or atrophy there although that might be difficult as investigated so late down the line.
Chronic weakness and potential repeat surgeries are possible if you don’t manage to build up strength again as this can result in ongoing instability. If there is any possibility of there being underlying issues then it’s also worth making sure you exercise the other shoulder to reduce the risk of issues with it too.
There is also possibly some link to rotator cuff weakness and use of long term statins if you happen to do that.
@tracey : His arm had no movement and just dangled at the side of him
if it's any good mine was exactly the same, and now as you know its pretty decent, certainly good enough to not hold me back on the bike, the fear does that now tho 🙂
drop me a message on FB if I can help with any details on what they said to me/recovery/exercises and physio that may assist Kevin. I see a private sports massage guy ever week who gives it a workout in the ranges I can't reach, and that was been hugely beneficial from about a month post surgery, once I was allowed to work on it, till about 18 months, by which time it was about as sorted as it will get, however the weekly sessions help to keeping it strengthening slowly, and 2k front crawl in the pool at least once a week keeps the pain mostly at bay..
My dad had surgery by Len Funk (latissimus dorsi transfer) after 2 NHS surgeries didn’t succeed. It didn’t help in the slightest but Funk simply said the surgery had succeeded on the basis of ultrasound scan even though it had zero functional benefit. Knowledgeable guy but didn’t seem to care that his expensive surgery was useless (in my dads case anyway).
Thanks Iainc.
At the moment he if following exactly what they are telling him which is unusual for him. So no weight or load bearing on it and no swimming yet.
Once he gets the go ahead he has already lined up his sports physio for when he gets the go-ahead. It's the one who Abigale uses.
It was him who organised the MRI and the Consultant when the NHS were dragging feet.
Ideally it should have been picked up in Switzerland when they sorted out the dislocation
I think he would have accepted the injury better if he had come off the bike
Ironically he ordered a new bike, half price Enduro from Evans,the day before the incident and as yet its not been out of the garage
There is also possibly some link to rotator cuff weakness and use of long term statins if you happen to do that.
got any more on that? I am interested as I am both on Statins and have a ( much more minor) rotator cuff injury
🙁 It's a long long recovery. I didn't think I'd ride again, I sold the Orbea Wild, but after about 8 months was able to get out again so got the Levo SL. I never quite got my head back into gnarly riding so tend to go for the big sky scenic routes rather than techy twisty now..
tjagainFull Member
There is also possibly some link to rotator cuff weakness and use of long term statins if you happen to do that.
got any more on that? I am interested as I am both on Statins and have a ( much more minor) rotator cuff injury
I was on statins before my crash TJ and still am, the surgeon was aware and didn't express any concerns
This was something my father was told - he has had surgery on both rotator cuffs. The left just a single surgery but has never really regained strength. The right he is waiting for his 7th surgery 8 years down the line including 2 complete Verso shoulder replacements both of which failed after about 12 months. He currently has no shoulder whilst they establish that his bone density is improving (thought to be secondary to a chronic low grade bacterial infection of Cutibacterium Acne, a skin bacterium which can weaken joint replacements).
It wasn’t really followed up and he decided to keep using statins. I too have highish cholesterol but partly because of this also because my doc thought my risk factors were otherwise low (and doesn’t seem to be a fan of statins, there is quite a variation between GPS on this it seems), I’m not taking them.
There are various conflicting articles out there, some suggest that it’s the hyperlipidaemia itself that may increase issues, others eg the one below seem to link statins with tendinopathies. I guess for each individual it’s a risk benefit analysis - if statins are reducing your risk of being dead then it’s probably worth it!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53238-7
Ta andy
Kevin has been on Statins since 1990. Don't think they would have been detrimental to the injury. I'm just glad he's still here.
Consultant is aware he takes them and didn't tell him to pause them whilst recovering
thinking way back, my dad, who passed away in his late 80's a few years back, was on long term statins, and he damaged his rotator cuff probably in his late 60's and at that stage picked up on a link between lack of recovery and statins. He was convinced that they 'wrecked his arm', though as far as i can recall he didn't see any specialists, only GP, and didn't go down a physio rehab route, so a pretty unreliable tale ...
If you have torn off the long head of biceps then you will have a “popeye” look to your biceps. Don’t worry, it will still work perfectly well and is painless.
ive been trying for a ‘popeye’ look to my biceps for years, but its never happened 😎
oooh ive just noticed that the offending bicep is bulging more than the other. is this just due to the trauma and is something that settles back down to normal, or will i need to pump my left arm to match? (no rude answers please) 😀
I think you just have to tear the other one off so it’s symmetrical.