Shoulder Dislocation/Rotator Cuff Surgery

Hey guys,

I've done a ton of searches and read all about everyones injuries, but didn't find much about the surgery. I dislocated my left shoulder about 9 years ago, and it has popped out of the socket ever since.

Since I have been wakeboarding heavily over the past 2 years, it has happened all the time, maybe almost 100 times over the 2 years. I have never had it looked at since I could always pop it back in myself, but now its got to the point where it will dislocate when I roll over in my sleep, and lately it has been out for 45 minutes to 1 hour as I am in extreme pain and can not get it back in.

Got Xrays and am seeing an ortho surgeon next week, I'm positive that surgery will be required. Just am trying to figure out how long I will need to be out of work and all. So, for those of you who have had this surgery - how long are you incapacitated? is your arm pretty much out of commission for a couple weeks, days? I'm a database admin - desk job lots of time on the computer, will I be able to type with that arm at all?

How about pain - is this is pretty painful surgery and/or recovery?

Any details I can get about the surgery and recovery would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

can't tell you much about the surgery but i feel for you man... one of my best friends and riding buddies has the same thing going on w/ his shoulder but its been for just this yr... looks very painful and it HAS to affect your riding... he's staring down the barrel of surgery between Thanksgiving and Christmas...

best of luck to you

My son had the surgery a few years ago.

My son dislocated his shoulder wakeboarding, on some stupid easy trick. This was in early June. We had just bought a brand new SAN and he was all set for a summer of wakeboarding. What a disappointment.

The doctor basically said that he should lay off it for a month or so, but after that he could continue doing what he wanted with the expectation that it will pop out occasionally. He did, and it did. The doctor also said that when he was tired of it popping out he could have the surgery to fix it but he would be out of commission, sports wise, for a few months.

It was the summer between his junior and senior year at high school and he really wanted to finish out the football season (he was tight end). He popped it out a few times during the football season and basically didn't use that arm for wakeboarding at all.

We scheduled the surgery for the week after football season ended, which ended up being the first week of December.

We were prepared for worse but I would say it wasn't too bad. He had to sleep in a chair the first night or two and the shoulder was constantly being iced (we had this cooling pad that circulates ice water from an ice chest). He was a bit uncomfortable but not in significant pain and was back to school on Monday from a surgery on Thursday.

Within a week he was wanting to ditch the sling but we insisted he keep wearing it. By New Years, however, he was cheating. He hopped on the quad and was riding through the desert despite our wishes.

If I recall it was March before the doctor cleared him for takeoff. We dug out the wetsuits and launched the boat and went wakeboarding.

IT has been about 5 years now and he hasn't had any significant problems with the shoulder.

I would recommend scheduling the surgery for a Thursday so you have Friday to get back to the doctor if something goes wrong. By Monday you should be fine for doing desk work.

Rod

I have had both shoulders operated on for this. Each time I waited a couple of years and after each operation wished I hadn't waited. My last operation I was riding a stationary bike in 3 days, working on the computer after a week and cleared for ice hockey after 11 weeks. Ditch the sling in a couple of days so you don't lose a range of motion that you would need to do physical therapy to get back.

Don't worry about the post-op pain. It is nothing compared to popping out. After the operation you might lose a very small range of motion but nothing to worry about.

Two recommendations (to supplement your likely surgery):
1. ART http://www.activerelease.com/
2. Shoulder Horn http://www.betterfitnessproducts.com/shoulderhorn.html

Your doc will know about ART if he works on a lot of athletes. Most trainers / pro sports docs know ART. It is amazing.

The shoulder horn is an outstanding exercise tool to strengthen your shoulder in reverse rotation

(Message edited by kitewake on September 28, 2008)

More than likely they will have you do physical therapy for a while first. Mine is just like yours. Happened 10 years ago and would pop out when I would open and close car doors. Sucks, I know. They always told they would do surgery if I wanted them to but there was no promise that would fix it and said a lot of the time people come out worse than they went in. I am sure your is the same as mine popping out that many times. It's not the cuff but an o-ring like thing that holds it in the socket. Mine is gone after being torn to shreads from popping out so much. I have been working out with wieghts 6 days a week for 8 months now and had no problems, it even feels more stable. I went on vacation for 3 weeks and didn't work out, last trip on the board popped it out. The doctor told my I would have to keep working out the shoulder muscles to hold it place for the rest of my life. Hope you like the gym.

It is your choice to do surgey or not but depending upon your injury surgery may be the best option. On my last shoulder I ripped a ligament in my shoulder. No amount of exercize/therapy would stop me from popping out at least once a month for 8 years or so.

Since both of my surgeries I have never popped out either shoulder and I only lost a very small range of motion. Talk with your orthopedist and if he is good he should give your pros and cons of either approach. In my case I wish I hadn't waited years to fix either shoulder surgically.

Thanks for all the input. I have a friend who is using that ART method. He just had his first session the other day, and said it helped out quite a bit.

It sounds like surgery is going to be it for me though. I have an appointment with the orthopedist on weds, so will find out for sure then.

Thanks for the tips!

I've never popped mine since my surgery either, although I've felt it at the point where it would have gone before so I guess the surgery works, I'm not that happy with it because my joint still locks up and feels like it will pop, but it is better than before. Busted my labrum (the O ring thing) and tore all the tendons off the bone in my right shoulder at some stage growing up but it didn't start popping til 16 years old. After that I was in a sling for a month every time I popped it, which was basically every time I got out of the sling.

The surgery is painful, but not as bad as sitting around with a dislocated shoulder.

I was in a sling for like 8 weeks (too long I think, I lost a lot of muscle mass due to atrophy) but was back at work within a week after surgery (too soon for me, I could have had 8 weeks off and 80% paid but my doctor thought I might get bored sitting around doing whatever I wanted). 5 years later it's still not quite 100%, I reinjure it every now and then but not as bad as it used to be.

Hope all goes well for you.

(Message edited by jtnz on September 28, 2008)