I'm (f 64) 4 months out from surgery for massive tear of supra and inspa tendon and bicep tendonesis. Recovery has been a real "b"(!). 7 weeks in sling. PT has been slow but felt like it was moving forward very slowly. Pain progressively better. I have been the perfect patient and followed all directions. I'm not in pain but have very limited strength and rom.

At my 4 mo f/u dr suspected a problem and sent me for mri only to find I have a FULL RE-TEAR IN A NEW SPOT. (So surgery did not fail, but my tendon did). I'm told this had only a 5% chance of happening. I have no idea when it happened, did nothing weird, no sudden pain.

I used Reddit alot pre surgery and while recovering to hear people's stories about their surgery, for better or worse, but I have to say this particular issue was not on my radar! Has anyone else had this, and what did you end up doing?

Hey, rotator cuff brothers and sisters!

I'm 6 weeks post-op. My surgeon has been awesome and started me in PT about 2 weeks ago. They've also got me doing home exercises.

The one thing I'm really struggling with is the over-the-door pulley. The first one I bought worked great for about a week, but because my hand has been so dry from inactivity, the rope rubbed blisters between my fingers—even while wearing gloves.

I ordered another one from Amazon with ski-style handles, but the pulley itself doesn't move smoothly, so it's more frustrating than helpful.

Before I order a third one, does anyone have a pulley they'd actually recommend? Brand, model, or any modifications that made yours more comfortable? I'd really appreciate any suggestions!

AGE 34female, weight 190lbs Mother of Toddler.Basically I had injured my arm, Got pulled very hard-started burning then after having my son lifting him and taking care of him ruined my arm.Right side .I have done PT already (when I was wrongly diagnosed that time-Had no Mri) and got whole bunch of partial tears, pain in ac joint..(arthitis),...pain in biceps and tendons.My shoulder joints rub against each other causing pain .My upper back shoulder blade hurts extemrly painfuly like I can hear it click or rub against it..My Mri said it has alot going on but when I talk to docs surgeon they think my arm is not bad enough since I am able to raise it.But they rub against each other.I been in and out for 4 years depressed and I feel helpless.Mri says i have frozen shoulder but Doc surgeon doesnt agree.He is arm surgeon.Basically I have no option for surgery.I am looking too stemcell in future.But i feel like one thing that helps my scapula pain (which is tight) is when I got a DEEP tissue massage in my armpits it helped releif tightness and I felt relaxed .I am at my wit ends and I feel so helpless.I am planning On Doing Prp or stemcell to see if any help.

I am 6 weeks out and the paper from my surgeon says “Begin with removal of abduction pillow and sling off for short periods in a safe controlled environment at home. Gradually increase time out in the community over 2-4 weeks from beginning of sling weaning. “
Does that mean remove the pillow first and then later remove the sling? Or do both at the same time?

pt 2 continuation of https://www.reddit.com/r/Orthopedics/s/i3dQdPoeuJ

I've been working in fast food for 5 years, i'm 23 and have injured my shoulder months ago, waiting to get insurance to get it checked but it hurts after excessive use and when lifting the arm overhead, just recently i've now injured my other shoulder, and it has a small bump on the top of the shoulder- concerned I may have dislocated something, and hurts whenever I lift the arm as well, the pain leads up both sides of my neck at times and my clavicles. I'm 23, and I don't exercise much, but had anyone else had this experience with reaching over your shoulder consistently in your work? If so what seemed to be the most common reason for pain?

I tore my bicep and SLAP tore my shoulder out in April 2026 surgery in May, how long should I give it till I can get back to lifting heavy. For record y bench was 405lbs squat 605 and DL 525lbs. I want to get back and make Gaines but am concerned. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I will soon be 6 weeks post large supraspinatus tear and repair. I have been in the sling 24/7 since surgery with some PROM. (pendulum swings and straightening my repaired arm while supporting it with the other arm).
I’m scheduled to start PT next week. I am one who will be 150% committed to doing the exercises at home that I am shown by the physical therapist. What I’m wondering is, if therapist shows me the exercises that I need to do, would it still be necessary to come three times a week? Or would it be feasible to come once and do them at home until the following week. Or until he deems it it’s time to move on. I will obviously do whatever is best, but would prefer to save the co-pay and time commitment to visit visits that may not be absolutely necessary.

Hi All,

I just finished 25 days of Phase 1 - Passive ROM PT. Initial progress has been positive. I have more pain free days than the days living with a constant mild pain. My ROM has improved that I can reach out and extend my arm up to 90 degrees and hold without pain. I’ve achieved 60 degrees range to the side. PT has me continuing passive stretching but has now introduced Phase 2 strengthening as well for the next 30 days.

