Rotator cuff surgery

[RobertGary1]

Looks like I may need to do this. How long should I expect to be unable to fly?

[alextstone]

9 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

Looks like I may need to do this. How long should I expect to be unable to fly?

Yeah, me too... Surgical consult is Monday.   I'm assuming so far the recovery is 3 months

[RobertGary1]

33 minutes ago, alextstone said:

Yeah, me too... Surgical consult is Monday.   I'm assuming so far the recovery is 3 months

Like no flying for 3 months?!?!?

[alextstone]

 

1 minute ago, RobertGary1 said:

Like no flying for 3 months?!?!?

I don't know for sure but I'm planning for that and hoping for 10 weeks.

 

 

[FoxMike]

I just had my old shoulder ripped out and replaced with metal.  I am about 5 weeks out and was sitting the airplane yesterday and found I could operate all the controls.  Replacement was right shoulder.  I cannot reach battery select switch comfortably or overhead switches.  Repair surgery may require more time.  I am not quite ready to fly and will take an observer who can help out when I am ready.

[A64Pilot]

Not a shoulder but I had both knees replaced 90 days apart, I was down a couple weeks each time. For me with the knees the deciding factor was getting in and out of the airplane. Is your gear electric?

Obviously you have to have been off pain meds for awhile, but if you don’t have manual gear you may not be down as long as they are telling you.

Most conservative is FoxMike’s plan, go with another pilot for first flight. 

I restricted myself to nice days for awhile, no gusty crosswinds at first, but I don’t like those anyway

Edited June 11, 2022 by A64Pilot

[Hank]

Let's invite @MBDiagMan, he went through shoulder issues. My own was before piloting. 

[RobertGary1]

25 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Not a shoulder but I had both knees replaced 90 days apart, I was down a couple weeks each time. For me with the knees the deciding factor was getting in and out of the airplane. Is your gear electric?

Obviously you have to have been off pain meds for awhile, but if you don’t have manual gear you may not be down as long as they are telling you.

Most conservative is FoxMike’s plan, go with another pilot for first flight. 

I restricted myself to nice days for awhile, no gusty crosswinds at first, but I don’t like those anyway

After my orthopedic knee surgery I rode my bike that day. 

[A64Pilot]

5 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

After my orthopedic knee surgery I rode my bike that day. 

I was walking around first day too, went for a golf cart ride through the neighborhood etc.

Day two the pain meds had worn off so none of that nonsense  

[cliffy]

Had a complete reverse rt shoulder done. Took 5 months until I felt competent to fly and then I had a safety pilot along as I have manual gear. 

I could reach and operate all the normal stuff without difficulty. Bigger issue (which caught my mind) was the normal operstions of dragging the airplane in and out of the hangar, openning the hangar doors, fueling the airplane, etc.  Not as smooth and painless as just the cockpit items. 

Now 6 months out and I can operate the gear but not as smooth as I could before surgery. 

As far as how fast you can get back to flying you might check with your AME for any FAA limitations before you go to early ( I'm Basic Med)

Remember Its not the ordinary reachable items that are a problem but the sudden surprise or emergency items that one does not think of until you use the arm instintively when you shouldn't. Trust me when I say just gettting in and out of the airplane at 4 or 5 months from a metal shoulder will be an ordeal. 

All I can say is "take your time and don't screw it up"

I know several guys who did things too early and put their shoulder right back to where it was pre-op. Listen to your Doc! You don't want to go through it all again. 

BTW expect it will take up to a full year for it to get to "near" where it was before surgery and/or injury. DO NOT expect it to be as good as it was 20 years ago. Ain't gonna happen guys and no one tells you this before surgery. 

I'm not doing my left shoulder until I can't possibly stand the pain any more. JMO  Knees are an easy  cake walk compared to shoulders. Did both of my knees at the same time and not near the recovery that the shoulder was. In addition this was the second replacement of the right shoulder in 2 years.   

GET THE BEST SHOULDER GUY YOU CAN FIND TO DO IT AND NOT JUST ANY ORTHO GUY!!!!!! 

I'll say that again=

GET THE BEST SHOULDER GUY YOU CAN FIND TO DO IT AND NOT JUST ANY ORTHO GUY!!!!!! 

