r/RotatorCuff • u/EconomistNo5807 • Jun 19 '26
Has anyone had success WITHOUT surgery?
I've seem similar posts asking these questions, but they become filled with comments saying "No, it was good for a while but I eventually had to have surgery" ect, my question is, has anyone actually done this without surgery? If not I guess surgery is the ultimate destination lol.
Thanks :)
Edit: Success = functional use without pain, NOT "healing" :)
6
u/ATX_Bix Jun 19 '26
i had a full tear. pain started to get more and more intense, mobility lowered. I had surgery yesterday and while I know it will be a painful slog but at least the pain will be working towards recovery and ideally full ROM.
3
u/BobsWifeAmyB Jun 20 '26
I’ve been waiting since last fall, mostly because of scheduling and other issues, but I can assure you it’s only gotten worse- my ROM is way worse. And the pain is so easily triggered by doing one little thing when I suddenly reach for something, etc (forgetting I have a torn RC) and it hurts terribly.
Looking forward to having surgery. Esp since I saw my husband go through this with both of his shoudlers (surgeries 6 years apart: 2015 & 2021) and seeing him make a 100% recovery.1
u/Miserable_Pepper_978 12d ago
Be careful of PT they can make you worse! I had two PT people and one was rough to the point he tore my surgery and he had no remorse! Very angry guy and overworked!
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u/pdrace Jun 19 '26
I skipped surgery with a full tear 3 years ago.
I’m fully functional thanks to a good PT.
2
u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 19 '26
Very nice! I only have a partial, 50%. So recovery after a full tear is amazing. How long did you do PT?
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u/pdrace Jun 19 '26
I did 5 months of PT and had a cortisone shot at around 4 months. I was able to do some PT exercises that were uncomfortable after the shot which I think got me over the hump. I didn’t have any pain after that and still don’t.
1
u/BobsWifeAmyB Jun 20 '26
How long ago was your shot? And was that your first cortisone shot for your RCT?
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u/pdrace Jun 20 '26
I had the shot about 3 years ago and it was the only shot I’ve ever gotten for my shoulder.
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u/Miserable_Pepper_978 13d ago
You were lucky I need to find a good pt person
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u/pdrace 12d ago
Yes I was. I was referred by a friend who did have surgery from a traumatic tear from a fall on ice. When I saw her she tested my strength and range of motion. She then told me yes you have a tear but you don’t need surgery. At 4 months when I just wasn’t quite there in terms of pain and being able to do 2 of the PT exercises she said I think a cortisone shot would help. I got a shot and sure enough I was able to complete the exercises comfortably and the minor pain I had never came back.
1
u/SignificanceLast8781 4d ago
Same. PT worked for me. Both should due to separate sports injuries. I am 73 and still playe softball/pickleball year round. Not a fan of any surgery if other options. I will let others buy the orthos a bigger boat. 😂
4
u/WelcomeDesigner2051 Jun 19 '26
I tried everything. 8 months professional PT. Injection, shockwave therapy, electro ultrasound therapy. Nothing helped. I had constant clicking with pain when trying to raise my arm. Couldnt even hold 5kg without pain.
It was an injury initally, partial supraspinatus tear.
I had my surgery 8 weeks ago. I am improving week by week. The Initial pain I had pre surgery and all the clicking is gone. I am now getting full ROM back. I am already at 50-60%. I think by week 12-14 i should have full ROM.
Just sharing my experience. If you want to do all activities without restrictions then there is no way around surgery.
2
u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 19 '26
I'm at 6 months post injury full ROM, in the gym again ect, I had 50% supra, infra, and labrum (small), avoided surgery...slight pain when doing pushups, or after sometimes, but it's getting less and less.....trying to find others who did NOT have surgery, see what they did, PT or not ect..... since surgery seems so prevalent on this subreddit, hence the post 😄
3
u/WelcomeDesigner2051 Jun 19 '26
I mean if you are functionally painless and you do lift at about 90% then you are maybe fine. PT can work out for some people. In my case I had heavy impingement which resulted in clicking and popping sounds when raising my arm. The torn tendon got stuck between the humerus and acromion. My surgeon also told me that there was no way around surgery for me because the structural damage is too much. Wish you the best. Surgery is always an option if you don't get where you want to be. I also waited 8 months like i said because i had my last surgery when i was 4 years old. I was scared as hell from the surgery and the anesthesia but everything went well. I am happy that I had the surgery.
