Anyone have success with shoulder surgery? - JP Fitness Forums

kinney1 · 02-04-2005, 10:07 PM

My lack of progress with my shoulder impingement has may considering surgery. I am not sure what else to do. Anyone here have success with surgery/or did anyone here have no success with shoulder surgery.
Thanks,
Kevin

bryanc · 02-05-2005, 10:36 AM

I think you'd have to be more specific about what kind of surgery you were talking about.

Either way though, success or no success is a quite surgeon-dependent (one of the larger challenges of designing clinical trials for surgery). So a single person's opinion of their surgery can be drastically different than another single person's opinion of their surgery despite having the same procedure done, but by different surgeons (which would tend to be the case on this board where everyone is from different places).

However, in "counselling" for surgery or no surgery at all, I think the primary question most physicians will ask is why you are considering surgery. What aspects of your injury drive you in that direction? And more specifically (Because, inevitably, the answer to that question is, "It's not getting better"), what things do you wish you could do that you can't do as a result of your injury?

The thing that isn't clear at this point to me (despite having gone through most of the kinney1-started threads) is how long you've had this problem, and when you started rehab for it, the nature of your rehab, if you've given the rehab a chance to work, and what else you have done for it. I wonder if it's not a 'recent' diagnosis (i.e. less than 2-3 months old) and if you possibly have unrealistic expectations as to the time course of your recovery.

kinney1 · 02-06-2005, 06:51 AM

"Either way though, success or no success is a quite surgeon-dependent (one of the larger challenges of designing clinical trials for surgery). So a single person's opinion of their surgery can be drastically different than another single person's opinion of their surgery despite having the same procedure done, but by different surgeons (which would tend to be the case on this board where everyone is from different places)."

That is an interesting point Bryan... I have been researching the internet and shoulder impingment surgery, because that is what most similarly applies to me. I will admit I am getting a little bit desperate by considering sugery, but I am running out of options....I have had shoulder problems for about the last 5 years, and I have tried PT, Cortisone shots, massage, and a oral steroid that was prescribed to me by my ortho. I have been religously rehabing my shoulder for the last 7 months with little improvment (I am following the exercises I was showed from my PT)...So surgery is the only other option I can think of, so I was trying to find out if other people on this board have had successful shoulder surgeries in the past - or are they like JP and required multiple surgeries? Thanks.

bryanc · 02-06-2005, 11:10 AM

Either way--if lots of people on this board have had successful shoulder surgeries, or if they've had to have multiple ones, I would not recommend basing your decision to have surgery or not on the outcomes of jpfitness forum members. If this has become a significant problem for you and you need to have it treated, then it's time for you to discuss it with your surgeon. You need to find out from your surgeon what the risks vs benefits will be, given that you are and will be a rigourously compliant participant in your post-surgery rehab.

Your surgery won't necesssarily be completely unique, but in the context of discussing it here, it might very well be, given that many people (in general, not just on online forums) have difficulty recalling exactly what they had done in a surgery and for exactly what kind of problem. (no offense intended for everyone here, and I'm sure there are a few people who know exactly what they had and what was done, but by and large, many people don't--at least not in enough detail to really be generalizable)

I guess my main question is whether you know your diagnosis. You refer to having shoulder problems and looking up shoulder impingement surgery, but do you know if you have shoulder impingement, and if so, of what? Have you had any imaging of your shoulder? If so, what's in the report? And if you've been having shoulder problems for 5 years and have been on PT for 7 months and have tried a corticosteroid shot and an oral corticosteroid, this would imply that you've been back to your physician at least 3 times in the past 7 months; why has surgery not come up in your options when you've seen your physician?

kinney1 · 02-06-2005, 12:08 PM

Thanks for the detailed response. I have had brief discussions about surgery with my ortho, but you are right that I have not discussed the pros/cons at length with him. I have had a MRI, that showed impingment in my right shoulder along with a degenerative cyst. However, the ortho said the cyst is not the problem with my shoulder. I honestly don't know anything more specific then that in terms of the ongoing injury so I can't really provide any further details. I understand your points about the surgery, or for that matter surgery in general.I guess I am just trying to make as educated a decision as possible. Thanks.