Trad Gang
Main Boards => Prayers/Concerns/Honors/Ailments => Topic started by: Matabele on September 22, 2017, 02:42:00 PM
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I was going to post this in the recent shoulder replacement thread, but thought I better start a new topic.
I've suffered from a rotator cuff injury for years and even had the cortisone injection in the joint (not cool). What with starting a family, and life getting in the way I havnt been able to shoot much at all and I thought the injury had healed up. Only occassionaly was my shoulder painful and usually when I had a cold or something and all the joints were achy.
Now my new custom bow has arrived finally, and the old injury has flared up again. It's making drawing the bow really painful and the shoulder just isn't giving me the strength and stability I know I should have. Super bummed at the moment!
Just wondering if anyone has had any of the invasive surgeries and if you think it's a good idea? I'm going to see a doc anyway and find out the options, I'm tired of this now.
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Yep, I had surgery on my right shoulder back around 2004. I somehow tore the rotator cuff on both shoulders and I had the worst one fixed. I wish the doctor would fix my left shoulder but he says I should wait until it tears more. Anyway, I couldn't shoot my bow for a while after surgery but I only missed one deer season. Anyway, I have no regrets. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.
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I had my right shoulder repaired in 2010. I have no regrets, the surgery went good and just as important the physical therapy did too. I had the surgery in February and was shooting a 40lb bow in august. The main thing is to listen to your PT and do your exercises. It's going to be painful but if you stick to it you'll be good as new.
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Get checked out by a good surgeon to find for sure what is going on with your shoulder(s). You may get positive results from physical therapy, depending on what the surgeon finds. In late April I couldn't draw a 35# bow more than a couple of times. My surgeon prescribed physical therapy, 3 times a week for 4 weeks, then 1 to 2 times weeks for up to 3 additional weeks, at the therapists discretion. After 4 weeks I was shooting a 43# bow. Within a month of being released by the therapist I was shooting 50#+ bows again. The exercises I did in therapy seemed kind of worthless to me at the first session, but I could tell a difference in my flexibility by and had less pain by the end of the first week. The exercises are simple and can be done at home.
Best of luck! Mike
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I should have stated that I have an impinged rotator cuff in both shoulders. I also suffered from pinched nerves in both shoulders. I still do my PT at least every other day and everyday if I don't get much activity, like when doing a lot of driving ect.
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I had shoulder surgery last February. Back to shooting 45# bows now. Now I make it a point to not shoot anything heavier. Want to get as much mileage out of both shoulders. As others said: do the PT. I also highly recommend getting a recliner (I slept in mine for two months after surgery) and get and use an ice machine to keep the pain and inflammation down.
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I had surgery 2 weeks ago. so I can't answer your question yet. by the feed back I have read the prognosis is good.
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Yupper, tore a rotator cuff completely off and had a bone spur. Had the surgery and was shooting in 6 months. Shoulder feels like new now.
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I'm with on this Mike. I got referred to an outstanding PT and within a month of doing exercises I was feeling pain relief. In 2 months I was back shooting my 52# bow. Be careful with what's diagnosed. Second and third opinions are good to try before you buy.
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Yup, had mine done in A February back in 2002, but was back shooting by July.
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I had an MRI done on my shoulder and it told the story.
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I had surgery. My rotator cuff was almost torn completely, I also ruptured my bicep tendon and due to impingement they cut a 1/2" off my collar bone. PT is terrible but you have to get through it. My surgery was two years ago, I missed a year and a half of bowhunting, bad timing on the surgery, but I was able to take a nice buck during the late season last year. I can now shoot bows daily in excess of 60 lbs.
Look into stem cell injections. A friend of mine had them and completely avoided surgery.
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I had shoulder surgery in march of 2015. Small tear to the rotator cuff and a "moderately large" bone spur. Add to that nerve impingement from years of working hunched over on aircraft. No issues with shooting or lifting weights since. I did have to take it slow for a bit after pt was done. I think my total downtime was about 3 to 4 months. Do the pt afterwards and make sure to do the exercises at home as well. Remember them so you can fall back on them as needed. If possible get that 2nd opinion or two. If you haven't yet, get an mri to take with you.
