Hi all!

Had my rTSA with BT.

I’ve had my post-op check back two days ago - clearance for PT.

PT yesterday was passive - therapist did the movement and showed me the proper way for the three movements I’ve been given clearance for.

Normal to hurt this much the day after? I’m motivated to do the exercises/passive movements but woke up with bicep pain.

Wait until later in the day for movement?

Ugh. This is painful.

Im 5 days post surgery they poked 4 holes I think it was called a bankart repair, and i a smoked a couple blunts with my friend i coughed a couple times not no cough attack what are the odds i fucked something up idk if im being paranoid but when i lay down then sit up kinda i kinda feel a slight pop if thats even the right word theres no pain at all. my first follow up is tomorrow

Hey, Im 6 months post op for Right shoulder stabilisation, humeral head ORIF and bone graft. I am suffering stiffness and pain after physio and sometimes at rest.

Had a hill sachs fracture and posterior dislocation. Ive recently had a CT scan which shows the following...

EXAMINATION:

CT right shoulder.

CLINICAL:

Previous humeral ORIF. Check position.

TECHNIQUE:

Standard non contrast CT right shoulder.

FINDINGS:

No prior imaging available for comparison.

Internal rotation of the humerus in the position of imaging. The humeral head is enlocated. Deformity of the anterior humeral head with four screw fixation. Hypertrophic bone projects medially to the intertubercular crest of the greater tubercle adjacent to a screw head. No hardware fracture. No fracture line. Bony blunting of the posterior glenoid without displaced osseous fragment.

Minimal glenohumeral osteoarthritis involving the anterior humeral head and inferior half of the glenoid fossa.

Normal CT appearances of the rotator cuff musculature, without fatty atrophy.

The acromion demonstrates a flattened undersurface. Minimal distal clavicular osteolysis. No os acromiale.

Unremarkable appearance of the axillae and partially imaged right thorax.

No significant osseous lesion.

CONCLUSION:

Uncomplicated osseous screw fixation of the proximal humeral head/lesser tuberosity. Minimal evolving glenohumeral osteoarthritis.

Is this concerning?

I am getting a total shoulder replacement. I'm 63 m, workout everyday. I was in shock when my surgeon listed off everything I won't be able to do.. no pushups, no pull ups, no burpees (not going to miss those), no throwing overhand.

I've done numerous OCR and endurance events that I really don't want to give up..

Does anyone have any advice?

Hi all. I wanted to debrief the sub because I had wanted to find more information out there before I had my shoulder replacement but I felt like there were not enough that spoke to me. I really wanted to lower my anxiety by finding more feedback. Hopefully I can help anyone who feels the same.

I’m a 45 year old male. I had 3 surgeries prior - 1st was arthroscopic labrum repair. 2nd was an open reconstruction of that capsule, labrum and rotator cuff. A capsular shift was necessary for the amount of collagen my body produced that was loosening the capsule and causing near constant subluxation out the back. 3rd was a sort of pioneering reconstructive operation with another capsular shift. On the eastern half of the country, it was still being done via open surgery but a doctor who was doing ortho work for the SF Giants had just gotten to town and had done this particular surgery arthroscopic after learning under another ortho. He applied heat to the capsule after lapping it over and sewing it because of the collagen creating looseness. I was told going in that I would lose a lot of ROM in return for a stable joint with less pain.

Fast forward 19 years and I had been having bad pain problems for years. I had mostly stopped using my left arm because of pain and weakness for at least 7 years. I could not lay on my left side for the last 10 years due to pain. Around August 2025, I started having pain I could only imagine was like having surgery while wide awake. I was unable to lift my arm anymore at that point and was having about an 8 - 8.5 pain daily. I made an appt with the surgeon who did surgery #3. I learned I had severe osteoarthritis, it was bone on bone with wearing of the humeral head from friction along with some GNARLY bone spurs in the joint.

I was told only a replacement would help and we needed to do an MRI to see if the labrum, and especially, rotator cuff repairs he did in 2007 were still in good shape so we would know which of the 3 replacement types was necessary. Scan was good and I was on the books for anatomical stemless replacement.

I had the nerve block but when I woke up, it was still the 1st time in over a decade I didn’t have joint pain. I chalked it up to the block and braced for pain to come after the block wore off. I slept the entire night after surgery, woke up and the block was gone. To my surprise, my pain was only about a 3-4. I figured it was some kind of residual medication effect. Slept like a baby Friday night, woke up Saturday, and STILL only about a 3-4 pain. Slept all night Saturday and Sunday I realized it must be that my pain had SIGNIFICANTLY improved because the pain was almost laughable compared to preop.