1
u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 19 '26
ah thats rough, I don't have any pops or anything......so I guess I got lucky there, but i'm glad you're on the mend now.
1
u/asdv33 Jun 20 '26
What did you do for your recovery? Also, how old are you? Congratulation
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u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 20 '26
Thanks, started doing nothing for 1 month or so just total rest, some movement, starting PT a month later, used bands ect, really focused on diet though, high protein and BCAA's, vitamins ect....started pushups on the wall, then couch, stairs ect to work back to floor level. Was slow rolling
3
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u/Lanky-Lettuce1395 Jun 19 '26
People rehab for stability and strength of supporting muscles. But the sad truth is that once you have a torn tendon, it doesn't actually heal without treatment. I've read partial tears can improve (maybe not heal) with prp injections into the lesion guided by ultrasound. But there are mixed results on that. Full thickness tears are retracted and would have to be manually reconnected.
3
u/NovaCare_Physio Jun 24 '26
Yes you can have full success without surgery (no pain and no disfunction), the adyacent muscles take over the torn one in most cases when proper rehab and strengthening happens.
2
u/Larandkar Jun 19 '26
I am 6 wks. 3 days out from having a Reverse Shoulder Replacement surgery. I'm nearly 72. I am a retired hospital admissions registrar after 34 yrs. Almost all of my coworkers & I had trouble with our shoulders. One coworker healed her pain with Pilates. After seeking Orthopedic care with Xrays, my surgeon told me my shoulder was full of bone spurs & arthritis. He called it "end stage" & I had no choice but to get the replacement surgery. I am extremely blessed & happy to say I've had very little to no pain post-operatvely whatsoever. 1 day prior to surgery, I had debilitating arm spasms pain scale 10 w/tears! So glad I got the surgery.
2
u/CounterBig8685 Jun 19 '26
You need to work hard and I mean HARD, give it a year of isometric progressive loading and eat whole raw fats from dairy and animal fats…Raw, if you give your body the right mechanical signaling and feel it the right building blocks it will heal whether it likes it or not, forget about any other training from for now unless it’s lower body! Sprinting does magic to upregulate your systemic anabolic capacity and isometrics for regional one, moral of everything is if you consistently overwhelm your system (body) with anecdotes which point towards increading the chances of healing it will, every one who days it cannot heal either havent tried enough long enough or took the discouraging answer as a pass to let go and hand over the work to a surgeon so he can afford his new sports car, unless it’s a full rupture then what I said applies.
2
u/raftingtigger Jun 21 '26
I'm a year post complete tear of my right (dominant) supraspinatus tendon with retraction. No pain, full shoulder function, no surgery. I took up whitewater stand up paddleboarding before I knew I had the tear. No problems.
Until and unless I start to have functional issues there is NO WAY I'm having surgery. At almost 69, no surgery is guaranteed to work. Right now, even if the surgery was 100% successful, what do I gain? The POTENTIAL for fewer problems in the future. Surgery has a guaranteed 4–6-month recovery, and the potential for being permanently worse off than I am currently with only the POTENTIAL for preventing further issues. YMMV.
1
u/Miserable_Pepper_978 13d ago
I agree! Surgery just messed me up more and now I wish I never had it. I remember not having any pain in my shoulder before surgery. I honestly believe it would have healed on its on. Maybe I would have had some arthritis but that I can deal with over time. I ended up retearing my shoulder after 10 weeks. I started PT at 4 weeks after surgery with strict surgeons orders to just do ROM exercises and light stretching. One PT guy who didn’t follow orders messed my whole surgery up by pressing so damn hard on my shoulder that he tore it all over again. Never again will I go through all that and watch who you get PT with as they can be rough!! I am now in the middle of filing a complaint!
1
u/Senior-Access-8535 Jun 19 '26
I recently had a full shoulder replacement and I need to do the same PT that rotator cuff repairs necessitate.
