I am going to have shoulder surgery on Tuesday to clean out bone spurs in my shoulder joint. I have some pretty advanced arthritis in my shoulder that has caused impingement by the bone spurs.
I have put this off for a while, but now I have lost a lot of the normal range of motion and the pain is constant.
My shoulder arthritis is not because of my trad archery habit -- I do tend to get arthritis in my joints.
I'll add some information as I recover so that others with shoulder issues can get detailed information that might help them.
With a little luck I'll be shooting again in a month or two.
G'luck with it Joe, do the rehab! :archer:
Good luck with your recovery, and do the PT religiously!
Bisch
I just had shoulder surgery two weeks ago. The dr cleaned up my torn labrum but did not repair it. To far gone. He did detach the bicep and drill a hole in my humorous and pulled the bicep tendon through it and screwed it in place. I hurt less now than before. I will be starting PT next week, I guess it will hurt then. I hope I get a PT that is at least an archer so he/she understands my end goals.
2 yrs ago I had rotator cuff and spur surgery on my right shoulder. Out of work 3 months...I took it easy the first month, then started PT.
LISTEN TO YOUR THERAPIST and follow the exercises religiously. He worked on stretching out the shoulder, then lite weights. Sitting bench presses and lat pulls. He then put me on inclined pushups and a machine that simulated drawing back a bow.
A weight with a pully..that was great. I then bought a heavy duty set of bands with thick handles from Modells to work out at home, all simulating drawing a bow back.
After 3 months I was back shooting my 57/58# bows with no pain and increased strength. I still work out every day for 15 minutes doing the inclined pushups and bands. Good luck with your surgery and recovery. Don't rush and listen to both your doctor and therapist.
I'm having the same surgery on bone spurs in my left shoulder on the 18th. I can't even shoot a 30# bow without a lightning bolt going off in my shoulder. I was turkey hunting in mid April without any problems...tippit
Don't overdo the exercising-- I did and am now having issues with bicep pain. Work up to your bow weight slowly!
After the surgery DEFINITLY ask for a nerve block. That will relieve the pail until the pain pump kicks in. I did not do this with my surgery and afterward was 4 hours of the worst toothache you could imagine in my right shoulder. Prayers sent for a smooth and quick 100% recovery. Denny
Definitely listen to the PT. I keep putting it off but after this deer season is over I'm going to get it taken care of. I will have plenty of time to heal in the winter. Prayers for a speedy recovery Joe. :thumbsup:
Thanks to all of you for the advice and support. Unfortunately, I cannot get the nerve block because I am deathly allergic to local anesthetics. The doctors know that so the post-op plan is for me to take a very powerful pain killer called Dilaudid. I understand that it is far more powerful than the various "oxy" meds like Percocet.
I will keep this thread updated so that those who might be facing something similar can use my experiences as reference material.
To that end, here is the first update.
To make sure that I don't have too much bleeding during or after the surgery, the medical staff has told me to stop taking the anti-inflammatory medicine I have been taking for arthritis for the last 15+ years.
Within 48 hours of stopping the medicine, everything in my shoulder got much worse. The anti-inflammatory medicine (Arthotec) has been keeping the internal inflammation and swelling in check, and it was covering up the worst of the shoulder symptoms. Without the Arthrotec, the shoulder pain has gone from bad enough to want surgery to bad enough to need 24-hour-per-day pain killers, so I am on Percocet every six hours around the clock. And the control of the internal swelling in my shoulder is gone, so this swelling has gone wild. The internal swelling has made it almost impossible to move my shoulder joint much at all. I understand that the bone spurs are such that there is no longer room in my shoulder's AC arch and the swelling and inflammation are being squeezed, thus the impressive pain level.
Now I simply wait for the surgery on Tuesday.
My hunting bows are all 50-52 pounds draw weight, and I wonder how long it will take to get back to comfortably pulling a bow.
I will update this thread again next week after the surgery.
Joe, My best to you. I'll be keeping you in my daily prayers. Denny
:pray:
Best wishes Joe on your surgery and recovery. when you are feeling chipper again, I know where there is a long bow for you :readit: ;)
Hopefully you will be up and at em in short order.
Hope it all goes well for you. I was told by my chiro today, no shooting for two weeks. That dead branch in my apple tree was heavier that I thought, but I did my arm in trying to keep it from falling on my tomatoes. I tried Winter Bowmaster and hit 150,470 on my third attempt. My local teenage computer game playing archery learning friend says that he has never even gotten close to that. Now I need to find something else to keep from playing with my bows and chainsaw for two weeks.
After the surgery, when they say " do your stretching" , Do it. Makes a great difference.
