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| Messages 1 - 6 of total 6 in this topic |
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 23, 2018 - 11:22am PT
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Have a friend who at age forty is in serious need of shoulder stabilization as his comes out all the time. This appears to be the preferred remedy and so wanted to check and see if anyone here has had it done and if so are you happy with the result.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Apr 23, 2018 - 12:06pm PT
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Hi Healyje, I have not had this procedure. I have had both shoulders repaired for rotator cuff repairs, one full onion-peel and one arthroscopically, so my comment is general. The biggest issue with shoulder repairs, no matter how they are done, is the recovery. The rehab is painful so there is this uncertainty on when to start and how much to push it. Too early, too hard, the repair fails, too late, too soft, you don't regain full function. I did things during my rehabs that made my physical therapists very nervous, but I was trying hard to distinguish pain from further damage. My current doctor, who is the shoulder surgeon for the Cleveland Browns, agrees with this uncertainty. He is used to dealing with athletes and we trust each other. (Initially he did not want to do the surgery because I was 65, but relented when I threatened his family.) But he also believes that my success, at my age, puts me in the minority. I suggest your friend interview his doctor's preferred physical therapist since my experience says that is where the success factors lie.
I also think it is worth it to use a recirculating cold water system. I am not sure how common this is outside of high-end athletic surgery, but it sure made a difference in my willingness to keep my shoulder iced after my second surgery. Just read or watch TV: it does the rest. My insurance paid for most of it, but I just checked and the DonJoy unit sells for about $140. IceMan CLEAR3 Cold Therapy Unit by DONJOY
Last point: life is better with full-function shoulders.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 23, 2018 - 12:15pm PT
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Roger, thanks. Yeah, my wife had both shoulders done back-to-back for sever 'frozen shoulder' and it took her three years to get all the way back to yoga and her normal exercise routines. In her case, it was as much getting her knees, hips, and back recuperated after so many months bedridden. She wouldn't have made it back without an incredible amount of discipline and great PTs and masseuses. Tough business and, as you say, we know folks who never fully recovered because they didn't stick with their PT.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Apr 23, 2018 - 12:24pm PT
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This:
........interview his doctor's preferred physical therapist since my experience says that is where the success factors lie. Absolutely true; I severed my quad tendon, had surgery, then did six months of physical therapy. The physical therapy saved me and I'm very appreciative to my therapist. I had no clue how wasted my leg would get from lack of use and how difficult to was going to be to even bend it; you have to want to get better and push hard to do so. I was amazed at most of the people in PT, they were there because they had to be and made minimal effort; I was there because I wanted to be and wanted to recover. I can touch my butt with my heel now, something the doctor said I would never do. Thanks Greg.
Edited to add: Thank dog I had good insurance. They (partially) paid for 30 PT sessions per year and I hit it just right as I used up one year's allocation at the end of December and got reloaded in January. I won't get into the health insurance debate, but without this it would have been much, much harder to recover.
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amarantine
climber
San Francisco, CA
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Apr 24, 2018 - 04:27pm PT
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Hey - I dislocated my shoulder a bunch of times over the course of two years (while still climbing) and finally decided to get the same surgery just before Thanksgiving last year. I'm 27. I started climbing again beginning of March and am pretty close to as strong as I've ever been in the gym. Need a bit more outdoors mileage to get back there.
The mobility is rather slow to come back though...the surgical arm doesn't move as far back or as far up as the other one. Still working on it.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2018 - 01:08am PT
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Appreciate the feedback...
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| Messages 1 - 6 of total 6 in this topic |
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