Possible shoulder surgery

flynavydiesel · Jun 29, 2005

Well it looks like I have a torn rotator cuff and a tear in the labrum. I have to go and get an MRI with contrast and not looking forward to it. The flight docs say I pretty much have to have surgery to keep on flying. What a bummer. Anyone have this type of MRI or surgery?

Kind of wondering how long this process takes.

Sean

Pablo · Jun 29, 2005

Wow - bummer....hang in there. Second opinion?

What was the trauma? (apologies - I can only think of baseball pitchers)

keith · Jun 29, 2005

One MRI scan usually takes about 20 minutes. You have to lay still and not move. I can tell you from experience that when you are lying flat for the MRI, your shoulder will start to hurt like h*ll. Hopefully you are not claustrophobic.

Not being a pilot, I ignored my rotator cuff injury and let time heal it. Took about 12 months. My MRI was not for the shoulder and that was just a bad coincidence. I had 3 MRI scans, basically head to thigh, without a break. I was in the machine for almost one hour. By the way, some of the MRI machines are VERY noisy. You will be given some earplugs and make sure they seal well.

Good luck with the surgery if that is the remedy. If it is a peephole kind of surgery, you'll be in great shape in no time.

flynavydiesel · Jun 29, 2005

The injury was caused by racketball. Swung wide for shot and felt the shoulder dilocate and then come back in. I have been a swimmer for years and have broken my collar bone on that side. SO I am prone to dislocate that side. Found that out while undergoing this process.

Unfortunately the second opinion process does not work for the flight surgeons. The big book says pilot with dislocatin requires surgery and I have to recover with full motion and no further dislocation. At least the health care is Free!!!

bigpaulo · Jun 29, 2005

Don't sweat the MRI. Take a few vitamin A (Advil) an hour before your MRI appointment, it'll reduce swelling and take the pain down a notch while you're lying motionless in the MRI machine... and ditto on the ear plugs, use 'em.

And as far as the surgery goes, sounds like you have no choice, so make the best of it. Be religious about your physical therapy afterwards, and don't try to come back before you're ready... augering is frowned upon by your superiors and us taxpayers

Do it right, and you'll probably be back in the air within 6-8 weeks, so the sooner you can get the surgery, the sooner you'll get back in the air.

Good luck! The only other advice I can give is, if they give you the option to have a CPM machine (continous passive motion) immediately after the surgery, USE IT! I studied Orthopaedic Biomechanics at Stanford, and moving a joint is the quickest and best road to recovery.

I rode a stationary bike trainer the day after my arthroscopic knee surgery, and I was walking the following day... gingerly

Schmoe · Jun 29, 2005

fly.....
Now this is coming from what I see here at Fort Sill. The health care is free for retirees and active, but I personally would NOT have the Army work on my body. I can tell you a lot of stories of mis-diagnosed patients, my mother in law for one and my wife from when she was living with them in her younger years, for one. I'm just saying, be careful and make dang sure you listen to the doctor and understand everything he is attempting to do.

JohnBrowning · Jun 30, 2005

FlyNavyDiesel, Before you go under the knife their is one book you should read. It will be very helpful to you after the surgery. They will put you through rehab but after the rehab ends and you are no longer on a profile it will help. A lot of people do great towards the end of rehab. Then when they finish rehab they start going down hill again.When you quite rehab you lose about 50% of the new gained strength and stability you gained dureing rehab if you do not continue with the exercises.THe good news is that you can normaly get buy nicely with just one or two sesions a week for maintaing your new strength and stability. Seeing how you are in the military you really need to keep that rotator cuff area strong! The book is not expensive and the only equipment you must have is an elastic band that you can get for free from the Base Hospital or purchase at the BX. THe name of the book is as follows "The 7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution/Cure"

Hopefuly the therapist will show you how to pack you shoulder to make it secure dureing exercises. Most people do shoulder exercises all wrong!!! IF ever you have watched fencing and how they retract their shoulder down and back that is the idea.

If you find that after the surgery you have flexability issues and pain due to adhesions(see scar tissue) look into Rolfing and Active Release therapys! They would not be available through the the military medical systems so it would cost you out of pocket but it could keep you flying!!! Many athletes with multiple injurys that have scared over internaly even without surgery have had great experinces with both Rolfing and Active Release. Oh ya I forgot to mention that Rolfing and Active Release are really painful!

Good Luck!!! As a civilian pilot I can understand the disapointment of being grounded for any reason!!! I also understand the military system seeing how I grew in that system for 20 year!

farrarfan1 · Jun 30, 2005

Man I hate to hear about these surgeries. I had both done in about a year and a half. Mine wasn't due to an injury it was a structure problem with the achromia,which is part of the shoulder blade.Part of the bone was rubbing the rotator tendons so they had to remove the damaged area of the tendon plus remove a section of the bone.I was off work 8 weeks both times.I think they are doing some of this arthroscopically(?) now, mine was a full incision about 3 inches long.It took close to a year before they really felt right but it's been about 5 years since the surgeries and they are still pain free,which at my age (49) is a good thing. Good luck and be patient with the recovery time.

michaelc80 · Jun 30, 2005

I had to have some disks in my neck fused a couple of years ago and I agree with bigpaulo-the MRI might hurt a lot. I could not lay flat and had lost most of the use of my left arm. The pain during the MRI was so bad they had to reschedule it and put me under for it. Vicodin/Valium combination suggested by the surgeon didn't help either.

The good thing is the surgery was perfect and I am totally normal now (physically anyway!

