I’ve had shoulder pain for almost 2 years and it was starting to get worse, unfortunately.
How do I know if I tore my rotator cuff? I didn’t know. I figured it was damaged, but had no idea why or how. There was no moment of extreme pain during an exercise or a popping sound like when I hurt my knee. This was simply a dull pain that was getting worse.
I tried all sorts of methods to resolve it, including Airossti.
While that didn’t fix my issue, I still highly recommend that route if you have it available in your area. I was skeptical at first, but the KT tape really helped!
I took an entire month off from anything shoulders —hoping it would heal itself. That also was unsuccessful.
Again I asked myself “How do I know if I tore my rotator cuff?” I went to an orthopedist and thanks to new insurance laws, I had to jump through a zillion hoops to get an MRI approved. Even when approved, my horrible insurance didn’t cover ANY of the cost, so I had to wait a few months to save up the money to have it done.
Meanwhile, I continued my workouts, even doing a Tough Mudder this past June. It was so much fun and afterwards, I thought “my shoulder must be OK if I was able to do this crazy event”…..right?
I finally had the MRI done and although it showed no visible tear, there was enough damage to warrant surgery. At this point I had to decide if I was willing to live with daily pain —-it was keeping me awake at night now—-or go under the knife and have an expensive surgery.
I knew the answer, although it was depressing. I’m an active person and I can’t imagine living the rest of my life in pain —-so I went under the knife in November. My mindset was prepared for a short recovery because there was no visible tear on the MRI. I can do that…a few weeks….physical therapy and I’ll be great!
Well…..life seems to always throw me a curve ball. Turns out my rotator cuff was completely torn and needed a full repair. Translation: 4 months of physical therapy with limited movement. To say I was devastated, is an understatement!
The past month has been a struggle, both mentally and physically. Not having use of my right arm, while trying to care for 4 kids basically on my own, has just plain SUCKED. Here are some of the pictures from the first few weeks of my recovery.
Thankfully, at almost 6 weeks post-op, I am coming out of my depressive fog and ready to get on to the next phase of healing. My next post will be about my post op recovery and what one can expect when you have to recover from shoulder surgery.