DennyK X2, except ask for the nerve block prior to surgery. You'll wake up pain free, will last about 24 hrs or so. You'll be glad to get the feeling back in your arm by that point.
Tom
What Phrogdrvr says, ask for nerve block prior to surgery. Had "open" shoulder surgery Wednesday, nerve block worked great, didn't feel anything until yesterday afternoon and not nauseous. Good luck to you Joe, let us know how you make out.
I would ask for the nerve block if I could, but I am deathly allergic to the anesthetic used in nerve blocks. So, the only alternative is the use of Morphine at the hospital and then Dilaudid after I get home.
I will keep this thread posted about the surgery, recovery, physical therapy and so forth. With a little luck the information I enter plus the experience and advice of other Trad Gang members can serve as some guidance for those who face shoulder surgery in the future.
The surgery is Tuesday. Wish me luck.
Best of luck Joe, heal up quick!
Thom
I had surgery on both shoulders. It sucks. But as most have said make sure you do your PT. Also continue to work out. I have a very good pdf file that goes over all the muscles and shows different exercises that work the shoulder muscles. I would be glad to send it to you if you like. just send me your email.
My surgeries were about 7 and 8 years ago. I would say that I have 80 to 90 % of shoulder function. I can't throw anything very hard like a football or baseball but I can pull my 60lb bow with out any problems. I didn't take care of my self after my surgeries and I feel that's why I still have limitations. Good luck and I hope your back to shooting soon.
Gilbert
Gilbert,
Yes I would be very interested in having the PDF of those exercises. I will send you a separate message with my email address. Thank you so much for your generosity.
Joe
UPDATE:
The surgery was yesterday morning. The surgeon took out the bone growths that were impinging on my rotator cuff.
The post-surgical pain was minimal and has been under control by the prescription pain medication Dilaudid.
I was provided with a sling and instructions to use the sling for the rest of the day yesterday and to stop using it today. I was also told to ice the shoulder as much as possible.
Today I started the first of the rehabilitation exercises. This are all assisted exercises that do not involve the use of my shoulder muscles at this point. The idea is to get the joint moving and establish the beginning range of motion without stressing the involved shoulder muscles.
So far, so good. The pain is very much under control and I am very optimistic about the eventual outcome.
I'll report again tomorrow.
Glad to hear it Joe, looking foreward to your update!
Denny
Glad to hear you are doing so well. Follow your Docs instructions, and you will be back at it in no time.
Good to hear! :thumbsup:
UPDATE - 6/18:
I have had no need for pain medication since last night.
I removed the post-surgical bandages today, as directed. The three button-hole sized incisions seem to be closed and healing over.
I have been doing my passive range of motion exercises as directed and so far, other than a bit of soreness and swelling, things seem good.
After the surgery the surgeon said that he removed two big bone spurs that were rubbing against tendons in my shoulder joint. He said that the tendons were frayed from constant contact with the bone spurs. In removing the spurs he made room for the tendons to move freely. He also removed the frayed parts of the tendons and smoothed them out.
Apparently, if I had delayed the surgery too much longer, the wear on the tendons from the spurs would have been a bad thing.
More updates will follow as things progress.
Good to hear things are going well! I hope it continues until you are back to 100%!
Bisch
Take care, don't rush and I hope your healing goes well.
Update 6/23:
I an one week post surgery as of today. The bruising is starting to clear up a little bit. I am doing daily work on stretching and range of motion. My range of motion is now better than it was score the surgery, but that's not saying much because it was so limited by the bone spurs.
I continue to ice the shoulder several times a day and I think it helps. I will try casting a fly rod a little bit tomorrow to see how it feels. I should be able to draw a lightweight bow in a week or ten days.
Howdy Joe, a few of us were chatting about you over the weekend at the Rendezvous. Prayers and well-wishes were heading your way for a quick recovery.
Good luck with the fly rod and the bow, let us know if you need something ultra lightweight for recovery!
Thom
UPDATE 6/24:
Well, I'm not quite ready to use a fly rod. I guess I was a bit too optimistic. Even though the stretching is going well, movement is still not smooth and there are some rough spots or hitches in moving that are either weak or sore or both. The doctor says my cartelige is pretty worn out and roughness in movement will always be there, but as the post-surgical inflammation clears up I shooed improve. So, ice and stretching will continue and I'll try some large smooth movements again in a few days.
And, thanks for the offer of the use of a super light bow. I have a stretch cord that I can start with, and I have a 30# Bear Polar on the rack - it is my wife's bow and the dear girl will let me use it.
I will report again in a few days. Thanks, everyone, for all of the support and good wishes.
Glad everything is going well for you!
I don't know how I missed this thread.
