View Full Version : surgery recovery comments please
I was just told by my doc today that I have a torn Labrum in my left shoulder. Injury occured about 2 1/2 weeks ago and Ive learned how to cope in the gym with a unstable shoulder thats always poping out of socket which is what caused the tear to begin with. He is telling me about a week or two before I get my motion back in my shoulder. 3 months before a full release to go back to work. About a year before I can start putting heavy wieght back on in the gym. dont want to hurt the shoulder again but fuck a full year. I take the full release at work as an ok to do light to moderate wieghts again but I will check before making the step.
I know there are several guys here that have had shoulder sugery in the past and I guess what I want to know is this a realistic time frame for recovery compared to your reovery time. Right now Im running a upper lower split 4 days a week to keep me going. 5th day is cardio for 30 min. I go all out on legs I just swaped from sqauts to leg press and squat machine. Upper body is made up of bands or light wieght for any kind of shoulder work as long as is doesnt cause disomfort and preacher curls and variuos machines to isolate the shoulder when posible.
I made this thread on a different site after my surgery.. I'll just copy paste it here:
Three years ago I dislocated my shoulder at wrestling practice. For the past three years it got progressively worse until it was coming out when I sneezed! I finally got a date for surgery after being on the wait list for 2 years! (I'm Canadian..). I scrambled around the internet trying to find out how long my recovery would be. I had a lot of questions.. How long until I would be able to lift weights ? Would I ever wrestle again ? Will my shoulder ever be the same ?
I found a few threads on these forums but most of the time it was just people like me asking these questions and people giving them ballpark answers like: In 6-12 months you will be able to lift again. After reading a bunch of threads and websites I would come to the realization that the day before surgery would probably be my last day to lift weights for many months, and I would lose much of my size and strength during this time!! It didn't turn out that way.. this is my experience:
I went into surgery February 6th at around 2pm. My surgery was to repair an unstable shoulder that had come out of the socket literally 100s of times, I was getting no plates or screws put in, just my own tissues sewn back in place. I was out of the hospital and home by 9pm in a sling which the doctors told would be on me 24/7 for 3-6 weeks. Im a bartender so I stayed home from work, and took very good care of my arm. I focused lots on my diet with the idea that if good diet rebuilds ripped up muscles fast, it would probably rebuild my shoulder faster too!
After 3 weeks I was back in the hospital meeting with my surgeon, he told me I could take my sling off now, but suggested wearing it while I was out mostly so that people saw I had an injury, and didn't do anything stupid.
At 3 weeks I also started physio, very minor things at first, like letting my arm dangle and swinging it in tiny circles..
At 6 weeks my physio told me I could start to use my arm for very minor tasks, but gave me a 10lb. weight restriction, that he said would last until 12 weeks post-op. I followed all my physio instructions to a T, ate a healthy diet and kept my arm out of harms way.
At 12 weeks my range of motion was at 90% in all movements except external rotation which was at about 70% (it hadn't been more than that since it was dislocated). My weight restriction was lifted, but I was told to ease back into weight lifting, and avoid wrestling until my external rotation was about 95% of my good arm.
I'm now 16 weeks post-op, my shoulder feels like a million bucks, I have about 95% range of motion when compared to my good arm with all movements including external rotation. I'm back to my strength that I had pre-op except for bench which is still a few lbs. behind. I weight 172 lbs. where I was 175.5lbs pre-op. I've started back wrestling again and although I've been taking it slow, my shoulder feels great and I have no feeling of apprehension when using it.
So for anyone who has to get this surgery don't worry to much! Be smart about your diet, and listen to your physio and you'll be back in no time. 4 months and I'm back to where I was! I am NOT taking it easy on my shoulder when I lift now, and it gives me 0 problems! Actually, it feels smoother than my good arm which pops and cracks here and there haha.. maybe I should stop calling it my good arm...
Hope this wasn't too long of a read.. I know I would of loved to read a post like this going into my surgery so I hope I save at least 1 person some stress :P
Thanks for the post. I hope my recovery will be similar. I think the only difference is I'm supposed to get bone anchors in mine.
AntoineV
08-01-10, 3:23 pm
One advice I can give you is take the time to recuperate... even if you can't train for a couple of weeks... it's only a couple of weeks compared to a whole lifetime....
Firedrake
08-01-10, 4:01 pm
Bigun,
I had labrum repair and reduction of arthritic overgrowth in my left shoulder in August of 2003. I was back in the gym heavy by November, with the help of an Active Release Technique therapist.