)

flynavydiesel · Jun 30, 2005

Thanks for the input, I am actually lucky in that I have been referred to the University of Penn sports orthopedics shoulder specialists. I will look into the Rolfing and active release, sounds painful just saying it

.

This referral process to get to see any one takes so long, I like hearing that 6-8 weeks should be the normal recovery time. I will definitely be religious on the PT, got to get back in the air. Doing paperwork is driving me bananas!!

Cressida · Jul 2, 2005

Good grief I shutter to hear about a shoulder injury now.

A year ago I new nothing about shoulders. That was before I injured mine last Oct. Now I've become very aware of this important joint. It has been the tuffest injury to recover from that I've experienced in my 48 years.

I got kneed hard in a sports collision just below my right shoulder and my arm went totally dead for a several seconds. The arm like just was turned off and didn't work. Then it came back to life again. I still don't know if I had a pinched nerve or a dislocation/separation or what. The doctor didn't have much to offer on what happened.

I treated it like a sprain thinking it would heal up like a sprained ankle in a week or so. Instead, I developed frozen shoulder where the arm couldn't be raised higher than chest hight.

I've been working since December on getting my motion back. I don't have much pain anymore and it looks like I've healed up without surgery. I was really scared for a while as I have no health insurance.

That just did an x-ray on me - no MRI. I suspect since I had no insurance they didn't want to run the bills up too much as I paid in cash.

VERY PAINFUL for the first couple of months as I was trying to slowly break through those adhesions in the joint. In anyone reading this hasn't been down this road - let me repeat - it was VERY PAINFUL!

If there is a worse injury than a shoulder I pray that I never have to experience it.

I'll let the experts tell you how you should treat yours. In my situation, I'm glad I didn't have surgey. Of course, I was never sure exactly what kind of damage I had.

Cressida · Jul 2, 2005

quote:

Originally posted by bigpaulo:

Good luck! The only other advice I can give is, if they give you the option to have a CPM machine (continous passive motion) immediately after the surgery, USE IT! I studied Orthopaedic Biomechanics at Stanford, and moving a joint is the quickest and best road to recovery.

You may be correct about using the CPM machine immediately after surgery. However, I've been told that this thing is like a Torture Chamber perfected.

They hook you up to this machine and it moves your affected joint through the range of motion while you are screaming with each repetition .

It sounds funny but it must be something else.

SKUNKY · Jul 2, 2005

FND..It is now possible to have the repair done through an Arthroscopy..no need to open the shoulder..we do about 90% of them this way..also have the Surgeon insert a pain pump in the shoulder or have the Anesthesia dude do an Interscalene nerve block..it's good for up to 24 hours..talk to your Surgeon about these options..good luck

Scooby · Jul 2, 2005

That MRI with contrast is NO fun. When they hit bone with that tiny needle feels like a stake being hit with an 8lb sledge. I'm a FF and had on OTJ injury on 1/29/04. Had surgery on 3/17/04 and returned to work 4 months later. Mine was a SLAP tear and I still have some pretty good pain at times. Still haven't regained all my strength. My uncle, also a FF just had rotator cuff surgery about 5 weeks ago. He's a good bit older than me (50 yo) and having a tough time. Worst part for me was the 4 weeks in the immobilizer sling! NO moving arm from position except neutral hanging for 1 full month.

Was supposed to be out 6 months, but went through a VERY INTENSIVE rehab program 3-4 times/week. Found out why therapists are called "physical terrorists".

Good luck with it!!

flynavydiesel · Jul 3, 2005

Thanks for all the info and honesty about the pain afterwards. I have been in pain for 3 months now waiting to get to this point. At times I have to take percocet to get to sleep and I really hate to take drugs and stuff.

I hope whatever they determine works and I can resume flying and normal work outs like biking and swimming. I know the swimming will be a long way off but, right now I can not even try it just hurts.

Have a great 4th.

Sean

Larry the Cable Guy · Jul 3, 2005

quote:

Originally posted by farrarfan1:
...it was a structure problem with the achromia,which is part of the shoulder blade.Part of the bone was rubbing the rotator tendons so they had to remove the damaged area of the tendon plus remove a section of the bone.

I have similar shoulders. I've had one fixed but I still need to do the other one. It was done at Naval Medical Center San Diego about three years ago. It was done through a scope. They had to remove a fair amount of bone to make room for the rotator cuff. They operated on a Thursday morning, I spent one night in the hospital for pain management and worked a half day the following Monday. Not all military doctors are bad!

Steve

Bret Chase · Jul 3, 2005

quote:

Originally posted by flynavydiesel:
Thanks for all the info and honesty about the pain afterwards. I have been in pain for 3 months now waiting to get to this point. At times I have to take percocet to get to sleep and I really hate to take drugs and stuff.

The pain never truly goes away... I blew my left out back in '91. I tore 70-80% of that rotator cuff and had a closed AC separation (i.e. the ligaments tore apart, but the bones went back into position). I never got it repaired surgically, I just let it heal. for my troubles I've got right around 135deg of motion in my left rotator (right has about 195deg)and an arm that goes randonly numb from the elbow down. it still hurts from time to time even to the point of nausea even 14 years later. **** it hurts right now.

I really wish I'd gotten it fixed back then. thankfully I've built up enough pain tolerance that I don't need anything more powerful than ibuprophen most of the time. but due to being frugal with perscribed pain meds, I've got both darvocet and vicodin left over from previous injuries (and friday's vasectomy)for the pain when it gets bad.

Possible shoulder surgery

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