Joe, I'm glad to hear that you're doing so well. I have two shoulder surgeries to look forward to myself, and I appreciate your taking the time to keep us up to date on your progress.
It helps to know somebody that's been there, and is willing to share their experience, thank you.
I hope you continue to recover as well as you have been. :thumbsup:
Bob
UPDATE: July 2, 2015
I had a post-surgery appointment at the surgeon's office on Tuesday. I learned that, in addition to the bone spurs, there was "fraying" but not complete tears in my biceps tendon and in the rotator cuff tendons. The fraying was from the tendons rubbing against the bone spurs. During the surgery, the doctor smoothed out the tendons and removed the parts that were frayed and just hanging by a thread. He did that in addition to the removal of the bone spurs.
So the fact that I am still a bit sore makes more sense now that I know that the tendons in my shoulder had to be shaved down to make them smooth.
The stretching is going well, even though each time I do the stretches it seems like I start way back where I originally started. Though the stretching seemed to move quickly at first, the gains now are much slower and smaller.
I have clearance to start some strength exercises as long as I stretch more than I strengthen. The recommendation is that I stretch for 3 sessions to every one strengthening session.
I am going to try a few shots with a 30 pound bow over the weekend.
I will update after that.
Hang Tuff Joe !!!
Hey Joe, glad to her of your progress. I just got back to work after 6+ months off work, and that with a 10 # weight restriction. All rotator cuff surgeries are not equal. I'm still hoping to be able to hunt this Fall, but if not....so be it.
Well, I was able to cast a fly rod and catch fish without pain or fatigue. That's a good landmark improvement. Now I'm going to work the stretch cord with the hope that I will be able to shoot my bow within a week. Then, if all goes well, the next step will be to shoot comfortably so I can really concentrate and get back to being accurate. I am still stretching and applying ice several times a day.
if your bored make a nice old fashioned slingshot in a pull weight you can handle and plink away its good exercise for an archer in recovery.
Good luck, I sincerely hope it all works out for you and you get back in the game. TW :thumbsup:
Joe, I am glad that you are on your way to recovery. I was finally aloud to take my sling off after 6 weeks on Monday. I tried just bringing my bow up, not drawing, but holding it at a spot. I could not do it. Oh well. I hear that time heals all wounds and some physical therapy.
Here is my experience with shoulder surgery on Jan 2. Bar none the worst recovery I have ever been through and that includes falling out of a tree and breaking my back and wrist.
I just passed the 6 month post op phase. I have never stopped doing rehab and did 6 hours a day for the first month and a half, 4 of those with a passive motion machine.
I started out with 25lb bow at the three month stage, shooting wasn't fun. Moved up to a 38lb bow at 4 months, 45 LB bow at 5 months and will mix shooting the 45 pounder and my normal 54 pounder today. My surgery was on my right or drawing arm, if it had been on my bow arm I would probably not be shooting much at all at this stage.
I do rehab with weights at the gym three days a week and mild rehab at home 3 days a week.
I had lost a bunch of mobility and had adhesive capsulitis so I gritted my teeth a couple weeks ago and broke myself loose by forcing my arm back over my head with my good arm, it wasn't a fun thing to do. Since I broke myself loose I am progressing again and can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I don't have any pain free movements with my arm but the pain is letting up some now. My aggressive rehab keeps everything inflamed.
Most of my friends who have had this surgery say it took them 8 or 9 months to start feeling close to normal again.
Good luck Joe, it sounds like you are coming along..
Joe...we will talk this week.
:campfire:
Thanks for all of the good wishes. I think that getting the bone spurs removed before they did too much damage was a lucky move on my part. There were no major tears in the tendons, just the fraying, and the surgeon took out the debris from the fraying.
I shot my bow this morning. It was not particularly comfortable or accurate. I could really feel the weakness and soreness, but I am encouraged that I was able to draw it. My goal is to be shooting comfortably and accurately within another month. I think I'll make it.
I think the lesson to be learned from my experience is to have the bone spurs removed before they cause a major tear in the rotator cuff tendons. An early fix results in a faster recovery.
Its time to stretch and ice again. I'll check back in in about a week or so with another progress report.
This week I saw the doctor, and he told me that my healing progress is going perfectly. He also said to keep stretching and that I should continue the strengthening exercises as tolerated.
I also started shooting my hunting bow more seriously. The accuracy is there and the stamina is not -- at least not yet.
I think I have plenty of time to get comfortable in my shooting before the start of bow season
I believe that it was a good decision to get this fixed before major damage was done to the rotator cuff tendons.
This is my last post for this thread, but if any of you fellow archers out there get shoulder problems and have any questions, I would be happy to help out with information based on my experience.