Edited June 11, 2022 by cliffy
spell

[Dick Denenny]

3 hours ago, FoxMike said:

I just had my old shoulder ripped out and replaced with metal.  I am about 5 weeks out and was sitting the airplane yesterday and found I could operate all the controls.  Replacement was right shoulder.  I cannot reach battery select switch comfortably or overhead switches.  Repair surgery may require more time.  I am not quite ready to fly and will take an observer who can help out when I am ready.

That's good news. I'm going to have my right replace in about 2 months

[Marauder]

And you guys were making fun of my compression socks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ArtVandelay]

I assume those with manual gear might need additional time.

[N201MKTurbo]

I have to drive a computer for my day job. Both shoulders are shot. I can’t really do any work over head. For all you guys that have had this done, how long till I can type and mouse?

[alextstone]

2 hours ago, cliffy said:

 

I'll say that again=

GET THE BEST SHOULDER GUY YOU CAN FIND TO DO IT AND NOT JUST ANY ORTHO GUY!!!!!! 

Absolutely, that's why I'm going to see this guy:

https://www.orthotulane.net/savoie?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-pCVBhCFARIsAGMxhAfEKq3OrqtgmR4bujXQGJ6mL6kjU6hrL74C1hLErm5bJG6QdmBpnCgaAqUFEALw_wcB

 

[MikeOH]

I've just got to ask, what happened earlier in your lives that your shoulders are shot?

[cliffy]

Its called 'OLD AGE"  Get used to it for you're next!  :-)

[cliffy]

23 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I have to drive a computer for my day job. Both shoulders are shot. I can’t really do any work over head. For all you guys that have had this done, how long till I can type and mouse?

How long? Until it hurts like hell!

Probably in your case I'd guess 10 yrs as long as you don't reach up.

[alextstone]

4 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

I've just got to ask, what happened earlier in your lives that your shoulders are shot?

What @cliffy said.  I've had some injuries over the years but I cannot say for sure if any of them contributed to the shoulder issues I now have

[cliffy]

15 minutes ago, alextstone said:

Absolutely, that's why I'm going to see this guy:

https://www.orthotulane.net/savoie?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-pCVBhCFARIsAGMxhAfEKq3OrqtgmR4bujXQGJ6mL6kjU6hrL74C1hLErm5bJG6QdmBpnCgaAqUFEALw_wcB

 

As ong s he actually does the surgery and not one of his minions

[MikeOH]

4 minutes ago, cliffy said:

Its called 'OLD AGE"  Get used to it for you're next!  :-)

Well, crap!  That was the ONE answer I didn't want to hear

[Fly Boomer]

1 minute ago, MikeOH said:

Well, crap!  That was the ONE answer I didn't want to hear

And no matter how graphically it's explained, you can't really apprehend the reality until you get there.  I used to imagine that there might be a plateau or at least a non-linear progression.  So far, no luck.

[EricJ]

28 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I have to drive a computer for my day job. Both shoulders are shot. I can’t really do any work over head. For all you guys that have had this done, how long till I can type and mouse?

One potential alternative is physical therapy, but it comes with the same caveats that you have to find a very good therapist.    My left shoulder pretty much failed completely last year, as in was just too painful to use to do pretty much anything.   I couldn't fly, had to limit driving and everything else, including typing or using a mouse with that arm (I'm ambidextrous with some things like that, so it wasn't entirely tragic, but def annoying).    A couple months of PT and I was flying again, but it took longer to get closer to 100% recovery.    It saved me from getting surgery, anyway.   I'm sure it doesn't work for everything, but apparently a lot of surgeries are done on cases that could be recovered with sufficient PT.  

 

[N201MKTurbo]

10 minutes ago, EricJ said:

One potential alternative is physical therapy, but it comes with the same caveats that you have to find a very good therapist.    My left shoulder pretty much failed completely last year, as in was just too painful to use to do pretty much anything.   I couldn't fly, had to limit driving and everything else, including typing or using a mouse with that arm (I'm ambidextrous with some things like that, so it wasn't entirely tragic, but def annoying).    A couple months of PT and I was flying again, but it took longer to get closer to 100% recovery.    It saved me from getting surgery, anyway.   I'm sure it doesn't work for everything, but apparently a lot of surgeries are done on cases that could be recovered with sufficient PT.  

 

What did the PT have you do?

[RobertGary1]

27 minutes ago, alextstone said:

What @cliffy said.  I've had some injuries over the years but I cannot say for sure if any of them contributed to the shoulder issues I now have

Water skiing. Wife was not happy she had to drive the boat while I was skiing and she was very aggressive on the throttle and pulled my arm when I wasn’t expecting it.