shoulder surgery and recovery

[ferris213]

first off, if this thread is in the wrong place please feel free to move it.

i have just undergone surgery to repair extensive damage to my L shoulder and i was wondering if anyone could offer insight as to what to expect in terms of recovery and possible time frames till i'm able to dive again?

basically i had a nasty dislocation 15 years ago that wasn't treated properly, then had multiple recurrent dislocations since then. as it was explained to me the socket has been broken in places and half of the labrum is missing, along with other ligaments that are either missing or ruptured.

i had arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bones, repair whats left and stabilise the joint. i have been told to have six to eight weeks total immobilisation, then about six months till i can get full use of it again.

has anyone had a similar surgery? or helped the recovery of this kind of injury? what is in store for me?

thanks.

(i'm seeing the surgeon in two weeks but thought i'd ask here anyway)

 

[Kilili]

I've gone thru this 4 times in the last few years. The last one was a month ago. In all, it will result in about two years of down time.
Recovery time depends on exactly what damage was done, how well it has been repaired, and how your body responds.
You may be fine in 3-4 months, or still be experiencing problems a year [even years] later.

Expect to spent about 6 months in recovery, and you may still have problems with stiffness and range of motion.

Fortunately, the shoulder joints are rarely taxed whilst diving, and you don't need much motion range anyway.

My last surgery was the beginning of Oct, and I'm targeting my next trip for April.
After a previous shoulder surgery, I took off after maybe 4-5 months, though my shoulder was still too stiff to move it much.
Gearing up took a little more time, as pulling my arm back was painful, but didn't affect the diving much, though that's the arm that wrestles with my big housed camera.
After a month or so, the stiffness and pain eased up considerably.

The thing to remember is to gradually add back in the different shoulder movements and follow the Dr's advice for such.
Overdoing it could result in more surgery, and another long period of being out of action.

 

[Diver0001]

first off, if this thread is in the wrong place please feel free to move it.

i have just undergone surgery to repair extensive damage to my L shoulder and i was wondering if anyone could offer insight as to what to expect in terms of recovery and possible time frames till i'm able to dive again?

basically i had a nasty dislocation 15 years ago that wasn't treated properly, then had multiple recurrent dislocations since then. as it was explained to me the socket has been broken in places and half of the labrum is missing, along with other ligaments that are either missing or ruptured.

i had arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bones, repair whats left and stabilise the joint. i have been told to have six to eight weeks total immobilisation, then about six months till i can get full use of it again.

has anyone had a similar surgery? or helped the recovery of this kind of injury? what is in store for me?

thanks.

(i'm seeing the surgeon in two weeks but thought i'd ask here anyway)

I'm no doctor but I have wrecked one of my shoulders and I would say It depends on the extent of the injury and on your age.

I wrecked my shoulder by falling off a mountain. I wasn't tied in and to make a long story short I fell about 10m down the side of the mountain trying to earn myself a Darwin award. Fortunately it was at a steep angle so I didn't kill myself on the fall but the way I landed it ripped the shoulder out and tore everything that should have been attached. That was 24 years ago and that shoulder still isn't entirely right. The initial period of healing that got me back to the point where I could do most things normally took about a year. In that period I was able to dive provided I could get in and out of the suit and I didn't need to carry anything on that side.

I recently injured my other shoulder too. In this case with falling off a flight of stairs. I slipped on the stop step and tried to catch myself as I fell and in the process twisted and nearly dislocated my shoulder and still fell down the stairs anyway, 15 steps. That was about 5-6 months ago and it's just to the point now where I can reach back with my arm and turn off the tank valve without a searing pain in my shoulder. The injury wasn't nearly as bad as on the other side but I'm older now and I've noticed that the older you get the harder it is to make a full recovery from these kinds of injuries. At some level they never really "heal" (as in go away), but they do get better.

R..

 

[scotthowes]

Just had a complet rt shoulder replacement 4 weeks ago my best guess I might be able to get my arm in a wet suit in 2 weeks.They cut the tendon that hold my bicep so i'm quite stiff yet.Good luck

 

[rhwestfall]

Just do what the PT Sadists say... I had a lesser though bad condition SLAP Tear where they had to re-anchor the ball in the socket. Surgery was done March 1, and, following PT, I was diving in the summer (no, not 100%, but diving allows it as it isn't as hard on the shoulders - just don't go hauling doubles).

My only real challenge has been returning to archery......

 

[Boulanger]

I went to a shoulder surgery few days ago and I managed to get about 2 weeks for recovering. Basically it depends on condition and takes to recover.

 

[ferris213]

Thanks for the insights, it certainly seems like an easy joint to damage. As an update, I'm out of the sling after 6 weeks and have started pysio. So far it's just trying to get some movement back but it feels good. I should be able to drive a car in 4 weeks.

Provided I can get into my wetsuit I feel like I could dive in a month or two, but we do boat diving around here and there is no way I would risk climbing a pitching boat ladder with this shoulder. I might try and revisit some of the shore diving options...

 

[scotthowes]

Had my opreation 9 weeks ago(totalreplacement with some rotator cuff).7 weeks of pt plus home work and swiming.yesterday doc thinks scar tissue froze my shoulder.6 more weeks of pt if it dosen't break lose they put me out and my ther break it lose then 2 weeks of pt every day.screw it i can get mt wet suit on i'm going to start diving.

 

[oldschoolto]

I'm not a doctor.... But had right shoulder done by the VA.. I was told that it takes one year from the time they fix it till it's healed back 100%... The faster you start using it the more chance of screwing it up and then having pain for the rest of your life... You have "ONE FIX" and after you screw that up, Have fun because it will never be the same.... It took over 2 hrs in the O.R to fix re-attach the tendons back to the bone and fix the 3" tear of the cuff... It was really a mess in there...

Now... Did what the doctor told me.... 6 weeks sling.... 6 weeks light PT.... Kept the arm from doing any heavy lifting or use for one yr , well doing PT on my own to keep the shoulder moving and strong... I am 100% today... No pain and full movement... Good luck with it... LET IT HEAL..

Jim...

 

[ferris213]

@ scotthowes-That sounds rough. I've had scar tissue freezing up a past surgical repair as well, the pysio helped and it ended well. Good luck with your shoulder.

@ oldschoolto- yeah I've learned to do exactly what they tell me. I really don't want to risk the repair. By coincidence my neighbor had a full shoulder replacement 6 months ago. He threw away the sling after 1 week and never went back to the doctors... Now he can't lift his arm enough to shake hands.

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