Shoulder Injury/Surgery?

[Signals]

Back in July I injured my shoulder at work. It took Workers Comp. 5 weeks get their act together and approve an MRI, but I finally got that done and received the results yesterday and discussed it with the Orthopedic Specialist.

Here's the description of the injury as per Touch Stone Imaging.

MRI findings: Magnetic resonance imaging of the left shoulder shows mild acromioclavicular joint hypertrophic changes.There is a small 6-mm subarticular cyst within the lateral aspect of the humeral epiphysis.

The muscles of the rotator cuff are without atrophy. There is a full-thickness tear of the distal Supraspinatus tendon toward it's insertion.

Remaining tendons are within it's normal limits. There is scattered fluid within the subacromial and subdeltoid bursae.

The long head of the biceps is normally positioned. Labrum is without paralabral cyst.

The first item in the description, the 6-mm cyst, the Orthopedic specialist said was congenital and was not significant and nothing to worry about. The tendon tear, the specialist explained, had completely been torn off the bone.

He described the severity of torn tendons like this;

• Mild: torn but still attached to the bone but not necessarily needing surgery

• Medium: torn and partly or completely detached from the bone and needs surgery but not urgent.

• High: serious and needing immediate surgery

The Specialist told me that my tendon was medium but borderline with high and not going to call for immediate surgery but recommended that I have surgery soon.

I wanted to get some feedback from those of you who have had this type of injury and your experience with the surgery. What kinds of things can I expect with the surgery and the recovery and rehab phase? In hind sight, is there anything you would have done differently to improve the outcome of the whole process?

Thank in advance for the feedback.

[Doc50]

You'll be sore for about 2 months, but it will be worth it to your use of the shoulder in the future. Your employer is completely responsible for your recovery, including rehab and full pay while out of work. If they drop the ball anywhere along the way, get an attorney.

[Sam I Am]

Originally Posted by Doc50

You'll be sore for about 2 months, but it will be worth it to your use of the shoulder in the future. Your employer is completely responsible for your recovery, including rehab and full pay while out of work. If they drop the ball anywhere along the way, get an attorney.

...and a new job while you're at it.

[CashMan]

Originally Posted by Doc50

You'll be sore for about 2 months, but it will be worth it to your use of the shoulder in the future. Your employer is completely responsible for your recovery, including rehab and full pay while out of work. If they drop the ball anywhere along the way, get an attorney.

I am pretty confident, workman's comp is. Once it goes there, the employers pretty much has no say, atlest that is how it works for our business.

[jobberone]

Go ahead and have the surgery. Ask your surgeon if he can do this via a mini-arthrotomy as your recovery time will be less. That's ususally about a 2-4" incision with use of the scope as well. They usually staple the tendon back on. The longer you wait the more likely there will be atrophy and more trouble reattaching the muscle/tendon (it rolls up). Recovery is just very variable even from one shoulder to the other in the same person much less different people. Expect two to 8 weeks to get back to work and a year or so to get complete ROM or nearly complete.

Good luck.

[kapolani]

I didn't have this particular surgery, but I did have shoulder surgery.

I separated my shoulder. There are varying degrees of separation of the AC joint. The surgeon who did my operation said this was the worse he had ever seen. They had to cut/shave off about 1/2" of my clavicle and reattach it to my shoulder. Not going to lie. It was painful at times.

It messes up everything. I only had manual cars. Luckily it was my L shoulder so I could still drive with only using my R arm/hand. My left was immobilized so that it could heal. Just imagine doing everything with only one hand for a while.

The good side - pain meds. Hah!

[ChldsPlay]

Originally Posted by Doc50

You'll be sore for about 2 months, but it will be worth it to your use of the shoulder in the future. Your employer is completely responsible for your recovery, including rehab and full pay while out of work. If they drop the ball anywhere along the way, get an attorney.

In what state?

Certainly not in Missouri. 2/3 pay, up to a weekly maximum (which isn't all that high).

Then there's a disability rating which you get paid for too.

[Hoofbite]

Good friend of mine had a shoulder that was in bad shape a while back.

Various motions would cause it to come slightly out of socket and randomly when doing something rigorous it would at times nearly come all the way out.

He had surgery and was in a sling for 6 weeks, I think. Said it was awful.