Has Anyone Dealt with a Rotator Cuff/ Shoulder Injury and Have Advice?

I'm screwed up my right shoulder this winter. First, I dislocated my clavicle deadlifting an 80lb sleeping child from the Jeep (only done that a gazillion times). Headsmack. Then I popped it back in by falling down snowboarding a few weeks later, and in the process stripped the tendons and ligaments away from the bones of my humerus/ shoulder and snapped a wedge shaped piece of cartilage off of the 'cup' that the humerus fits into. . Brilliant. Just brilliant. Hurts like blazes

Apparently, however, it's one of THE most common shoulder injuries. I was hoping for a simple sprain, so waited about 6 weeks before grumbling and realizing that I needed to go see what I did to myself. (My doctor loves/ hates me. He knows if I ever actually drag myself in to see him it's something serious. But he always laughs at me. "You know MOST people..." Mmmmhmmm. At least the shoulder specialist is a sports med guy. He's used to his patients just strapping themselves back together/ coming in after several weeks to see how much they'd heal on their own).

I'm currently awaiting Bankart repair surgery to correct it. (I have an insurance lapse) In order to diagnose it we did the standard xrays and MRI. 6 weeks of acute recovery, and 6 months of physical therapy / no sports. :P

My own son is 8, but I've been helping care for an infant these past months. It DEFINITELY requires some accommodation. I can use my right arm to 'brace', but have to use my left arm for all the detail work and heave lifting. A LOT of the time I just use imaginary 'glue' and keep my elbow at my side so that I don't stretch or twist my shoulder at all, and then do 90% of the work left handed.

Diaper changes... R hand on her abdomen, left hand does straps, lifting of feet, snagging another diaper, wiping, all that jazz. Yes. It's gimpy. But it works.

Picking up... R hand under her armpit, L arm goes underneath her and picks her up. (AKA R side is just keeping her from rolling off).

Holding in general: A LOT of 'cross legged' holds (also makes it very easy to snake my left arm in to pick her up securely.

A LOT of up/down. I have to use my legs. I can't just bend down and pick her up with both arms, so I need to get my left elbow parallel to her. Which means I go all the way down, and then come all the way up.

Essentially, just a lot of improvising and adapting.

This is all PRE surgery. Post surgery my arm is going to be completely immobilized for 6 weeks. I will NOT be able to care for her on my own.

My husband avoided surgery with his rotator cuff after a car accident by be diligent with his Physical Therapy at the PT office and working on it at home.

The specialist he sees does surgery as a last resort. If you have the initiative you can get through it with PT.

He is a golfer and he was back on the course within a year. He made sure he gave it plenty of time to heal.

Good luck

I broke my clavical and tore my rotator cuff 2 months after i had my baby. My arm dangled and it happened to be my right arm. It was awful. It took 2 months for the fracture to heal and had 5 months of physical therapy. That was almost 8 yrs ago and i still have pain in my shoulder and dont have full range. I couldnt take care of my baby by myself at first, but i learned to do everything with my left arm eventually. I hope you heal quick, I'm sorry its an awful injury for sure!

A dr can tell you instantly with an xray what's wrong. no need to wait for a specialist. Just go to the ER.

I currently have a broken arm and seperated shoulder. I broke the ball of the humerous where it attaches to the clavical. They say a broken bone is better than a torn Rotator cuff, due to the recovery time. I hear it takes months to recover from a rotator cuff. Never thought I'd feel lucky to break my arm! I can't do any of the stuff you're mentioning either. With it being my shoulder, they can't cast it. What the drs have done for me is put it in a sling, which helps IMMENSELY!!! If I dont wear mine for a little while, my neck and shoulder burns and throbs. If you dont have one, you can buy it at any drugstore. Also ice it every 2 hours. Take Aleive and Advil for swelling. They are giving me tons of Codiene for pain. It was so painful I was nauseous and I couldn't sleep for the 1st 4 or 5 days. Then it got drastically better on day 5 and I was able to use it a little and move it. But it plateaued there. I haven't gotten any real improvement in pain or mobility since then. Its been 6 weeks. I am still in a sling, but trying to do without it a few hours a day. They have me starting physical therapy to avoid "frozen shoulder" apparently if you dont use it, scar tissue builds up and can immobilize your arm permanently. I've gotten quite good at doing things 1 handed and enlisting help from others. Don't be afraid to ask for help. But 1st and foremost go to the er right now. A simple xray should clear up this mystery.

Consult a physical therapist. They have good success with shoulder injuries.

I was in a wrecked a few years back and tore my cuff, I had to do A LOT of physical therapy for it but one thing that could help you is...
It will most likely hurt but... Rotate it, keep your arm flat against your side and roll it forward a few times then backwards the same amount. Then do the same thing but with your arm straight out and make little tight circles for 30 seconds then switch direction and do it another 30 seconds. Do that a couple times a day then...
Put heat on it (it helps to relax the muscles)
Ice it right after that (it helps with the pain)
Have you tried a sling? Sometimes they help to kind of keep it stable. It might be sort of hard with a baby but it will help heal it faster if it can relax.

I have had 2 surgeries for rotator cuff surgery in the past 5 years. The first thing is use ice, not heat. Heat will actually make it hurt worse. My doctors exact words were ice is going to be your best friend, stay away from heat. Make sure you do keep the injured arm moving so it doesn't "freeze up". but do not do anything that requires you to strain it more-it will hurt worse. The process I went through was seeing an orthopedic surgeon followed by a MRI to see where the injury was, physical therapy and same day surgery. Following surgery I was in a splint for 1 week and back in physical therapy for 3 times a week for for 6 weeks. That is for laproscopic surgery and recovery time is usually 6 weeks or so. I did have very limited use of my arm for about 3 weeks but gradually did get better range of motion and less pain as I worked with physical therapy.For actual open surgery the recovery period is about 6-8 months. Good luck.

My husband had a torn rotator cuf. I am going to go against some of the other ladies advice. (sorry ladies) if the doctor has told you to see a specialist then don't try to do any physical therapy on your own you may make it worse. My husband had to have surgery and he was off work for 8 months. not because he wanted to be but because that is how long it took to be cleared to go back to work. surgery and massive physical therapy. good luck

Ice it often and get a referral for Physical Therapy.

I've had a slightly torn rotator cuff problem and my dad has torn his. The best thing is physical therapy! Sometimes it can take awhile to feel better, other times it doesn't take too long. My dad played golf thru his...which he shouldn't have, but it actually corrected his swing! And I played my sophomore year of college softball with mine...it all just depends on the person!

I'd suggest PT before anything...of course, I am by no means a doctor! But I'm assuming that will be the first thing they mention to you.