My surgeon recommends shoulder replacement :(

[bodyhard]

That's a legit question, but, and I'm being honest here, I don't think you recognized your situation enough to prevent or lessen further damage. You train hard, but you were training in a way that was begging your injured shoulder to get damaged more. I know, I know, you are indestructible and aren't getting old, like the rest of us. (Does your eyesight continue to improve?)

I'm NOT an expert, nor did I ever train with you, but, again, it looked to me like you were daring your shoulder to get worse. I was cringing watching those vids.

I'm just being straight with you. I have HAD to acknowledge my age, injuries, and, yes, even weaknesses as I have continued in this activity of training. My God, if the young version of me worked out alongside the current version of me, he'd think I'm a pussy and I'd think he was a dumbass! LOL!

Do you get what I'm saying/ (Do ya feel me?)

At first I thought you were being legit as you and I never had any drama but I can see by your sarcasm you are just talking ****. So yeah I am not going to entertain this convo.

But I will end on this note, While my shoulder has affected my training (due to my car accident) I do not have any other issues like your old self. so yes I am indestructible, deal with it!! Ya feel me??

[KeepItMoving]

At first I thought you were being legit as you and I never had any drama but I can see by your sarcasm you are just talking ****. So yeah I am not going to entertain this convo.

But I will end on this note, While my shoulder has affected my training (due to my car accident) I do not have any other issues like your old self. so yes I am indestructible, deal with it!! Ya feel me??

??? You missed my attempt to communicate. It's hard to do when it's just typing, instead of talking. I was being legit, or trying to be. Yes, I used some humor (sarcasm), but don't let that ruin what I'm trying to say. I'm actually trying to send you a helpful message, from a 53 year old guy who has had various lifting injuries/surgeries, etc.

[Brackneyc]

But KIP, my shoulder issue started after severe trauma to my shoulder after my car accident. If the way I lifted hax any bearing on my shoulder issue dont you think both of my shoulders would be a mess? Granted the lifting has more than likely made it worse but the fact is the accident was what fcked up my shoulder in the first place.

I can’t speak to whether training style has to affect both sides equally.

I have tendinitis in one elbow, and hurts like hell doing certain movements, even though both arms are working together.

My best example is skull crushers. One side hurts, and the other doesn’t.

I can’t explain it. I’ve had both shoulders scoped. One is again torn beyond repair, yet I can OHP more now than at any other time in my life. I can’t throw a football more than 15 feet, but I can still lift pain free.

The doctor attributes it to smart, consistent training.

[PeaceWithin]

I'm not OV35 but I saw this thread...

I work at an orthopedic/spine center. We get a lot of knee/hip/shoulder replacements and I can say that in five years there, I have never seen a 50 year old get a total shoulder done. Never. Honestly a replacement is the "easiest" option usually for the surgeon but not necessarily for the patient. I can't tell you how many patients I have seen come through in their 70s that did therapy, strengthening, or revision surgeries and kept up their mobility to avoid having a replacement as long as possible.

Seek a second opinion and if you have to leave the state to do it, then do it.

[Brackneyc]

I'm not OV35 but I saw this thread...

I work at an orthopedic/spine center. We get a lot of knee/hip/shoulder replacements and I can say that in five years there, I have never seen a 50 year old get a total shoulder done. Never. Honestly a replacement is the "easiest" option usually for the surgeon but not necessarily for the patient. I can't tell you how many patients I have seen come through in their 70s that did therapy, strengthening, or revision surgeries and kept up their mobility to avoid having a replacement as long as possible.

Seek a second opinion and if you have to leave the state to do it, then do it.

He’s in NYC. Certainly there must be one doctor there not pushing shoulder replacement.

Or maybe not.

[PeaceWithin]

He’s in NYC. Certainly there must be one doctor there not pushing shoulder replacement.

Or maybe not.

I've seen some nasty battles patients have had to fight. A few come to mind that traveled across state lines to come to our Hand/Shoulder center that is associated with our hospital. Some horror stories from patients who had insurance that would only preauthorize a total replacement because the risk of failure is lower, and some insurances see it as a one-and-done. If you go the therapy route or sports medicine surgery, it can "create extended health needs" and have "followup complications" which is insurance speak for "costs us more money." They had to fight tooth and nail to get other services covered, which is insane...

[beachguy498]

I'm facing shoulder surgery myself, my last MRI was done almost 8 years ago but that report has a lot of damage in it. I had extensive PT and it has been manageable so far. But the shoulder may be connected with my rhomboid chronic pain issue. So I have to go for it. The last time I saw the surgeon he said it would be essentially a clean up. I'd like to get it out of the way before the winter.

