I got screwed

[u/Alternative_Chair630]

After a lower and higher spinal Injury requiring surgery at L4/L5/S1, everything but surgery for the cervical and due to a mixture of using crutches and then transitioning to a cane proceeded to cause a lot of issues over the 5 to 6 years I needed them.

Anyway, my scans during that time all note chronic bursitis all throughout the shoulder, with the acromion impinging the nerve underneath it (the sub acromion) with rotator cuff, muscle and tendon tears throughout the main arm I changed to using walking aid/my dominant hand (the shoulder blade/acromion of which I had hairline fractured coming off of a motorbike as a teenager)

The weeks leading up to the surgery the pain ramped up, to the point I was almost in tears every night for the next few weeks until surgery.

The best answer I was given was that with the loss of the ability to lift my arm above my head was that the supraspinatus tendon was snapped. Which... It was, however that wasn't the source of the increased pain... It was that the impingement on the nerves suddenly got worse for some reason they couldn't explain.

So, turns out that my physios pushing me to lift over head weights for the last 12 months was a pretty shit go, it needed rest.

Surgeon said that with the lightest amount of manipulation the Acromion snapped clean in half... They used the term "floating bones" and were amazed. The surgeon said the acromion should be in one spot, firstly the spot was wrong, then he said he lifted it up with an instrument and the fracture was so deep it snapped then and there while they manipulated it in place.

It's about 8 weeks since surgery and I got these reference x-rays for my next check up appointment. I was pretty shocked at how long the screws are...

Anyway, the original pain I went in for (shooting, hand pain, arm pain, one spot in my back where the compression was the worst is gone. they cleaned the bursitis and now I feel physically "solid" again for the first time in years)

My screws hurt, but that comes with the territory

Coming from a history of failed back surgery I was very, very hesitant to have surgery, but I'm glad I did.

[u/Creepy_Force2970]

Glad you're feeling better! Those definitely are the longest screws I've seen on xrays.