My situation is a little different. An MRI showed that I have some bone spurs that were essentially sanding away/tearing the the rotator cuff and there is a bursa sac around it that gets inflammed, which is otherwise known as bursitis.
I opted for no surgery not for archery, but because I'm a stay at home dad with 4 young kids and twins currently being potty trained. There's no way to get thru the day with my right arm in a sling for more than a day.
I had a cortizone shot and did PT, which really helped. I also found that if I sleep on my side with my arm "below" head level vs on my stomach with my arms under the pillow, I don't pinch that sac and now I wake up with far less pain. Before, if I slept all night on my stomach with my hands under my head, my shoulder really ached when I woke up.
For PT, they said I can do weights, with thumbs up and at or below shoulder level and even pushup's. Having thumbs up with weights evidently decreases pressure on the sac vs thumbs horizontal.
What else was interesting was I had bad walking pneumonia in late Winter. My Dr. finally had to be me on an oral steriod for about a week, which I believe was the max for that drug. Well, after about day two, that steriod eliminated all the inflammation/pain. It was pretty incredible. The pain was gone for about a month afterwards. Even now, the pain is only about 30% of what it was pre-steriods and cortizone shot.
Now again, my situation is different. For those who had surgery, you must strictly follow what your Dr. says. But for the upcoming season, my doctor suggested about mid-September that I get a a 2nd cortizone shot and take another round of oral steroids. He said there's a good chance that after that, and I follow my PT and stay away from overhead "pinching pressure" on that bursa sac, that once the area "cools down" from the inflammation, that it may never come back in a way that is bothersome.
My Dr. also suggested that for my "hunting lifestyle", that I'm better off staying with lightweight bows for good and even stay away from heavy recoil rifles and shotguns. Last Fall, when I sighted in my 30-06, .350 Rem Mag and 12ga slug gun, that really cranked up the pain the worst it had ever been. I had to stop shooting because I literally couldn't take one more shot from those bigger guns. That recoil evidently really made that bursa sac very "hot". This rifle season, I'll be using my Savage 99 in .250 Savage. This rifle was a custom and has a full Mannlicher stock which makes the rifle quite heavy. Matched with the light recoil of the .250, I won't crank up that bursa sac.
So if in a situation like me with an inflammed right rotator cuff, I'd suggest PT, stay away from "pinching" the shoulder and adding "pressure" to the area, ice it down at night and stick with light bows and if you shoot guns, stick with light recoil. In addition, ask your Dr. about a cortizone shot and possibly a round of oral steroids.
Good luck!
Topic: Rotator Cuff Recovery (Read 196 times)
