We all know that's not how you tore your rotator cuff lol As for how you did it... @Jontro has been there Nice try though.
fun fact, i sprained my left wrist about a week ago and it still hurts now, like i can barely move my wrist. i haven't done any physical activities the last month, literally sat home all month. i have theories on how i could've sprained it.
Your story is more believable than @rocketsjudoka 's "Imma sparring with some alien in a spaceship while in orbit around Neptune while on the way to Andromeda galaxy and my rotator cuff fell out.."
My neighbor, who is about 65 years old, shared his concerns with me about not being able to compete in the coming Utah June Marathon because he had this surgery in April and did not have enough time for recovery He asked me if I'm interested to participate because he had already paid everything...told him : Im tooo old for this
I like your story far more than mine of trying to hold onto my lost youth. Thanks for the laugh even at my expense. I need it this morning.
I've been doing some research on treatment and right now the main treatment appears to be surgical reattachment of the torn cartilage. Besides that though I've had a few people recommend getting a cortisone shot instead of surgery. The thinking is that because the shot will greatly reduce inflammation it may stimulate the regrowth of cartilage. I'm somewhat skeptical of that but there is some research showing that it is possible to regrow cartilage. I'm seeing some other stuff about using stem cells and some other techniques to encourage regrowth of cartilage. Has anyone here had any experience with those type of treatments?
I had the shots for something like a decade. At the time I had a very anti-surgery doctor advising me. His idea was that strengthening exercises and the shots would suffice. In some ways it was true, I managed to get by, but the pain and instability issues never really went away until I went under the knife. If I tried to do anything significantly above my head my shoulder would give out almost every time. His fear was that I'd lose range of motion if I had surgery. That fear proved entirely unfounded.
Oh not judoka, he'd kill me. You. I mean, I'm old an all but I figure I can take a comic book movie guy.
Thanks for the info. My muscles around the shoulder appear to be good but I have no ability to lift my arm up to shoulder level or keep it up. The doctor did a test where he held my arm up my head. There was no pain when he did it. He told me to hold it in place and then he let go. My arm dropped right away. I didn't feel any pain but I just physically couldn't maintain it. That indicates this isn't a problem with the muscles so I'm still skeptical about something that just takes down the inflammation if the cartilage isn't actually being fixed. Anyway I don't have to rush into surgery so am exploring options.
If you're willing to arm wrestle left handed I might be able to take you. Right handed I might not be able to hold my arm up for arm wrestling.
I had a SLAP 2 tear in my right shoulder. Had it for a few years because I'm pretty sedentary anyway. But when I decided to talk to a doctor about it, they initially had my do physical therapy for it. Insurance didn't want to pay for the CT scan. So, I wasted some time doing PT. It actually did improve my range of motion somewhat, but it didn't fix the problem (later, with back and leg problems I was again prescribed PT which again didn't do enough and then had a CT scan to find the real problem -- lesson being, insist on a CT scan!). So, I finally got the CT scan and the doctor advised surgery. Went great. Endoscopic, so recovery was quick and scarring minimal. Shoulder works great now. But the surgeon warned me not to tear it again because the suture anchors he put in aren't going to break; I'll shred the muscle or cartilage first and then there will be no fixing it. I don't have any experience with cortisone shots as an alternative (it was offered for my back, but I didn't go that route). I've decided that if surgery is applicable, I won't be taking half-measures.
Judoka, You're getting a lot of different perspectives on treatment, so I'll give you mine. I tore my rotator cuff awhile back playing Ultimate. I was jumping up to catch the disc and had my legs knocked out from under me. I landed right on my shoulder, which sounds similar to how you got your tear. Knew right away that it was a significant injury. I tried to just let it heal with time, but months later I still had a lot of pain and limited range of motion. I finally went to an orthopedist who prescribed an MRI, which confirmed a partial tear. Then I started physical therapy which was very effective. I've had a couple of small flare ups, but I dealt with them easily by just doing some of my PT exercises. Right now my shoulder feels 100% and I'm still playing Ultimate. If you don't have a complete tear, it might be worthwhile to try PT.
Thought I had that about a year ago. I had lost all range of motion in my shoulder. Turned out it was just frozen. Still very painful and took a fair amount of PT to loosen it up. I still don't have 100% range of motion back but the pain is gone and I've worked to get the strength back. Still...I'll take that over the ruptured achillies I had to deal with about 5 years ago any day. @rocketsjudoka...I feel you on your comment about sparring and not being able to give it up. I'm nearly 47 myself and still play soccer...even though I should've stopped years ago. My knees are basically sacks of gravel and the achillies did nothing to help that (weakened calf muscle meant more pounding on my plant leg). But I can't seem to bring myself to do it. I crave the competition and it's my best means of releasing stress. I did not have surgery on my ruptured achillies. According to my ortho and then some research I did, there was only a very slight difference in the chance of reinjury. Basically, the scar tissue grew in and then the tendon regrew over that. I realize tendons and cartilage are different but it definitely is possible. I'm always going to lean towards the non-surgical route. No cortisone or anything. Just patience and rehab.
I have a major partial tear. It's not ripped all the way through but from the MRI there isn't much left there.