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I had a 80% tear in my right rotator cuff, that was repaired a year and a half ago. After the surgery I followed the doctors orders to a T, completed my PT and was shooting my recurve in 2 months. I started out with 35#'s and soon worked up to my 56# bow. The surgery was done in late Feb. and I was able to go on a spring bear hunt in late May. My shoulder is doing great. Have the surgery done, it will not heal on it's own. With out getting it repaired you could actually damage it to the point that it cant't be repaired.
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Thanks for the replies everyone! I can tell you I feel so much better knowing there is often a good outcome after the surgery, and that recoveries are pretty short too. Appreciate the encouragement from everyone :thumbsup:
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I didn't let em cut me. I did physical therapy and it helped. They wanted to do surgery though. I just wouldn't let em
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Yep, I recovered just fine and I would even say I found it a bit of a blessing in disguise simply because I was not focusing so much on my shoulder when holding and I was able to get to more or less a full hold with all of the archery muscle groups.
The one thing I did have a hard time on though was carrying a heavy pack. It shortened my scouting season to nearly nothing during recovery but I was out slinging arrows after 3 months.
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I've had surgery on both shoulders a few years ago. Long recovery but I can shoot now. I couldn't before. I still have some issues with both but surgery in my case was necessary because I had massive tears with pain and weakness. I'm much better overall.
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Readers Digest version.
Was seriously hurt at work.
Both shoulders and left elbow had surgery done in June 2016 and October 2016. Even had bicep muscles cut, moved, and re-anchored and attached into the bones.
With lots of Physical Therapy, I retained most of my original range of motion.
Began using dumbbell weights for a few months.
Then slowly began exercising my arm/back muscles using a very light bow.
I was practicing with my 45# longbow in the back yard.
But, I will not be able to bow.hunt this season, due to not being accurate enough to take game cleanly out to 20 yards (60 feet).
With proper practice at a slow pace, I should be back into the game.
My advice would be to get the surgery done.
Cortisone injections will not be a proper long term solution for your needs.
Most times the cortisone injection, is a waste of time.
Bite the bullet, get the surgery. You will not regret doing it.
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Prolo-therapy strengthened left. Right shoulder full rotator cuff surgery in April. . . back shooting full weight (55# @ 31") Aug 1. Feeling great. . .
Dan in KS
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My recovery was a little different from those described above.
I went through the cortisone injections, they had little to no relief. Next, the shoulder surgery, then followed it up with physical therapy for three months. Continued doing the exercises for over one year. The shoulder was not any better at three, six, or twelve monthes. At six months I switched to shooting left-handed and went seven for seven the first year (seven arrows on seven different deer) all with pass throughs. A year and a half later, thinking I'd never be able to shoot right-handed again, I sold almost every custom and high end bow I owned. The only bow kept was my Schafer two piece longbow.
Two and a half years after the surgery I was sorting through a pile of selfbows I had made, they were leaning in the corner of my archery room and one of them caught my eye. I picked it up and was wondering if it could be adapted to shoot left-handed without too much tweaking. I strung it up and drew it left-handed but the grip would need changed and the tips adjusted some. Then on a whim I drew it right-handed and didn't feel any pain. A few more pulls and everything felt fine. Been shooting mostly right-handed since with almost no issues.
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Its easy to identify with many of y’all out there with shoulder problems, especially Walt’s experience as, in recent years I have had drop down in draw weight to accommodate my right shoulder as my mid 50’s bows were causing too much pain.
Lookin’ back a few years I found myself visiting the Doc for cortisone injections which worked great for a couple or so but that was it… the Doc told me he would no longer “shoot” my shoulder because the injections would cause more harm than good from that point on.
Bad news indeed, and like Walt, I started to replace my prized but heavier bows with those with lighter holding weight.
Moving from Michigan to South Carolina a year ago, in concert with retirement, pushed me toward an unexpected victory; I needed to keep active in order to remain healthy so I did what worked for me years ago while spending four years in China where I taught foreign oil exploration engineering teams business communication. Back then I spent most week day afternoons on the basketball court runnin’ and shootin’ basketball mostly to keep my sanity. It was good for me in more ways than the previous two...
Eventually, when I returned to the USA in 2011 I started shooting agai. Long story short, I was able to shoot longbows again and experienced ZERO discomfort in my right shoulder. Now, six years later…same story. Consistent upper movement of my right arm/shoulder over a few months completely eliminated the discomfort / pain when drawing a bow.
I'll be 65 in a few months...get outta that recliner!! Run and gun!... it's worth the effort!!
