re: OT: Rotator cuff surgery today

The word nazi is used waaayyyy to often to describe folks we don't like but in the case of PTs after shoulder surgery the name is appropriate. That being said DO WHAT THEY SAY.....otherwise you can wind up with an arm that never works right and hurts about as bad as it did before surgery.

If you have already had surgery it's too late but if you haven't get a couple of opinions. I know lots of folks in the building trades who have had shoulder problems like torn rotator cuffs. I'm sure it has to do with age and occupation but most never fully recover. The thing will, with careful therapy and proper care, get to the point where it is at least as bearable as it would be after surgery without going under the knife.

I ran a test on gravity in 1990 and took a header off a building at 35 feet. Luckily there was a bundle of communication cable at about 30 feet which allowed me to change the course of my trajectory and landed flat footed on a concrete slab. This was before anyone knew anything about fall protection other than " y'all be careful, you hear?". I broke both ankles and shattered my right leg about 40 times. I also dislocated both knees and tore my left rotator cuff. I was in such bad shape for so long with my legs that no one knew my shoulder was fricked up. It hurt but it wasn't a concern. It was only about 3 months later that the shoulder was discovered. I was told that fixing it at that point would be really tough as far as rehab so we decided to wait and see. It has more or less healed itself....I have almost full range of motion and it only feels like a dull toothache. I can and have lived with it. It ain't fun at times but I really think given the situation it was the best answer.

By the way for the political buffs among us I was told when this happened that I would be permanently disabled and would have to be on disability for the remainder of my life. A multitude of doctors and insurance company lawyers and workers comp board members inundated me with the idea that I was disabled.....they even got pissed with me when I told them it wasn't an option. Let that sink in.....the entire infrastructure....including the workers comp carrier....worked like hell to convince me I needed to be on the dole the rest of my life. At the time I had just finished my apprenticeship and was 2 years into my engineering degree....there was no way I was going to be on the dole.....it was never an option for me.....but the pressure was, at times, unbearable to accept that I was done. It took several attempts for me to find a lawyer who would FORCE the bastards to "allow" me to go back to work.......they all encouraged me to take the pension and run! My insistence that I was not disabled was completely out of the entire industries realm of experience.....they acted like I had hit the lottery......when in fact they were the ones who had found a golden calf and I could have easily been persuaded had I not been so hard headed. And we wonder how so many people wind up "disabled "....

Good luck and do the work in PT......it makes all the difference in the world. It ain't easy but the body tends to forget pain.