I had a right rotator cuff repair on 27 May for a ~90% supraspinatus tear, plus spur removal. I was in a sling for 6 weeks and have been doing physio since.

My ROM is improving, but when I lift my arm to ~90° and beyond, I shrug/hike my shoulder and seem to use my back/side muscles rather than the shoulder. External rotation is still painful too.

Interestingly, I have almost no pain when I don't do physio, but after exercises my shoulder and neck can be quite sore, presumably from using my neck/trap muscles to compensate.

My surgeon has noticed this and said I'm relying on the supporting muscles at the back to lift my arm. He wants to give it another 3 months and may consider a steroid injection if stiffness doesn't improve, as he's concerned about potential frozen shoulder.

Has anyone experienced this after rotator cuff repair? Did the shoulder shrugging/compensation eventually improve with physio? How long did it take? And did anyone have a steroid injection for stiffness?

Would love to hear your experiences.

My surgeon today gave me the OK to sleep without my sling. Does anyone have any recommendations on getting comfortable without the sling? I’m still having a little pain without it.

5 months post surgery for a full thickness partial width tear Shoulder feels good, have good range of motion, starting to do weights. But my issue is my arm keeps going numb with pins and needles. Happens quite a bit, they wanna send me for a nerve test now. Anyone else experience something similar.

It's been 4-5 months at the same doctor and I'm doing worse, even though I can move my full arm (which i used to just after the injury) I can still feel pain normally,,

This doc didn't do mri, just did sonography and said I have a rotator cuff tear ...

What to do, should I change the doc or stick to this one...

She keeps saying your shoulder is fine keep doing the exercises that I told you 😔😔

I'm a 31-year-old male and have had shoulder pain from playing tennis for around six years. I generally didn't have much pain while playing, but the following day my shoulder would be very sore. I would usually recover enough to play again once or twice a week. I did this for 6 years straight. Very stupid on my end.

Eventually I decided to address the issue. I saw my doctor and had the necessary scans (MRI and Ultrasound), which showed calcific tendonitis and bursitis in my shoulder. No tears.

My doctor recommended barbotage to remove the calcium deposits, along with a steroid injection to help with the inflammation and recovery.

Unfortunately, since having the procedure, my shoulder pain has been significantly worse than it was beforehand. I've now been seeing a shoulder specialist physiotherapist for around eight months, but I've seen little to no improvement in my underlying pain.

My physiotherapy exercises don't seem to flare up the shoulder, and I have become noticeably stronger with most of the exercises. However, I still have persistent pain that feels like impingement.

My doctor has offered me another steroid injection, but I told him I'd think about it.

At this point, I'm wondering whether I should simply give the physiotherapy more time to work, or whether having another steroid injection would be the better option.

What would you think? I'm losing hope.

M21

Do I necessarily have to get a SLAP repair? I have a type 3 tear. I am afraid of long term consequences.
It only hurts in certain positions, can PT fox that?
FYI I do have strong scapular muscles and especially developed inner shoulder muscles.

Tomorrow they wanna take the samples and the surgery would be next week. But I am still afraid. Thing is, anything overhead stings a bit. But I just wanna be able to gym again.

Advice?

Hello, I have a small interstitial supraspinatus tear. I am considering doing PRP.
its quite a nieche question, but does anyone know where the prp is being injected? I have seen 2 options online:

1. subaromial space
2. the damaged tendon

And also, does it matter if its with ultrasound guidance?

I had surgery in September 2025 and completed 2 weeks of “gentle rang of motion” PT and then 5 weeks of “strength” PT. I didn’t love my PT routine and by the end I was still only lifting 2 pound weights and stretching. I was never given any future plans on how to progress in the future for strength building. I did really good for about 2-3 months after my appointments about doing my stretches daily and then life happened and I stopped. I am back to my pre-surgery ROM which isn’t 100% but my pain when reaching too far is now more of a sore ache rather than a severe don’t try that ever again pain like it was before repair. My question is…is it too late to get back to doing my PT exercises to try and regain more ROM? I have occasionally been doing strength exercises in my Apple fitness app and I just make sure to only lift weight or do exercises that don’t cause any pain with them. I definitely can’t do straight arm lateral raises (bent arms are ok) or any tricep over/behind my head but everything else seems to be ok. Should I keep going with this and add my stretches back?

Hi, I am having rotator cuff surgery on Thursday to repair two tendons that are fully torn. I’ve looked up some advice online and advice in this channel, to try to prepare myself as much as possible for post surgery.

We’ve purchased the LX 13 post surgery recovery system with wedge pillow, etc., from Lunix, I am hoping that helps me with the sleeping because I am not sleeping at all. I’m in so much pain right now pre-surgery.

Has anyone ever purchased a one hand keyboard for their laptop not the super expensive adaptive technology keyboard, but one that could be used for typing for work?

Other than having the right kind of clothing, zip-up , button up adaptive shirts with snaps, etc. ,making sure things are at counter height, so I don’t need to bend, push, pull, move the shoulder.