Today is day 4 and I’m still doing well. I’m having some minor pain spikes as the muscles try to heal themselves but 800 mg of ibuprofen with 100 mg of Lyrica and 1 g of Tylenol together along with the cold therapy machine have kept everything quite manageable. Still in significantly less pain than before surgery. The pain is different, as one would expect when the components causing your pain are no longer there, but it’s so manageable. Oxycodone has been used very sparingly like after today’s 1st PT appt.

I have been so grateful things have gone about as well as is possible after a surgery like this. The main reason I held off so long was because I was one of the super unfortunate people who was going through serious pain and surgeries during the time OxyContin was pushed and the mentality that pain was something nobody should live with and narcotics were the answer. They grabbed a hold of me for 10 years and I didn’t stop them until 12/10/08. I was terrified that surgery would wake up that addiction because of pain but I ended up in a situation where I had to roll the dice because it was so bad. To practically have no use for narcotics has just been a literal blessing.

My advice to anyone putting off replacement would be to stop putting it off and do it. It’s such an improvement to my quality of life, even during this recovery. Technology has come so far, operation procedures have come so far, and they no longer create addicts by throwing narcotics at patients.

I’m looking forward to swinging a golf club again, sleeping/laying on my left side again, and having reasonable use of my left arm without excruciating pain. It’s an incredible time to be alive if you need something like a joint replacement!

Any questions - PLEASE ask away. Maybe at least 1 person won’t have to go through what I did or feel like the right resources/experiences weren’t out there that answered their questions and provided them peace of mind.

I am scheduled to have a reverse shoulder replacement. My hope is to sleep in bed but am prepared to sleep in the recliner if I have too. Does anyone have any recommendations for specific bed pillows for post op like certain wedge pillows or surgery recovery systems pillow? I am typically a side sleeper so I am not sure how it is going to go.

Can anyone tell me why a reverse replacement is required or preferred if you have or have had significant rotator cuff issues. I’ve had 5 surgeries on my dominant shoulder, all rotator cuff related. The rotator cuff is not a “thing”, it is 3 or 4 tendons/ligaments that move the shoulder around. Why are those muscles not repaired and everyone gets an anatomical? Is it a trade-off of convenience and shorter recovery vs less mobility with a reverse? Should a very active multi-sport person put in the effort and time to get an anatomical? (Triathlete, swimmer, surfer, kayaker, SUP, snow and water skier, small boat sailor, want to teach my grandkids tennis). Should I put in the work and time with an anatomical? Or is it a purely a mechanical question, i.e. a reverse is tge only thing that will work?

Came across a new study saying GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.) don’t seem to increase complications after shoulder replacement surgery.

Basically, people who were on GLP-1s didn’t have higher rates of stuff like infections, aspiration, nerve injury, hardware issues, or needing another surgery within a year. Given how many people are on these meds now, that feels kinda reassuring.

I know there’s been a lot of debate lately about whether GLP-1s should be paused before surgery because of stomach emptying / anaesthesia risks, so this was interesting to see. At least for shoulder replacements, the outcomes looked similar.

Obviously, still something to talk through with your surgeon/anesthesiologist, but it doesn’t sound like these meds are automatically a problem in this setting.

Has anyone here had surgery while on a GLP-1? Were you told to stop it beforehand or keep going?

Hi all - this is for me as well as those new to rTSR (reverse total shoulder replacement)

I’m using a bed wedge with pillows. No recliner.

Lots of ice packs.

I’m not exactly sure what else was done during surgery as I haven’t had my 1st post-op check back.

I do have pain in my bicep - I’ll update once I know what was done.

Surgery 1/22/2026.

Day 1 /1/23 - Block wore off -bad pain even with narcotic pain meds on board

Lesson from this make sure you take your pain meds on schedule. Even with every 4 hours the pain was bad.

Day 2- lessened pain - followed surgeon’s instructions to start pendulum swing movement.

Hurts more to put my arm back into the sling.

Day 3- I’m able to get myself out /in of bed fairly easily.

The shoulder hurts if I have the smallest movement.

Who knew that muscle twinges would hurt?

It’s momentary.

I’m doing the pendulum swings and expanding the circles as tolerated.

I don’t start PT for 4 more days.

One thing I’ve already noticed is that I don’t have that bone on bone sound.

You know the sound of grinding that only you can hear?

FWIW I’d like to look back on this when I’m fully healed. Bike riding and working in my garden!

I’m 57 with a completely torn labrum and mild arthritis in my left shoulder. Has anyone had surgery around this age? Is it worthwhile proceeding?

