Fucked up shoulder

[plugboots]

Yup. I’m 65. Started organized sports at 8, haven’t stopped doing daily sports since.
It’s not the years it’s the miles.

[californiagrown]

So, how's everyone doing? I'm basically 100%. Doing full-depth dips with weight, weighted pullups, muscle ups, one-arm pushups, one-arm DB power snatches, and throwing a football with my kid. Have to loosen up a bit before throwing and am not throwing the deepest bombs possible, but none of the sports I actually care about are throwing sports so I'm fine with not pushing that very hard.

Well, going into the surgery on my shoulder the ortho guestimated i get 10ish years out of the dermal allograft they sewed into my glenoid before we run it all back, or i get it replaced... largely dependent on how much abuse/wear it sees. But, he was clear that was a total guess as there is hardly any data and no long term data on the procedure. Rehab was fucking hard, 45-60 mins every morning at 5am in an uninsulated garage for months, extremely painful and mentally taxing at times. I figure that my rehab was done about 95% perfect for a layman in terms of diet, rest, rehab, supplements, etc. I am happy with my effort there, and have no regrets about my effort or implementation of rehab... that was a big thing for me knowing that i likely only had 1 chance at getting shoulder function back.

I am significantly better than the months/year before surgery, but at 7.5 months out i am at about 50% of full capacity. My phyiso and ortho were on the same page that i should severely limit weight bearing on the shoulder during rehab and afterwards, so that means i have stopped MTB entirely, except riding mellow trails with my 3.5yr old on the Shotgun seat. I have no intention of resuming MTB beyond introducing my kid and joining him on a few rides until he gets friends to ride with. I got back on skis 4.5months post surgery, and skied hard but smart the rest of the season with no ill effects... turns out that the poling during my longer spring tours gets my shoulder way more sore than any lift riding did.

Due to a limited lifetime of this surgery i am planning on getting back into throwing as my son begins to start throwing (3.5 yrs now), and figure that his ramp up in throwing coinciding with mine will be a good rehab throwing program. I will never benchpress, shoulder press, Oly lift, etc again, and i stick to very smooth and controlled reps of 20-30 for upper body stuff in the weightroom (mostly pulling, arms, and a few sets of pushups), with overall very low volume. Mind-muscle connection, plus muscle memory from presurgery has my muscle mass looking nearly as good as ever, but i am much weaker in my upper body than i have been for the preceeding 20 years... and that will not change. On the one hand, its really nice to not be in pain constantly and be able to do normal everyday things again... but on the otherhand its a little depressing confirming that even with this kitchensink surgery, i will only ever get back to maybe 75% at best... and likely 60-65%. I can still do way more than most, but it is very noticable to me how/where i am still limited. 7/10, would do again... and may have to do again. FWIW, i saw no noticeable, distinct benefit from BPC157, TB500 or MK667.

[Dantheman]

Wish you were doing better but it sounds like the results are in line with expectations. Rideit's total arthoplasty seems to have gone really well and the tech will only get better, so even if you end up with a replacement in 10 years there's reason to be optimistic about the future.

[TBS]

Early March I got some unexpected air while skiing in a blizzard and crashed hard. Second hard hit to that shoulder in three years.
Still hurt like a mofo after three weeks so Doc ordered an MRI -results didn’t look good

Impression
1. Inferior osteophyte formation at the AC joint can contribute to rotator cuff impingement.

2. Supraspinatus: Chronic severe thinning of the distal anterior supraspinatus. At the insertion of the distal anterior supraspinatus, there is a high-grade articular surface tear which is likely complete with regions of full-thickness perforation as described above. This tear measures up to 8.5 mm transverse by 10 mm AP. It demonstrates regions of complete and functionally complete tearing. Of note, this tear extends into the substance of the medial supraspinatus causing moderate intrasubstance partial tearing medially.

3. Infraspinatus: At the conjoined distal supraspinatus and infraspinatus, there is oblique articular surface and intrasubstance partial tearing which likely represents extension of the full-thickness tearing of the supraspinatus to the conjoined tendon. This portion of the tear appears high-grade partial and focal. There is concomitant mild intrasubstance tendinosis.

4. Subscapularis: Mild articular surface and intrasubstance laminar partial tearing seen distally with associated tendinosis.

5. Long head biceps tendon: Severe partial tearing at the rotator interval extending to the biceps anchor. Moderate chronic partial tearing of the biceps tendon at the biceps groove with morphologic fraying and fluid in the biceps tendon sheath.

6. Superficial and full-thickness chondral fissuring of the superior and superomedial head. Grade 2/3 chondral thinning of the superior glenoid.

7. Moderate amount of fluid in subacromial subdeltoid space. There appear to be loose bodies near the anterior superior glenoid and anterior inferior humeral head measuring 4 to 5 mm.

In other words, this is the shoulder of an old guy who has run into immovable shit way too often. I knew I had likely fucked up the bicep tendon because there was major bruising. The supraspinatus was surprising/depressing.

I saw that report and started mentally preparing myself for surgery and painful six mo rehab. Had my left one done in ‘08 - no fun.

Doc said “Could I go in and repair all that? Yeah. Do I really need to? Nah. Your range of motion is good. But you gotta stop crashing or you will need surgery.” Gave me a steroid shot and sent me to PT.

Getting better all the time. Still working on not crashing.

[californiagrown]

Wish you were doing better but it sounds like the results are in line with expectations. Rideit's total arthoplasty seems to have gone really well and the tech will only get better, so even if you end up with a replacement in 10 years there's reason to be optimistic about the future.

Yep, the surgery and recovery was a success, period. I can do normal everyday things painfree and with strength and am no longer chronically in pain 24/7. thats a big win. And the ortho/Physio both said i would realistically be looking at 12-18months post surgery for a full recovery timespan so i still have a long way and more improvement to go.

Honestly, im fine being limited in the weight room, and majorly cutting back on MTB... Ill get back into golf more seriously and i really enjoyed getting into ridgerunning/scrambling last summer to make up for no MTB ... but i am really hoping the throwing comes back to a decent level so i can coach and keep up with/show off to my kid in baseball (and maybe football?) for a long while. Atleast the Plan B of learning to throw lefty is off the table for now haha. And on the brightside, recovery from standard arthroplasty (im not a candidate for reverse) is way easier than my surgery last fall. So when that does come around, the tech will be improved as you said, and the recovery should be much quicker... and at that point my expectations for what i want out of the surgery will be much lower too haha.

One fun thing to come from the surgery is that when they snipped and then reattached the bicep tendon lower down onto my humerus, it changed the muscle insertion and shape of my bicep and created a more pronounced dip between delt and bicep. So on my repaired arm, the peak of my biceps is more pronounced, and the front/lateral head of my delt is also way more pronounced than on the other side because the bicep muscle doesnt overlap the lower deltoid muscles much at all. That arm looks way more jacked than it is. So theres that haha.

[Dantheman]

and i really enjoyed getting into ridgerunning/scrambling last summer to make up for no MTB

That's something I was already into, but I did a lot of it the last two summers.

That arm looks way more jacked than it is. So theres that haha.

Hah!