[bodyhard]

I'm facing shoulder surgery myself, my last MRI was done almost 8 years ago but that report has a lot of damage in it. I had extensive PT and it has been manageable so far. But the shoulder may be connected with my rhomboid chronic pain issue. So I have to go for it. The last time I saw the surgeon he said it would be essentially a clean up. I'd like to get it out of the way before the winter.

Good luck man I hope you don't go through what I am going through..

[beachguy498]

Good luck man I hope you don't go through what I am going through..

Thanks. I've been in pain management since late 2011 with a deep scapular/rhomboid pain. I'm up to 30 or so ESI injections, RFA treatments, so now we zero in on the shoulder. Latest thought is a dorsal-scapular nerve entrapment. Which is possibly linked to my mess of a shoulder.

My daily sitting around pain ranges from a 5 to an 8. Medicated I do better and they just gave me something new for pain that is not working. I will gladly swap 3 months of shoulder surgery pain for 7 years of intense back pain.

Read my old MRI report...pretty grim. I hope its not a lot worse now. Looks like they'll have to crack my AC joint and clean it up, fix some RC tears, clean out flapping around tissue and things like that. My bursa sac may have to go if its calcified enough.

[zert800]

I'm 49 and supposed to get my shoulder replaced in the spring, I'm still not sure about going thru with it. I still train hard and as heavy as I can and am still making gains. My shoulder doesn't bother me during the day, just don't have a great range of motion, my only real problem is that I'm having trouble sleeping. I have been prescribed an anti inflammatory and it sure seems to work. My concern is not being able to train after the surgery.
I had my knee replaced 7 years ago and its been the best thing ever, my legs have never been stronger, I'm almost at a 400lbs squat and 1000lbs leg press. So I'm happy with it, but I've heard mixed stories about shoulder replacements.

[sumolgi]

Jeez, this must be contagious. I'm slated to get cut the first of October and not looking forward to it but gotta' try and stop the atrophy in my right arm.

[Fishman15]

I'm 49 and supposed to get my shoulder replaced in the spring, I'm still not sure about going thru with it. I still train hard and as heavy as I can and am still making gains. My shoulder doesn't bother me during the day, just don't have a great range of motion, my only real problem is that I'm having trouble sleeping. I have been prescribed an anti inflammatory and it sure seems to work. My concern is not being able to train after the surgery.
I had my knee replaced 7 years ago and its been the best thing ever, my legs have never been stronger, I'm almost at a 400lbs squat and 1000lbs leg press. So I'm happy with it, but I've heard mixed stories about shoulder replacements.

In for 400lb squat and 1000lb leg press vids with artificial knees!

[KeepItMoving]

Long term heavy training and the surgeon's knife go hand in hand, generally speaking. I've been cut 4 times in lifting related surgeries. Like the stretch marks on my pec'/delts, I consider my surgical scars to be part of the road map in my journey. And my course keeps changing, without much concern for where I intend it to go!

[Dave76]

In for 400lb squat and 1000lb leg press vids with artificial knees!

Not this guy, but I have seen it. I was a member at Mark Rippetoe's gym and one of the guys had double knee replacement. He was a power lifter and refused to let the knees stop him. He was going WAY beyond Doctor's advice with his squats. As I recall, the manufacturer of the artificial knees did a lot of follow up with the lifter. They advised against it, but if he was determined to squat heavy on those artificial knees, they wanted to know the consequences.

[maxbbb]

There's a very popular book on Amazon, where the author recommends hanging off a pull-up bar for a few minutes at a time. This slowly changes the bones (like braces change your jaw) and can help with impingements and the like.

Look it up (It's better to try something simple before radical surgery)

[katya422]

This book?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ion-prevention

Looked it up because I have an annoying left shoulder issue. Nothing compared to what Bodyhard has going on...just sharp pain sometimes from random stuff like putting on a shirt.

From articles online:

Enter Dr. John Kirsch. Dr. Kirsch is an orthopedic surgeon and the author of ‘Shoulder Pain? The solution and Prevention.’ He claims that that a number of shoulder ailments arise from having an improperly shaped acromion, and that hanging from a bar can remedy that.

The idea is that when the arm is fully overhead (or, ‘flexed’), the humerus (or, ‘arm bone’) will press against the acromion and eventually reshape it. That’s because the humerus has no where to go when it’s fully overhead. The acromion is right in the way. Supposedly, gravity and injuries will, overtime, encourage the shoulder to deform and cause the acromion to become hooked downward. Since we humans of the first world no longer swing from branches or climb ropes, we experience zero stimulus to counter-act this ‘deformity.’ Solution? Just hang from a bar each day and give your shoulder a reason to remodel itself.”

