Just got back from shoulder specialist. Ive got to have both shoulders worked on. Scheduled dominant arm for this month. He said pain and pain medicine for a few weeks. Recovery 3 to 4 months. Then I can do the other one. Itll be too close to deer season so ill likely put off the other till after deer season. They both hurt and its gotten progressively worse to the point I cant do much work at the lease and hard to sleep. Any advise/suggestions for me?

Do the physical therapy after to a T...very important and almost as Important as the initial repair. The PT will help reduce scar tissue, work our scar tissue and strengthen so the muscles and tendons will be better after. Without it you are bound to have significant restrictions in movement, weaker muscles and bad shoulders.

Yep, do the therapy. The pain after surgery wasn't unbearable. It hurts so bad before surgery that they're ain't much difference. Biggest pain is trying to do all the things that your don't realize you need 2 hands for. Putting on socks, underwear, button jeans, wiping lefty, putting toothpaste on a toothbrush, putting the truck in drive, etc. It's amazing all the crap you don't think about.

I've got to have mine done a second time. Have been putting it off because it's always hunting or fishing season, but I've about run out of time. Damn thing is killing me now.

Done a second time, crap! Follow PT to a tee, crap! Keep the good news coming guys...
For now im going "out" to eat with my recovery caregiver. I figure I need to keep her real happy.

Celebrex did wonders for my arthritis pain but its no cure.

Have you gotten a second opinion? I have a torn rotator cuff. Pain was terrible if I kept still for any period. It would hurt and couldn't sleep. I couldn't lift anything over a couple of pounds. First surgeon recommended surgery. Second surgeon said he thought the pain might be coming from tendon impingement syndrome. He recommended some specialized deep tissue massage therapy (active release therapy). I did that and I am pain free. ART is not a fun massage. Been three years now. I don't do repeditive motions involving my shoulder, so I do protect it to a degree, but it beat the crude out of being cut on. I do lift things like feed sacks but just don't push it. Just a thought. Initially, I got Cortisone shots and they did not help.

If they give you home do it yourself therapy, be sure and VERIFY they give you the correct one. I was given month 2 instead of 1 and tore up the repair. Dr was mad as heck at his nurse, that didn't help me one dang bit though. Good luck and as said above do your therapy as directed. Also ice is a great pain reliever, better for me than meds.

Do NOT skip or scrimp on the rehab. Do it all and do it right.

A buddy of mine and I had RC surgery about the same time (injured tennis players). They scoped his shoulder, and he was out of action for about 6 months. They had to open me up, and it took me a year to get back to normal. Most painful thing I ever went through, except when the pain blockers wore off soon after the surgery. The wife said I was making a noise like a wheel bearing with no grease - a high-pitched squeal.

I hope they scope you.

Ahhh, the good news...both my buddy and I healed up and went back to tennis at 100%.

You can take it to the bank.

I agree. I have a 1.5" tear in my right shoulder. The surgeons will not guarantee positive results. I took therapy for weeks and though it's not like new, I can live and sleep and I have very good motion.
Surgery should always be a last resort, IMO.

I'm in the same shape it helps to learn to sleep on your back.

I had a tear or “stretch” as my PT said. I got by with my physical therapy only without having surgery. I’ve heard the rehab from surgery is killer and a lot of people don’t fully recover.

If I were you I’d see if you could do physical therapy only and see how it does. I went from probably 10% from my dominate shoulder to 95% with PT only. No surgery.

Had mine done about 9 months ago. Still not 100% but getting closer. Ice is your friend for a few months. Took me 6+ months to sleep comfortably and still toss & turn sometimes. Stay ahead of the pain (meds) and use the pulleys, bands, etc...you get from therapy or order some cheap stuff online. Good luck, you’ll be thankful eventually but sucks for a while.

As an alternative to the surgery that I eventually had, I tried a lot of things. Only thing that worked was acupuncture. It erased the pain. I felt so good, I went back to tennis. Pain came back. Acupuncture again. Felt great. Back to tennis and back to pain. I discussed it with the acupuncturist. He said he could ease the pain, but he could not fix the damage. So I had the surgery. Sooner or later damage needs fixing if it won’t heal on its own.

After the surgery, the doctor told me that if I did the PT and stayed within the guidelines of what movement he allowed, I would eventually be back to 100%. If I didn’t, and hurt the shoulder before it healed, the next surgery might get me back to 85%. So I did all the right and very painful therapy, and good Loooord it hurt. I lifted 1# pink weights and sweated with the effort.

All the above, follow PT religiously, get a recliner to sleep in

I've got a confirmed 180 degree tear in my left labrum plus some cuff damage, and my doc thinks I have similar in my right (will explain in a second). I've got pain when I sleep and pain when I over work it, but I'm trying to put off surgeries as long as possible. One of my buddies got his done early in the year, went through PT to a "T" and wound up with a ratchetting sound -- ended up having to get it redone the same year.

I watched that happen right before the MRI on my left shoulder, and I told the doc no way. I'll live with it the way it is till I can't take the pain anymore. At that point he said no need to do an MRI on the right until I get some balls.

Have had both done, DO THE REHAB!!!!!!

No more pain there, however didn't help my lower back a bit.

Try sleeping with 2 pillows under your head. I do that and it takes some weight off my shoulder.

Thanks a lot guys for all the feedback. Sounds like a lot out there have dealt with this. Some of yall have gotten me having second thoughts about doing it. Please keep the feedback coming.

We moved buildings at work and I did a lot of heavy lifting and have tweaked mine again. I’m also a side sleeper with my arm under my pillow and I can’t seem to get to sleep these days because my should starts out with a dull pain and just way to uncomfortable to sleep on so I just toss and turn trying to get comfortable. I can not sleep on my back.

KRoyal, that's my sleeping situation exactly. I wake up in the middle of the night and I assume I have tossed and turned and the pain woke me.

Try the acupuncture. It did take away the pain until I got stupid and grabbed my tennis racquet again.

Same here. Fell on the 6” sleet/ice storm back in December 2013. Did PT and got to where I can live with it. Still bothers some, especially when weather changes. Trying to keep off the surgery table.

Tore mine 20+ years ago and went to Dr. Brotherton (I think that was his name - he was the official TCU football surgeon in Fort Worth). Anyway, he said try PT first to build your strength in your shoulder. I had to learn to sleep on my back and still do at home PT with 2 lb weights. It is manageable, just learned they are certain motions of you arm you don't want to do.

So to be clear, a torn rotator cuff muscle or tendon is not going to fix itself, a partial tear in a rotator cuff muscle or tendon can repair itself or at least be serviceable for a long time until it fully tears. A torn labrum is just a "how much do you want to deal with the pain" kind of thing for most of us, for athletes it can lead to intermittent dislocations of a shoulder.

When it comes to this stuff, each person really is different because the rotator cuff is actually a group of four muscles and tendons that work the shoulder joint, and some tear/injure just one, some its multiple, some involve bone damage and some labrum damage. Every injury is different.

Freerange, you will not get much strength back in that muscle group until you get those tendons repaired surgically. Is it necessary to do the surgery? nope. But it will make your life easier for what you want to do, less pain, more strength, and probably easier time sleeping.