YMMV :wavey:
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One thing my physical therapist is adamant about with my two shoulder impingements (fancy word for hurts a lot) is if there is any pain with any activity or movement STOP THAT ACTIVITY OR MOVEMENT IMMEDIATELY. It just aggravates the swelling and inflammation.
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Had my right shoulder done 2013, four months later was back to shooting my normal bow.
Going in in two days to get my left one done. Just an age and worklife thing.
Religiously did all the PT and excercises required last time, and the right shoulder has been fantastic since.
Will again do what I'm told and fully expect the left shoulder to recover totally too.
Not looking forward to the process though, was pretty painful last time, but certainty looking forward to the result.
It's certainly time to get this one done, I'm over the limited movement and pain. Just hadn’t been able to swing it with work and finances. My wonderful mother-in-law has offered to cover my lost wages while I cannot work. I feel very very blessed indeed.
A loving family is a wonderful thing.
If you need to get it done and have the opportunity to do so, do it!
Best
Lex
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My PT wanted to know what physical activities I enjoy. I told her shooting a trad bow and arrows. She wanted to see how I do this. So I mimiced drawing a bow to anchor. She told me I was “jamming the shoulder”. She went on to tell me the body is created for circular movements. Started drawing like Jimmy Blackmon instructs with the “J” movement and I just don’t have any he same problems anymore. No jammed or pinching of muscles and nerves.
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Awesome to hear all your experiences! Sounds like it's been a positive move to make for almost everyone. I've got a doc appointment booked for next week for a referral to a specialist. Should have done this years ago by the sounds of it!
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Alrighty,
Got home from hospital yesterday afternoon, still a bit groggy and in a bit of pain.
Operation on my shoulder turned out to be somewhat more involved than originally thought. What was going to be an arthroscopic clean up of a couple of partial tears ended up being an open shoulder operation to repair a 90% tear.
So it's no bows and arrows for me for a while.
Will have to wait and see what the end result will be but I'm pretty positive. Time and PT again I guess.
Will take a couple more days for the pain to settle down and to clear my head, then we'll work on getting all healed up and back into the bow.
The immense joy I get shooting and hunting with my longbow is a powerful incentive to do all the recovery steps right.
Best
Lex
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A lot of good advice here, Had left shoulder done 2 weeks ago everything seems good so far. I have 1st doc visit tomorrow since surgery find out what is next. As I understand I will be in sling for 6 weeks???? don't know how soon PT can start? I will need other shoulder done later.
Keep information coming thanks.
Bob
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I have had shoulder issues for years and dropped down to 35# bow. For me, if I use my shoulders for other things (other than archery) and keep them limber (doing shoulder-specific exercises) without overdoing it, I can shoot my 40# bow but I still need to keep my shot count down. I found this summer that paddling a kayak seems to help.
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I was wondering how long recovery after surgery has been in general? I mean to be able to do every day tasks, not necessarily archery or exerting yourself. Id be able to get a couple weeks leave off work but not much more than that.
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Matabele,
My Dr said I should expect to be OK for "Light" duties after two or three weeks. So I'll have to trust that's the way it will go, although I'm not sure what "Light" duties I can do as a Maintenance Fitter.
I guess this is where my life moto kicks in, "Do the best you can, with what you have, at the time".
I'll try to give a few updates as we progress.
Best
Lex
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Cheers Lex, all the best for the operation! :thumbsup:
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I have tears in both shoulders. Eight months ago I started training kettlebell as my primary method of resistance training. It is no longer painful to shoot my bow, and I am more accurate now than I have been in years. I can't say that it's the right thing for everyone, but it certainly helped me and I didn't have to have surgery.
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I had my left shoulder (bow arm) worked on a couple of years ago. The labrum was torn but not the rotator cuff. It went well, although I did not quite recover full strength (am at about 95%, though). It did not take long to get back to shooting my hunting bows. However, I still can't shoot my favorite bow which is 65# at 28".
Now, my other shoulder is feeling just like my left shoulder did. Essentially, I can't bow hunt effectively, because it hurts to draw and hold the bow steady. Practicing is excruciating at times. Even laying off for up to 3 weeks at a time does not help, which is why I don't think it is just muscle fatigue and strain.
I have a medical appointment coming up, and if the doc thinks I need to be cut again, I will not hesitate to do so. I went from 0% efficiency to about 95%, a most acceptable outcome.