The protocol can be painful at first. “Paradoxically, the pain experienced while hanging from a bar will not injure the shoulder, but must be accepted” so the exercise can reshape the space in the shoulder, strengthen the shoulder muscles, and reduce pain. In some patients, it has erased chronic shoulder pain in as little as two weeks. In others, it has taken as long as a year and a half.

“It was just intuition,” he says. “But I decided if I were to hang from a bar I could squeeze the fluids out of the swollen tissues and reshape the arched bone that compresses the rotator cuff. After a little over a year, I completely relieved the pain in my shoulders.”

The Kauai study included 92 carefully followed subjects with shoulder pain problems who followed the Kirsch Institute for Shoulder Research exercise protocol to overcome their shoulder pain, even canceling their planned surgery, and returning to a comfortable daily life. The study found that the most common cause of shoulder pain is a condition called contracture of coracoacromial (CA) arch, which consists of the acromion and coracoacromial ligament and is superior to the glenohumeral joint. This causes an increased pressure on the rotator cuff and the surrounding tissues which can produce pain, and the eventual destruction of the rotator cuff.

Found a vid too:

https://youtu.be/qtYJItELkDM

[Aristotelian]

What concerns me is that this surgeon (from NYULangone that perform the surgery on me 2 years ago) is one of the best in NYC he actually performs surgeries on baseball and football players from the NY Yankees and NY giants.

Well...I had a sports injury years ago in my left hamstring as well as my Achilles tendon - both tears, no rupture. The doctor kept suggesting stretching movements, physio, etc. He was the head of this athletic association coincidentally and I asked him "so if I was an NFL athlete I'd seriously have to sit out the entire year with these injuries?" and he nonchalantly said "not at all - with an NFL athlete likely we would deliberately perform surgery on a tendon as if it were ruptured, because that would get the athlete back in as soon as possible" and then I wondered about personal athletics and pro.

In the sense, OP you're repeatedly linking not lifting with losing your drive/will. Not to promote radical surgery approaches, believe me, but if you're talking to some of the top surgeons in North America telling them that you need to have a well functioning joint etc. or else you'll 'lose your drive', I can certainly imagine why some might suggest the more 'radical' option to try to restore you to the sort of lifting lifestyle you've become accustomed to.

Not giving medical advice here by any stretch of the imagination - just trying to say that I, too, thought long and hard about going for the pro athlete recovery method to restore my functioning. And it's something I have in the back of my mind for potential future use too.

[rcpreller]

I had my shoulder scoped 4 years ago. Cleaned up the meniscus, removed a bone spur, etc. I didn't take the physical therapy too seriously. I worked hard when I went, but ignored the home exercises. I had to have the surgery because corticosteroids didn't work. Neither did physical therapy. Matter of fact, physical therapy made it worse. I've been right as rain since about 6 weeks out of surgery. The wife had to have her left shoulder replaced. No cartilage left in it. Had been that way long enough that the socket was torn up some, and so was the ball. Cortisone shots stopped working. Physical therapy didn't help any. All because of some of the more physical jobs she had to do when she was younger, and being 5' tall, she had to strain more than taller people would, when she was working as a CNA. We are a year and a half out from her surgery. She had it at 51. The doc didn't want to do it except as a last resort. I know she did her physical therapy at the office, but I'm not sure she did her home exercises. She said she did them, but it was odd that it was always when I was at work... she still doesn't have full ROM, and she says the doc told her it could take up to 3 years for everything to heal up completely. I seriously doubt the 3 year heal up, but thinking more like 3 years to get all the strength and ROM back. I know a couple people that were back to normal in about a year. My point is, that different people are going to respond differently to that surgery. With you being in shape, you should bounce back a lot quicker than a middle aged housewife that hasn't lifted anything heavier than 30 lbs. In the past several years. I do agree that you should look at different opinions, however. By the way, the doc did tell us that earlier shoulder replacements had to have a revision in 10 to 15 years, but with today's materials and procedures, it's now 20 to 25 years before a revision.

[maxbbb]

Why do so many older BBers need joint replacement?

Is it due to the (censored topic), or from simply lifting too much for too long?

[bodyhard]

Why do so many older BBers need joint replacement?

Is it due to the (censored topic), or from simply lifting too much for too long?

Mine was due to a car accident that happen several years ago which then got worse over the years, lifting had nothing to do with mine. I can't speak for any other bodybuilder though.