I also know about having to take a year off. Three years ago yesterday, I had MAJOR lumbar reconstruction surgery. Three new discs, a titanium cage, and some nerve transplants to get my legs working right again. It was a year before the doc released me to hit the gym again -- a year of therapy, walking, more therapy, and slow, slow progress.
Two years ago I hit the gym again. Last week, I competed in the Los Angeles Bodybuilding Championships, Over 50 Division. I got 4th in the Over 50s and 5th in Novice Heavyweight, but not bad for three years out of back surgery.
You CAN come back, even if it takes awhile.
Machine
08-01-10, 11:38 pm
This shit starts tobecome like playing Go-Fish...you got any hernias...no...you got any shoulder scopes...no...you got any total triceps ruptures...no...but I do have a surgically repaired back and quad for ya!
If it wasn't so pathetic it would be funny.
I hope you all mend well.
MACHINE
msktyshha
08-02-10, 12:15 am
I recently had a shoulder surgery almost 2 months now and through doctors advice and machines confirmation I rested my shoulder for a month and did rotator cuff exercises and now I am a 100% just have lost my strength but training heavy to get it back.my advise would be after the surgery take some time off for complete recovery
Machine
08-02-10, 12:17 am
I recently had a shoulder surgery almost 2 months now and through doctors advice and machines confirmation I rested my shoulder for a month and did rotator cuff exercises and now I am a 100% just have lost my strength but training heavy to get it back.my advise would be after the surgery take some time off for complete recovery
Now that is a success story I liked hearing about...way to go brother!!!
MACHINE
SQUAT or DIE!
08-02-10, 12:30 am
i had both my shlrs done a few yrs back,1 partial tear and a full tear.. a total 0f 9 mnths off including 3-4 mnths between operations...
do ur PT and WAIT!!!! dont hurry or ur gonna be back where u are now...
Firedrake
08-02-10, 2:07 am
This shit starts tobecome like playing Go-Fish...you got any hernias...no...you got any shoulder scopes...no...you got any total triceps ruptures...no...but I do have a surgically repaired back and quad for ya!
If it wasn't so pathetic it would be funny.
I hope you all mend well.
MACHINE
Hey, after awhile, coming back from this stuff is like putting one foot in front of the other. It's something you do in order to get back to what you WANT to do.
Machine
08-04-10, 10:41 pm
I like the perspective you lend...nicely played.
MACHINE
Well I had my surgury last Weds. All can say is it really sucks being cut down to 1 arm and the other just laying there in a sling. Its a good thing its the left arm and Im right handed or Id have to hire a wiper. Sounds like the doc wants arm in the sling for a while to heal right. He was able to sew it back up without the bone anchors which I hope speeds things up. For now just kickin it ith 6 yr old since work booted me onto short term disability, least I get lots of sleep and thats a first for a shift worker.
msktyshha
08-07-10, 11:18 pm
Now that is a success story I liked hearing about...way to go brother!!!
MACHINE
many thanks to you for the help over private messages
dominate77
08-08-10, 5:23 am
i had a shoulder scope september 8th to repair a torn labrum, (approx. 75% torn) and i don't think i got back to the gym until late january....and when i was back in, i was pathetically weak. I was also insanely paranoid that any little bump would destroy the repair and i would have to go through the hell of it all again. But now i have no pain, i'm getting progressively stronger every week and trying to build my small side back up again (my repaired arm shrunk from 16 to 13 in the three weeks i was in the sling lol)
msktyshha
08-09-10, 1:17 pm
(my repaired arm shrunk from 16 to 13 in the three weeks i was in the sling lol)
That's the worst part of a surgery...same happened to me lol
dominate77
08-09-10, 9:03 pm
That's the worst part of a surgery...same happened to me lol
That part was pretty bad, but for me sitting in a chair not being able to do anything at all for 3 weeks was the worst part!
Firedrake
08-09-10, 11:58 pm
Well I had my surgury last Weds. All can say is it really sucks being cut down to 1 arm and the other just laying there in a sling. Its a good thing its the left arm and Im right handed or Id have to hire a wiper. Sounds like the doc wants arm in the sling for a while to heal right. He was able to sew it back up without the bone anchors which I hope speeds things up. For now just kickin it ith 6 yr old since work booted me onto short term disability, least I get lots of sleep and thats a first for a shift worker.
Just get your rest, take the meds, get the therapy when it's time, and get ready to come back!