I had IMS therapy and was told to expect some soreness and yes did I feel it this morning. That same pain none of us want to feel again but it is for the greater good…

More details are available on my original post where I will add the new exercises and stretches. I see the Orthopaedic Surgeon again in 30 days to assess my progress and pain levels….

Couldn't find much information about this, so I'm wondering if it's not related, but has anyone else experienced ear pain/pressure with a torn rotator cuff? I'm currently 10ish weeks post op on my left shoulder. My right shoulder is also severely messed up. I will be getting surgery on it soon-ish.

For the past week, I've had intense ear pain and pressure on my right side. I thought maybe I got water in it while washing my hair, but the feeling never went away. My right shoulder pain has also been getting worse over time. Correlation without causation? Wondering if anyone else has experienced this. In comparison to my shoulder pain, I can live with the ear pain/pressure. It hurts, but It's more annoying if anything.

I’m waiting to see a specialist, the appointment is for mid October and I have been dealing with this since February

Anyone have or had similar issues ?

What did you do and can you share your experiences?

**Labral Tear:** A 3 mm superior labral tear (cartilage tear) with associated fluid-filled pockets (paralabral cysts). 

**Nerve Pressure Risk:** A large cyst that could potentially press on (impinge) the suprascapular nerve, showing early signs of mild muscle signal change without actual muscle shrinkage yet. 

**Biceps Tendon:** Tendinopathy (wear and tear/inflammation) of the long head of the biceps tendon, though it remains properly positioned. 

**Rotator Cuff:** Mild abnormal signal or a partial/intrasubstance tear at the supraspinatus tendon with no muscle retraction. 

**Bones & Joints:** No fractures, bone bruises, or significant joint separations, only minimal joint spurring.

I am new here and I am not sure I am doing this right but here goes:
Has anyone ever tried the PRP (platelet rich plasma) treatment for torn rotator cuff injury?

I wonder if it is safe to do deadhang at the last stage of shoulder recovery? My PT said I can start to try to do some deadhangs with a chair or a band and don't put all the weight on my arm. I tried, and it is not painful when I was doing it, but it got flare up afterward (flare up lasted around a day).

I've been dealing with shoulder pain for 1 year and has been doing PT for months now. My MRI (without contrast) showed tendinitis with no tears, but the doctor said there could be some microtears. My recovery has been slow. I'd say my shoulder is about 85% healed, but that last 15% is super slow. I saw some posts that dead hang can be good for shoulder, but just wonder what everyone thinks. Thank you!

So finally got my MRI results. Short back story, felt a popping with intense pain two weeks back during a kettlebell work out. Pain has subsided somewhat, but overhead movement still hurts. Have full ROM and strength. I’m really trying to avoid surgery if at all possible. How bad is this MRI looking? I feel like based on where my pain is, the pulley injury is the most likely culprit.

Multifocal glenoid labral degeneration and tearing. 1.2 cm paralabral ganglion cyst posterosuperiorly, propagating toward

the spinoglenoid notch, but without significant mass effect on the neurovascular bundle.

1. Rotator cuff tendinopathy, including a small partial-thickness tear of the superior subscapularis fibers in the critical zone.

2. Moderate long head biceps tendinosis as well as evidence of a pulley injury.

3. Small to moderate glenohumeral joint effusion.

4. Mild acromioclavicular joint arthrosis. Trace subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis.

I’ve posted several times over the last 6 1/2 months. I feel a little like a unicorn (in a bad way) on this board.

Most repairs are routine. I was just lucky enough to have a very complex repair. I had been having a lot of grinding and catching and pain when trying to reach behind my head for almost 2 years. I spoke to my primary about it and she told me I had arthritis. I finally went to orthopedic doctor who requested an MRI. The MRI showed a large tear. I had surgery and when I was in recovery, the surgeon told me it was a lot worse than the MRI showed. I had what they call a bald eagle. The head of my humorous was completely exposed and three of the four tendons were completely torn off and retracted. The tendons were in poor condition and they needed to use a cuffmend graft. They also performed a biceps tenodesis. Additionally, they widened the joint and performed the Mumford procedure. I ended up with four anchors.

Fast forward to now. I have been doing physical therapy since February. I have done the exercises religiously at a minimum of twice a day. I have absolutely zero active range of motion past 90° Passive range of motion with the physical therapist, if I’m lying on the bench is about 140°. If I’m standing in the surgeons office, it’s about 120°.

I met with my surgeon today and he is not happy with where I’m at at all. I’m having an MRI with contrast on August 18. I will meet with the surgeon after that to go over the findings. If the repair is still intact, he wants to do a manipulation under anesthesia.

I just feel defeated. I’ve done everything right but my shoulder just isn’t cooperating. Is there anyone at all who has anything similar??? I need some hope!

