There is a post in odds & ends that probably should be brought over to this board. It's about shoulder surgery.
SHOULDER SURGERY
(Post brought over from Odds and Ends)
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From talltallone, newbie joined
Hello,
New to this site. I am headed for a shoulder replacement at the end of this month. I have traumatic arthritis from a college injury and this will be my 13th shoulder surgery between both shoulders. Obviously I am throwing in the towel and I need some pain relief!
SLG
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C'mon folks! There must be some of you out there that can help this newcomer (my shoulders give trouble, but not enuf so far to warrrant surgery.) thanks to Now & then for bringing this to our attn!
Lorraine
Hi Talltallone,
I had both shoulder joints replaced due to RA damage, one in 1996, the other 4 years later. My first one was a total joint replacement (where both sides of the joint are replaced) & the other a partial replacement in which the 'ball' part of the joint was replaced but not the socket part or 'glenoid' . There was no difference in these procedures in terms of how the joint felt before & after and the recovery process etc but my surgeon told me post op that the glenoid in my right shoulder had not been as badly damaged as he'd expected & so decided it could be preserved.
Prior to the op(s) I attended physio & was given a programme of home exercises aimed at keeping muscle loss, tendon damage etc to a minimum and to gain the best result possible from the op. (Did these as far as I could but, as I'm sure you're experiencing too, they were v. hard considering the pain & already v. limited movement). I was also told (bearing in mind my 1st one was 10 years ago) that JR surgery for shoulders was performed predominantly as a pain relieving measure and told not to expect full range of movement and strength back - this situation could have changed since with advances in surgery. Went ahead with the surgery anyway as by that time even lifting my arm an inch was excruciatingly painful & all other avenues of surgical assistance had been ruled out.
The op itself took about 3-4 hours & I was in hospital 5 days. Started physio the day after the op - although the first day the exercises are performed still wearing the sling. 2nd day they had my arm out of the sling & started gentle exercises - swinging arm back & forth etc - to get everything around the joint working again. Then I went on a machine to help with raising the arm - a rope & pulley thing - which again is aimed at breaking up all that stiffness that has accumulated & getting the muscles working gain. Had about 2-3 months of physio after this and continued with home exercise.
The range of movement I have isn't great compared to a normal shoulder joint but for the pain relief alone the procedure was one I'm glad I had. I can lift my arms approx 90 degrees, up to shoulder level unaided; they do go higher than this but usually only with some help due to leftover stiffness & weakened muscles. (I also have general pain & stiffness in arm muscles anyway from my RA which adds to the lack of good movement & strength). I think your success rate depends on the level of damage to everything around the joint b4 the op and on how much work you're prepared to put in afterwards. 3 months after the op I'd achieved a good range of movement & strength (brilliant compared to what I'd had) but still saw improvements in it up to 12 months later. For some reason I have better movement in the shoulder that was totally replaced than in the partial replacement - don't know if this is significant or not.
Hope nothing I've written has put you off having the op! To go from being in constant pain where even the slightest arm movement is excruciating to being able to use your arms again normally & without pain is wonderful. The post op pain wasn't too bad either - the exercises hurt but they just have to be done to get you the best result you can have - and to find your strength & mobility continually improving as the weeks go by spurs you on to continue with them. You already have numerous shoulder surgeries under your belt so I'm sure you'll be fine & have the strength to do what you have to. Feel free to ask any specific questions you have & I'll try to answer them best I can. It's 7 years since my second shoulder JR and I'm sure things have moved on in this field even in this short time so yours hopefully will be even better.
Best wishes & good luck to you.
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=291& amp;topcategory=Shoulder
This site also has links to all kinds of other surgeries including rehabitation and recovery.