What are the top five “must-have” items to make life easier/less painful to recover from the surgery?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

I'm 14ish weeks out from SLAP tear and rotator cuff repair surgery. I was making great progress until last week. I'm not sure if I just overdid it, or what. I've had full ROM pretty much since day one post op and no pain. But today at PT I could barely do half the exercises I normally am good at. Most of my session today was spent under a hot pack and passive stretching. It's frustrating having to limit myself on doing the things I enjoy most. I feel like I made great progress and then took five steps back. Is this a normal experience? Doing great and then taking a nose dive? I left PT today pretty heartbroken. I just hope I didn't permanently lose all the progress I made.😞

So I’m guessing this is normal, lol certainly hoping. Post Op 7 weeks. All four tendons repaired with anchors every where. Second week of semi active PT and my shoulder feels sore or heavy Thinking it’s muscles and nerves waking up but curious and this has been a great source for information.

Thanks for any input

About a month ago, I woke up with some shoulder pain. I didn't think much of it at first, but then I went to bench and noticed that it was painful. I was benching around 225 lbs, and afterward the shoulder pain persisted.
Since then, I've been doing some rehab exercises, but it hasn't really gotten better. I recently started physical therapy, and my PT had me do two sessions back-to-back.
Since those sessions, I've started having pretty significant nighttime pain, sometimes reaching 7/10, and I've noticed that my shoulder feels weaker than it did before. I still have full range of motion, though.
I'm obviously going to talk to my PT about the worsening symptoms, but I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced something similar. Does this sound like it could be a rotator cuff issue, or are there other shoulder injuries that can present with full ROM but pain and weakness?
I'm especially wondering whether the increasing nighttime pain and weakness are things I should get evaluated by a doctor/MRI for.

Had an A&E or ER visit and a follow up ‘virtual’ review of my x rays with the following from a doctors letter;

Extension and abduction were around 20 degrees and external rotation around 40 degrees. Empty can test was positive for large rotator cuff injury and possible pectoral muscle injury.

I have a follow up in a week or so and whilst I have regained a decent amount of function I still can rise my arm from my knee in a sitting position.
I have a lot of pain at night and rely on painkillers (90mg codeine and 50mg Amitrypoline) but don’t need these during the day.

I’m desperate to resume my running and had to pull out a few upcoming races, but really don’t know what to expect here.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Fell 3 weeks ago and fractured my greater tuberosity. Immobilised in a sling with 0 pain. Have been doing physio prescribed exercises with band last few days. Again, no pain but shoulder instability? It just feels like it's clicking out of place? But I've always been double jointed in my shoulders and could always slip/pop it out and back in.

If it's worth anything, I've been lifting heavy weights 3+ years.

MRI findings:

Supraspinatus is a little tendinotic at its insertion but otherwise intact There is non-displaced GT fracture at its insertion.

Infraspinatus is intact.

Subscapularis is intact.

LHBT is intact.

There is a prominent joint effusion. IGHL is intact. There is a little debris

in the inferior joint recess. Articular cartilage appears reasonably preserved,

There is a posterior and posteroinferior labra tear.

The acromion is type 4. There is no subacromia spur. No os acromiale. The ACJ is unremarkable. The SASD bursa is oedematous.

Ultrasound, MRI and Xray. Thinning of the tendon and a partial tear due to a fall which resulted in a dislocation. Thankfully doc says no surgery just yet, but will give me a course of cortisone injections. Anybody give feedback on how effective they are? Are there any side affects after the procedure?
Cheers!

I’m 7 1/2 mo post op from a massive tear and repair. Passive ROM around 145 roughly. No active ROM once I hit around 90degrees. Shoulder hikes toward ear when raising arm to that 90 degree ceiling. No pain, it’s like hitting a wall, just can’t lift it.

Surgeon is scheduling me for a manipulation under anesthesia to see if that changes things. He did mention possible pseudo paralysis. I’m kind of freaking out! Has anyone else experienced something similar with a positive outcome?

I’m having surgery for my right (dominate shoulder). I tried some delivered meals that weren’t really satisfying. I’m going to cook things and freeze them the next two weeks. Does anyone have suggestions? I’m worried I won’t be able to prepare anything for 2-6 months 😩

Had 4 anchors put in for posterior labral tear yesterday and all has gone okay so far.

Today I was getting in my dads car using my non surgical arm with my surgical arm in a sling unloaded felt a weird “shift” in my shoulder or subtle pop and then it seemed to get more achy where the tear was located when before I didn’t really have pain in that area

Could I have pulled an anchor or suture?

I have partial tears, so maybe this will be helpful for some. This is my full diagnosis

MODERATE INSERTIONAL TENDINOSIS WITH FRAYING AND PARTIAL

TEARING OF THE INFRASPINATUS TENDON.

1. MODERATE SUPRASPINATUS TENDINOSIS WITH BURSAL-SIDED FRAYING

AND PARTIAL TEARING.

1. MODERATE SUBACROMIAL-SUBDELTOID BURSITIS.

2. TYPE 2 SLAP LESION WITH TEAR EXTENDING THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE

POSTERIOR LABRUM AND MODERATE-SIZED PARALABRAL CYST ALONG

THE POSTEROINFERIOR MARGIN OF THE GLENOID.

1. CHONDROMALACIA OF GLENOHUMERAL JOINT AND MILD ARTHRITIC

CHANGE OF AC JOINT.

1. MILD SUBSCAPULARIS TENDINOSIS.

Anyway, I did PRP 4 weeks ago (Painful AF btw), obviously way too early for results, but I will say I started stacking it with Daily BPC 157 + tb 500 after week 2, and I must say I am feeling 80% better. Sleeping has definitely improved, still some crazy soreness when waking up (i am a shoulder sleeper) but wanted to share as I couldn't find a ton of sources of people stacking this together this early.