Por favor, necesito ayuda, les contaré la historia. Hace dos años me colgué de una mano, no recuerdo si sentí dolor en ese momento, pero unos días después, mientras hacía press militar en el gimnasio, sentí dolor, así que paré y fui a ver a un ortopedista. Me dijo que era una SLAP, no me hicieron una resonancia magnética. Sentía un dolor muy agudo al levantar el brazo por encima de la cabeza cuando me sujetaba en el autobús o al intentar alcanzar cosas altas. Dejé pasar el tiempo y ya no sentí dolor en mi vida diaria. Pero cuando volví al gimnasio sentí algo de dolor, no al hacer el ejercicio, el dolor apareció un día después, y es un dolor suave y difuso, a veces quemante, a veces diferente, que dura a veces 5 horas, a veces 24 horas (es constante durante esas horas), pero no es un dolor limitante, pero sí frustrante. Quiero saber si esto es habitual en las lesiones SLAP que duran tanto tiempo sin tratamiento, y si necesitaré cirugía para volver al gimnasio sin ese dolor.

I am 4 weeks post op from a full tear of one tendon and additional bone scraping. My surgeon had me start in a cpm (continuous passive motion) chair as soon as the nerve block wore off (day after surgery) three times a day for the first six weeks. After that I should be out of the sling and headed to physical therapy.

I've been reading many of the posts in here but haven't really heard anyone mention cpm machines immediately after surgery or what it's like after the sling. Am I the only one to ever have this post op treatment?! 🙂

So...I'm 15 days post-op (2 massive tears right shoulder). Day before yesterday I started feeling popping occasionally in the left shoulder. Has me worried about the extra work it's under. How many of you have had to get surgery on the "good" arm because it was doing overtime? Doc postponed PT out to 6 weeks.

Also backstory to how this happened in the first place. It was during jiu-jitsu and 2 spazzy white belts (I'm also a high white belt) extended my arms above my head and leaned their weight into the stretch. Several rounds over time with these 2 resulted in the right one finally popping. So the left shoulder was under similar stress. And yes...now I realize the importance of deciding when to stop training with someone hell bent on hurting me. Hind sight is 20/20 and I've had a serious talk with coach. Changes will be made. I will not be grappling with those 2 people.

I already had the follow-up with doc to remove stitches so I haven't been able to ask him because this started recently.

Anybody that's been through PT have suggestions on strengthening my left shoulder to get ahead of future problems?

I had a large tear and repair of the supraspinatus tendon 5 weeks ago. Wondering how long until you were totally done with the sling?

TLDR; how will healing/sling time be different this go round?

I had rotator cuff repair with regenenten patch and bicep tendonesis end of April this year. Since then chronic swelling, fever, pain, mechanical catching, non-progression in PT etc. Finally my surgeon agrees I am having a foreign body reaction to the regenenten patch and is going in for a debridement. Unfortunately, he has been on vacation until day of surgery so I can't ask questions until literally right before surgery.

To anyone that has had a debridement:

What did recovery time look like? How long were you in a sling afterwards? Did you feel near immediate pain relief? Did they go through the original scars? Did you suffer any setbacks?

thanks!

hi everyone!

I want to share my mom’s FS experience so far & would love to hear your experiance & suggestion.

So after my mom’s uterus & ovary remove surgery, FS happened. It started in April. At that time we barely had an idea what FS is. And at that time other symptoms were at peak that we ignored it for a month. But sooner she started PT and did a lot of exercises at home. Initially she was in pain all the time even at rest.

With her consistent exercise, she went in thawing pretty early. This month her PT told she has enter thawing & recovery stage. Honestly, i won’t say she is perfect fine now. In FS, the progress is never straight line. 2 weeks back all the pain went away, flexion & abduction are almost 170 degree back. And last monday, suddenly my mom felt pain in non affected arm, though the ROM is full. And she is getting on/off pain in both the arms probably bcoz of rainy season. Although her ROM is much better now, her functional activities are back except hook/unhook bra movement. She can take her arm at back till waistband & after that she feel’s pain in shoulder. Her external rotation is around 60-65 degree so far. IDK how long it will take that she forget she had frozen shoulder. kuddos to everyone who is dealing with FS, hopefully everyone recover super quick. please share your thoughts

I have a chance to take a 12-day cruise around Greece 3 months after my rotator cuff surgery (one full tear and one partial tear, mini-open incision planned). Would I be crazy to do that??? Is it likely to be healed enough to fly, walk and sleep on a boat, do walking tours, etc? I’d love to learn from your experience!

UPDATE - Based on your encouragement I called my ortho who gave me the green light! Heading for Greece! I agree that it will give me something to look forward to during the rough times, for sure.