Has anyone here successfully went back to training after rotator cuff surgery?

[Crusher80]

Fellas I'm very nervous.

I'm a 28 year old male and on Tuesday October 7, 2008 I'm getting rotator cuff surgery (either arthroscopic or mini-open) on my dominant shoulder (right shoulder) to repair my supraspinatus tendon in which 80-90% of it is torn. My doc is going to complete the tear and than reattach it. I work security (I often have to restrain people) so I will be out of work for 12 weeks. I will also be in a sling for the first 6 weeks and my doc will be sending me to physical therapy.

Has anyone here ever had surgery to repair their rotator cuff? I'm not talking about a simple debridement I'm talking about a full blast rotator cuff REPAIR. Can you guys who have please give me some insight as to what I should expect? Did you guys return to hard core training?

Can you guys tell me at what point post op I would be able to start:

1. The 10 Jobe exercises (dumbbell prone rows, dumbbell full can scaption raises, standing cable internal/external rotation, etc.)
2. My regular weightlifting routine
3. Walking on treadmill
4. Running on treadmill
5. Sprinting on track
6. Boxing training
7. Grappling training

Also, for those who had the surgery, when should I expect to safely be able to restrain someone at work (including wrestling, slamming, and punching) WITHOUT having my repair come undone? And when can I expect to be pain free and have my full ROM back?

I asked my doc these things but I would like to know from you guys as well. In case it matters I will be healing WITHOUT the use of any HGH.

[jdmalm123]

the first three stickies are about this topic.

[Al Swearengen]

good luck and hope it goes well for you.



i had mine repaired in December of last year and it went well, rehab was 4 months then started strength training. i still have some extra pain but i put my shoulder through a lot of work some weeks so it's expected and it seems to be holding up well.

i'll just repost my response from the other thread you started.

[paul0616]

>> (including wrestling, slamming, and punching)

Can you get a different gig that isn't security? Weight lifting should be ok, because its predictable, and you can stop and scale back at signs of discomfort, but if you are grappling the bad guys, you might load up the shoulder in unexpected ways, and I suspect a RC re-attachment is going to have some degree of weakness even if everything goes right.

[Crusher80]

2 things I would like you fellas to comment on:

1. What about restraining someone at work? When would I be able to restrain someone WITHOUT the risk of retearing this? 3 months? 5 months? 6 months? 12 months? I have to return to work FULL DUTY 12 weeks post op. I can't go back light duty because I didn't suffer my injury at work. My doc says at about 3-4 months I could safely restrain someone with retearing this. Does that sound right? He said by 3-4 months this will be healed enough where it won't get easily retorn if I had to take down someone. What do you guys think?

2. What about boxing training? When will I be able to go back to hitting the heavy bag full blast WITHOUT the risk of retearing this? 3 months? 5 months? 6 months? 12 months? I would love to get back into amateur boxing again this Spring. Anyone have an idea of when I could return to boxing training? If I remember correctly I think my doc said about 5-6 months post op I could return to boxing training. What do you guys think?