Shoulder sugury

[Garrobo]

I've been swimming a lot this winter and have gotten my shoulder all irritated. Went to a surgeon and am getting an MRI. There's a possibility that I have some bone spurs that need polished off. We'll see. Anyway, I'd like to hear from any of you who have had shoulder sugury done and how it has affected your ability to either swim or dive and what kind of waiting period till you could get into the water.

[Sharky1948]

My wife had a shoulder replacement some time ago. After her rehab was complete and she was cleared by the surgeon to dive, she was able to enter with no problems, but removed her gear in the water for the first few months. Now she has no problems. YMMV (i.e., listen to your surgeon and your body.)

[ONESPEED]

I had fairly serious shoulder surgery about 15 years ago after numerous dislocations and have never had any problems diving since. The key is to pick the right surgeon, mine was excellent and it made a world of difference in my recovery.

[TSandM]

Shoulders can be picky and difficult to rehabilitate. I didn't have a shoulder JOINT operated on, I had my collarbone pinned, and because the repair was fragile, they tied my arm to my side for six weeks. I got a first-class frozen shoulder from it, and in the process of rehabilitating it, tore up the cartilage in the joint. I have reduced range of motion and frequent pain as a result.

The point being, if you need surgery, do your rehab AS PRESCRIBED -- Push as much as they tell you to, but don't try to be a rehab hero. Diligent and disciplined work should result in a good range of motion.

[lishen]

Totally agree with TSandM. I had a Thermal Capsulorrhaphy (shrinking of tissue and ligaments) done on my shoulder (i was a swimmer for a dozen years) and I was out of commission for quite some time (6 weeks of total immobilization + 4 months of rehab). I followed my rehab schedule closely and worked hard (without pushing my body beyond its limits) and was fine to dive once I had recovered. Surgery didn't have any long term negatives for me in terms of diving. My range of motion is now more limited (but that was the goal of the surgery--i was able to dislocate my shoulder fairly easily by lifting my arm above my head), but in terms of swimming if I trained to where I was before the surgery, I'm sure I'd be just as fast or even faster. I haven't gone back to swimming as that's what caused the problem to begin with and I wasn't too keen on having the surgery again in a number of years.

[JBRES1]

I had shoulder work done in June of 2004. Had torn 3 of the rotator cuff tendons, large/ long biceps, and something to do with a scapula tendon . Also had bone spurs cleaned up in the shoulder.
I went into rehab for 9 months after the operation, and am now at 100 %, and by the way thats about 80% of the old 100%.
I can not reach back with my right arm to turn off a tank if my life depended on it. I need to push the tank to the side with my left hand then I can reach the valve.
I need to slip my left arm out of the BC first , then the right arm.
On a positive note, my golf game is gotten better. I no longer try to kill the ball off the tee.
Jim Breslin

[Garrobo]

Hmmmmm. I'm starting to think the h*** with shoulder surgery.

[PalatkaBoy]

I had surgery to remove bone spurs that were ripping up my rotator cuff (as well as to repair the ripped up but not broken rotator cuff). You may have to sleep in a chair occasionally but I was probably 90% after 3 months. I had some lingering tendon pain for a couple of years but it finally went away. Now I have full range of motion and no pain and the shoulder is actually stronger than it was before surgery. And I am not a young pup.