rotator cuff tear

[Antonia7]

Originally Posted by wakkochic17

how did they diagnose the tear? Is it a full tear or a partial tear? If it's a full tear then the only option is surgery. If it's a small tear (which I had a few years ago) I got better with a cortisone shot to help ease the pain, and then weeks of physical therapy, ice, and rest... also weeks of pain meds! I know the pain, that was one of the worst things! Hope you get better!

Hello, I'm new to this board and am about to begin Physical Therapy for partial tears in both shoulders. So, when I saw that you became better from cortizone and PT, I had some hope. I have two tears in one shoulder and a larger tear in the other, but not complete. I had a cortizone shot 2 weeks ago in the worse shoulder and it doesn't appear to have done anything for me. I still have inflammation. Can you tell me, with the PT, did you completely heal and how long did it take? I am so frustrated as Mike S and others have been. I've had this since late February and it was finally diagnosed through an MRI. I also have struggled with depression and this makes it worse. I am a ballroom and swing dancer and this probably happened from being yanked on by rough partners. I don't do heavy weight training, play tennis or anything like that. But have done routines with lifts and a lot of arm movements so this must be the only way I could have done this. I am anxious to get back to dancing and also (swimming is a past time too). Can't do much of either. Hope you all get better from this injury and thanks in advance for your response!

Antonia

[wakkochic17]

Antonia.. it's a frustrating road to healing. I was in PT for weeks and then when they released me I was still to do the exercises and take anti-inflammatories. I would say it was about 3 months out from diagnosis that I felt like I was truly on the road to being healed, even though I've had flare-ups since. I had severe pain in my right shoulder where the tear was and the cortisone shot helped it enough that I could sleep again, but still had very limited motion in my shoulder from the inflammation. If you get to a good point, swimming might actually do some good to help build muscle in your shoulders. Are you very limber? I am.. they said limber people are more prone to tendon problems from common movements..

[Antonia7]

Hello Wakkochic, Thanks for your reply! Yes, I am limber, mostly. I'm told that I have loose shoulder joints so that doesn't help. I don't really have trouble sleeping but I have to watch how I push myself up out of bed. I got the cortizone shot on May 22 and so I think maybe I'm one of those people who just don't respond to it. Somedays my left arm feels like it is broken somewhere. All I have to do sometimes is push a button on the microwave and I activate the pain. Getting dressed can be difficult and driving the car certainly. It's gotten into my head and I can't believe at this time last year, I had no pain. I had trouble convincing my general practitioner that I have rotator cuff tears. But the MRI eventually proved him wrong. Sometimes we don't need a medical degree to know our own bodies.

Thanks for sharing your experience with PT. I'm not looking forward to another 3 months being out of commission. I'm hoping I can get back to swimming soon. I think you are right, that will help.
I'll let you know how it goes. By the way, how did you hurt yours?

-A

[Antonia7]

Hello Again,
I start Physical Therapy today and I'm so nervous that I will hurt my shoulders further. All I have to do is move my arm forward or back an inch or two and I get a spasm of pain. So how in the world am I going to be able to do PT? Wakkochic, or anyone else who has had this problem, what do you mean by resting? Did you still drive a car? Could you do ANYTHING around the house? Should I be going on disability and sit in a room and do nothing for 3 months? I can't ride a bike either. I'm so frustrated and depressed, I feel like I'll have this forever. Sorry to be so down and morbid. It is the lack of answers from my doctors....I just want to scream. How is this getting worse by the day when I'm refraining from doing anything that I enjoy? Can anyone provide some comforting positive words? I'm all outta positive.....

Antonia

[wakkochic17]

Hey Antonia! I remember during my worst pain just doing every thing I could to not move my arm at all. Driving was difficult, but I couldn't just take off of work. The PT was difficult as well, I sometimes just had to tell the therapist "this hurts too much!" and he would change what I was doing. So don't be afraid to tell them if it's too much. It's a very frustrating injury, you just have to know you WILL get over it and it WILL get better.
My injury was unique. It was due to a reaction from an antibiotic called Levaquin. It was a long road to figure out the connection, but it seemed like more than a coincidence that after taking Cipro several years early (same family of drug) I wound up with bad tendonitis in my hip and went through PT as well. In both cases the orthopedic doctor couldn't figure out WHY I had my injuries! One of the "side effects" of these drugs they conveniently don't tell you about is tendonitis and even possible tendon rupture! I think it gave me tendonitis and then from continuos use and a few rounds of normal golf.. it wound up with a tear. Just make sure you take your anti-inflammatories regulary to help out and don't be afraid to ask for narcotics if the pain is that bad, I had to!