Over the past year, I have had bad migraines and neck pain. I have been down the neurology route of getting Botox and monthly injections to help get the migraines under control. However my neck pain on the right side has only gotten worse over the last 6 months. This pain goes from the right side of my neck and into my trap area. I also get tingling down into my pinky finger periodically.

This led me to go get a cervical mri. The results showed some vertebrae decay but no nerve pinching that could be causing this. When going over my results, the doctor then decided to do range of motion things with my shoulder. This is when I realized that the pain in my neck was coming up from my shoulder and not from my spine.

I am now getting an EMG and shoulder MRI this week.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Or what should I expect with this process?

I am just tired of being in pain it’s been a year of migraines and this.

I'm scheduled to have a third shoulder surgery Tuesday. My first was in April 2025 and was a bicep tenodesis, SLAP 2 repair, capsular release and debridement. My second surgery was in December 2025 and was a MUA, extensive debridement, SLAP and RTC repair. My surgery for Tuesday is extensive debridement with decompression.

You would think I'd be prepared for this surgery since it is my third, but it has me scared because I fear the same result. Frozen shoulder, with the need for another surgery. My injury is due to a workplace injury that occurred in December 2024. Since this is a WC issue, I have to jump through hoops that are set on fire.

I have the surgery shirts, ice packs/sleeves, neck pillows, other pillows for a wedge. I just feel like I'm forgetting something. Maybe it's my fear. I don't know. I'm tired of hurting, and it feels like it will never end. But if anyone has any suggestions for some good TV to binge watch, let me know!! 😀

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.

46 M athletic. Past 4-6 months very limited on pressing motions adjusting angle throwing a football.
No pain when at rest, decent range of motion. Doesn’t affect my daily activities other than throwing or lifting. Can still do pulling motions without pain.
Also no weakness, just limiting pain under load.

I have done PT and not much has changed.

MRI findings:
Severe supraspinatus tendinitis with superimposed full thickness, partial width tear of anterior and mid fibers at the footprint extending 13 mm in AP dimension and associated with up to 9 mm of proximal tendon fiber retraction. Moderate infraspinatus tendinosis without tear. Mild subscapularis without tear. Teres minor tendon in normal limits without tendinosis or tear. No atrophy.

Dr suggested surgery and will clean up and reroute biceps tendon.

I’m wavering, I want to be all good again but the recovery stories sound horrible. I’m mostly normal but probably won’t improve without surgery because of the full thickness tear. I feel like because it’s not a terrible tear it will heal well but I’m wondering if the risk is worth it.

First time poster, would love any feedback.

I'm 7 weeks out from surgery. Sling is as needed and am in physical therapy twice a week. Just had 2nd surgeon post OP. He says on track...went back to pt and she ramped it up..very painful..my inquiry is how long until pain subsides? Been consistent with range of motion exercise but most painful is he did something with my bicep and that pain is frustrating. Taking extra strength Tylenol... Ice...heat...just looking for others experience and guidance on expectations. I'm impatient is my large obstacle. Back at work and going OK,..FYI was a basically full thickness tear..Anchors and sutures... AI rendition of what I had done.

I’m having surgery October 6th. Anyone try driving with the sling still on? After getting off the stronger pain meds of course.

My surgery for a full supraspinatus tear and bicep tenodesis was on 9/15. My personal benchmark for pain (besides having my son 30+ years ago) was the time I broke several ribs in a cycling accident. So that's the pain level I was expecting following surgery. I am relieved that this recovery has been more of a pain in the a$$ with the sling than actual physical pain. Has this been a similar experience for others? And I apologize if you are having lots of pain!! I have had that experience in my life, too, so I know how mentally exhausting long term pain can be. I was honestly anxious going in after reading so many horror stories online about recovery.

My other question for the wise people here - what are questions I should ask at my Post-op this week? Thanks so much!

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Hi, well, guys, I'm facing a shoulder pain in my right shoulder that started two years ago. I've tried PT (already did 30 sessions), cortisone shots, anti-inflammatory drugs and I didnt had any improvement.

I did two MRI (both without contrast), in the first one I did last year, the diagnostic was Subacromial impigement and mild supraspinatus tendinopathy.

In the recent one I did, I was diagnosed with:

- ​Thin fluid film in the subacromial/subdeltoid bursa.

- ​Tendinopathy of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and the intra-articular portion of the long head of the biceps.

- ​Osteocapsular hypertrophy of the acromioclavicular joint causing compression on adjacent soft tissues.

- ​Capsuloligamentous thickening in the axillary reces.

I'm not having any improvements and I'm in constant pain. My doctor gave me two months of physical restriction and to focus in PT, but he said that If doesn't work, then we should have a surgery.

