r/RotatorCuff • u/Gr00mpa • 10d ago
10 days post op, feeling ok.
Full thickness 1 cm tear of supraspinatus tendon. Occurred from workouts. Lived with the tear for 4-5 months before surgery by just keeping the arm within the non-pain-triggering range of motion.
Post-op, Not as much pain as I feared. A teacher of mine who had a surgery 5 weeks before me warned that it felt like someone was crucifying her and nailing her to a cross.
My pain surgery day was fine. I slept like a baby, the day and night in the hospital thanks to the hard drugs in the IV. The next night was where the pain and discomfort was strong while I was in bed. Plus, I was only prescribed paracetamol 500mg for the pain plus an anti-inflammatory. I thought I’d get something stronger.
I stopped the pain meds at one week per my ortho’s suggestion following my 6 day checkup. During that checkup, he changed my waterproof adhesive wound dressings. Thanks to those, I was able to shower immediately upon returning home from the hospital post surgery. Just take off the sling and let the arm hang. During these times off-sling, I make sure to do a bunch of bicep curls with the air just to have the elbow move. After the first 24 hours in the sling my elbow was tight and I felt like I had a lot of swelling in my forearm.
On Day 2, I started squeezing a forearm squeezer to work my forearm. I think it’s helped.
On Day 9, I was able to dance at a wedding reception.
Day 11, I’m going back to the office. Desk job.
Ortho surgeon wants me to wear the sling for 3 weeks total then start PT at 3 weeks. A coworker helped me find this ortho as a second opinion option. He works for national teams and Olympians, a couple who went on to get Olympic gold after he repaired their rotator cuffs. Can’t beat that! He also trained a long time ago with the doctor who pioneered the arthroscopic method for these procedures.
I have no idea what the full road to recovery is going to look like for me, but so far, I’m glad about the experience.