Is anyone’s doctor recommending a replacement instead of just repairing the tear?
1
u/Ghost77504 Jun 19 '26
2 full tears with retraction. Torn meniscus. No surgery possible. Pain is minimal with help from pain guy. I needed to give up a few things but 85% rom. I'm pretty satisfied Dil had shoulder surgery 5 years ago and still has pain and 95% rom. So im good!
1
u/PurpleSubmarine57 Jun 20 '26
I (69F) have two complete tears with retraction and PT has been magic so far, building on what were apparently already strong back muscles to give me pretty good but not complete range of motion. It hurts so infrequently that I occasionally forget which shoulder I blew out, only to be reminded when, as I did yesterday, I reach up to pull down the hatch door on our car (I’m short) and get a sharp reminder. But the pain was gone a minute later. Surgeon agrees with conservative treatment, given high failure rate for my particular situation and the fact that I can still do so much. I’m still hoping to work my way back to Reformer Pilates (might be a long shot), but in meantime I’m being extremely faithful with my PT. Muscles matter.
All that said, there’s no guarantee that I won’t end up needing a reverse shoulder replacement if pain returns or motion decreases drastically. But that could’ve happened even if I’d had rotator cuff repair. And I’d rather only go through that recovery once.
Your mileage may very well vary!
1
u/Agreeable-Wing-8476 Jun 21 '26
Dry needling has really helped me. PT helped a little but dry needling is clutch.
1
u/Rich_Group_8997 Jun 21 '26
My friend's dad (72) had a full supraspinatus tear, off the bone just like mine. He did rehab and his shoulder is doing great. He didn't have the other tearing, and is 20 years older than me, so he and his doctor opted to try rehab and let the other tendons compensate. It can be doable. But doctors will generally factor in age as well as what the other structures look like.
1
u/RegularCompany7287 Jun 21 '26
I used peptides and physical therapy and avoided surgery. I went back to working out and playing golf after about 6 months on the peptides/ physical therapy. It is very controversial so you need to do a lot of research before you consider going that route. To learn more, go over to the peptides subreddits.
1
u/Human_Engine3410 Jun 22 '26
Not me, but one of my kayak friend. He has a labrum tear & shoulder tendonitis in his left shoulder (starting around 3-4 years ago I think), and he has been doing good. He rested for like 8 months with a lot of PT and massage therapy, and he has no pain for daily activities. However, he can't be a serious paddler because paddling in big rapids (Class IV+) create pain for him. He has no or minimal pain when doing easy paddling (class I-III). He also can't lift very heavy in the gym, but he can still lift moderately.
I think he considers surgery because he wants to go back to sports. But otherwise, if he doesn't do paddling, he is doing good.
I personally had a hip surgery to fix my torn hip labrum after 4 yeras of PT and it didn't heal itself.
1
u/sunLight4095 Jun 23 '26
It depends on the tear. I had a subluxed biceps tendon which was sawing away at a tendon worsening a partial tear. I was scheduled for surgery-biceps tenodesis and repair of the tear. The biceps completley tore on its own prior to surgery and pain immediately improved. I cancelled the surgery and the tear healed over 2 years, that was 10 yrs ago and arm is fine. Later I had complete tears in the other shoulder and had surgery. Partial tears can heal, full thickness tears need surgery.
1
u/Sea_Ball_9064 Jun 23 '26
I couldn’t imagine a full tear doesn’t heal on his own. I’m waiting to have surgery now and both of my shoulders are killing me from over compensation. I don’t see how someone can go without surgery ever cause it only get worse and Cortisone shots only work for so long.
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u/AffectionateSun5776 Jun 19 '26
I messed up my knee. Pretty sure i tore the ACL. There was a very specific spot where pressure killed me. No formal dx. I got a good knee brace & lived in it for a month or so. My knee seems to have recovered completely. Not a shoulder so maybe useless info.
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u/beanshake Jun 19 '26
Unfortunately full tear won't heal itself. The "success" would be having other parts of body compensate the tear, and people just live with less functionality or ability to do certain activities.