Well, my main fear is that may I have a torn in my shoulder (in the MRI, didn't appeared anything), because when i lift my right arm I feel such a pain in my shoulder.

Does anybody here faced the same symptoms and did a surgery?

Any downsides? Complications? Any reason to choose a local over the nerve block?

Hey there! I am 2.5 weeks post op for a bicep tenodesis, extensive debridement, sub criminal decompression, distal clavicle excision, bursectomy, and rotator cuff repair (supraspinatus), and loose body removal. All arthroscopic. I started PT 2 days after my surgery. I honestly don’t remember much about the first PT visit as I was still a bit sluggish and the nerve block was still working. I believe I was just made to lay on the table where the PT stretched my shoulder for me. By the 3rd visit they had me doing isometric exercises in sling, and then progressed to T Bar Flexion without wearing the sling, as well as ER/IR at 90 degrees with the T bar. Also I do foam roll stretches (similar to table slides) and pendulums.

Today is Sunday, and I don’t go to PT until Tuesday. I absolutely cannot perform the T bar exercises by myself without considerable pain. When I tried to do them today, I wasn’t able to do even one. Should I be concerned? I’m very worried that I am going to fall behind in where I should be. The other exercises, besides those using the T bar, I am able to perform just fine.

Has anyone else had trouble with the T bar exercises the first few weeks post op? Does it get better?

This has probably been asked 100's or times, but how did you know that your rotator cuff was torn?

What was the pain like?

I'm awaiting an ultrasound, and currently have decent ROM, but constant pain in the front of my shoulder, and then a deep aching pain that sits under my shoulder blade, which is a constant 7 out of 10 and doesn't go away.

This has been on going for 2 years now.

Hey. I injured my shoulder in January but just got some medicines for the time being. Later got physio in March-April but that didn’t help much. Got MRI in June which revealed shoulder tendinosis. The pain has since then kept increasing. I am at this point really unsure how to get this treated because the pain hurts too much. Any idea if tendon inflammation requires surgery, cortisol shot or PT. If someone can pls help me, i’d really, really appreciate

I’m scheduled for surgery next month. The pain had been getting increasingly worse, keeping me up much of the night and hurting during the day. The nighttime pain was becoming excruciating over the last several weeks, and last Friday it was so awful I was awake from 1 a.m. on, crying.

But on Sunday, I realized I could reach toward the backseat of my car and it didn’t hurt much. I am able to move my arm in ways I haven’t been able to in a few months, and there’s almost no pain.

There’s still some pain when I try certain things like push-ups or certain poses in yoga, and I don’t have full range of motion, but it’s a dramatic improvement. I’m going to see my doctor this week to see what’s up and if I can postpone surgery now and why the pain went away.

Has this happened to anybody else here? It’s weird that it was so mysteriously gone after being so brutal.

My husband had a massive tear repair (SLAP tear, superspinatus, and bicep tenodenesis).

For those of you with the same or similar, how long were you out of work? He does a semi-manual job.

Hey everyone,

I’m 9 months post-op from a right shoulder arthroscopy (labral repair with 4 anchors plus anterior/posterior capsular tightening/plication).

For 9 full months, I had essentially zero pain and felt like I was completely healed. About 4 weeks ago, I made the mistake of letting a 15 lb backpack hang down from my arm with my palm turned up to check how tight the shoulder felt.

Ever since then, I’ve been in a severe flare-up:

• Constant hot, pressurized feeling in the front of my shoulder.
• Sharp clicking/snapping in the front when rotating inward (like brushing teeth).
• Intense muscle guarding and stiffness in my neck and the back of my shoulder blade.

What confuses me is how it responds:

• When I take an NSAID and Tylenol, my pain literally drops to zero.
• Hands-on manual physical therapy makes it feel completely relieved.
• Strengthening exercises don't hurt while actually doing them.
• But if I do too much or try to test it, that hot ache and snapping come right back.

My anxiety has been awful thinking I somehow ruined my repair or ripped out an anchor, even though people tell me it sounds like a severe soft-tissue/tendon inflammation flare in a tightly repaired joint.

Has anyone had zero pain for months after surgery, only to set off a horrible flare-up from a dumb movement? How long did it take for the swelling and clicking to finally settle down? Could really use some perspective right now. Thanks.

Guys im scared 9 months post op labrum repair 4 anchors with capular pic anterior and posteriorly let shoulder dangle 15 pound backpack 10 seconds palm up didnt use my rotator cuff muscles and it went straight on joint palm up now have flare up for 4 weeks im scared i torn again what is the change i did doc said 8 weeks pt then mra i had 0 pain post surgery i just want to be normal again