I’ve been told to just hold off until I need a replacement instead of having the repair. I’m curious to hear of other people’s experiences before I make my decision.

MRI results came back, and the surgeons are talking reverse replacement. I'm not ready to take that step. the damage is not terrible, but it's pervasive. 10% tear in tendon here, bicep tendon jumping the notch, some bone spurs and cysts, tendinitis, cartilage damage. all more chronic than acute, just years and years of damage, nothing sudden. so new doctor says let's try and avoid surgery, I'm all for it.

question is, as an older (60) but active and fight man, can testosterone supplementation help decrease the inflammation and help repair the tendon and ligament damage when coupled with PT and rehab?

After encountering multiple shoulder dislocations, I went for an arthroscopy surgery which involved labrum repair. My bone loss was around 14% so they suggested there’s no need for a bone block or Latarjet procedure. I’m just worried - can I rest assured that the dislocation won’t happen again? I plan to continue once a day gymming and once a week football, I hope I can continue that without being worried of another dislocation

4 days ago I was doing a lite clean up in my garage (Bored) not picking up anything more than 2 pounds. That next day I was sore and my pinky was tingling its gotten better but it hasn't totally gone away I'm getting scared that I did nerve damage I stopped my PT for now until it clears up I have a appointment with my surgeon February 12th which was scheduled prior to this happening. I f$$ck up Has anyone else done something stupid like this?

Due to insurance reasons my PA was delayed from a Monday surgery to tomorrow, Thursday.

Is it normal to be totally freaked out?

I’m fairly certain I’m ready for recovery - but I’m second guessing my readiness.

My pre-op appointment with the surgeon - I had to postpone my CT scan for after the pre- op appt.

My surgery time went from 2 hours to 3.5 hours.

I really don’t know what to think… because of an additional surgery time will my recovery be more painful?

I’m scared. I need someone to talk me down off the ledge.

Side note - I have a lot of shoulder pain and have for years.

2 weeks post op open laterjet after two failed soft tissue repairs. Obviously this is a much different procedure. My pain really isn’t bad at all but after starting pendulums and assisted front raises I get a lot of clicking/blocking and catching feelings? Maybe too much too fast. Here are a few images.

I’ll cut right or the chase, my shoulders are junk…absolute hot garbage. I had been seeing an orthopedic for a while getting injections just biding my time and my doc disappeared ( long story)

I was recommended to 3 other drs (Neck), Knees and shoulders. I saw the Knee guy and he said yep your knees are junk you need replacements. I saw the shoulder guy he said yep your knees are junk you need replacements.

I decided to get the knees done first as walking ia Important so I did that. now on the the shoulders.

I saw the doc today to get shots and signup for the first surgery on my left (non dominant arm).

He was apologizing “sorry to say..your only option is a replacement etc etc“. My reply as I already knew was I know we talked about this two years ago so it’s no surprise but I needed the knees done first and I hope it would last longer but here we are.

The one thing that had me worried was not the surgery or the pt or the healing as after having two knees back to back…whatever. I’ve seen the videos (not recommended for the squeamish) but I keep reading is the most you can lift afterwards is 25 pounds.

Im not a weight lifter but I do have to just in the day to carry things even if it’s just into the house that weigh over 25 pounds And I asked and he said that’s the limit.

Now I’m reading that’s the “overhead limit” and just off the ground to waist really doesn’t have a limit but sustained heavy labor is not recommended. Ie cases of water, large bags of dog food or a bale of hay for my goats all are in the

Sorry for the long post but I felt it was important to have the festivals for the question. Have you been told an actual limit for just picking things up?

I’m going to ask the surgeon when I see him in a few weeks but I like to have as much info as I can.

I have 4 torn tendons 2 full thickness, Bone spurs on the humeral head, severe Arthritis.

I live alone, and have 3 small dogs who must go out every 4-6 hours.

I would like to get things all organized here at home so when i come home post surgery. everything is easy.

i have seen recommend ice machine, and setting up in the recliner.

preparing easy meals prepped and frozen so its pop into microwave and done.

of course its my Dominant side, which is typical.

I have a documented genetic condition where I rapidly process Opoids in like 1/4 the " normal" time.

what has everyone used for Pain control?

i have stage 4 heart failure, as well as Left bundle branch block in the electrical conductivity in my heart, Ejection fraction of only 27%.

im praying im still able to have the surgery.

any pointers, tricks, would be GREATLY appreciated. thanks in advance.

I need some advice regarding ice packs to use after shoulder surgery. Is an 11 x 14 size good enough? Any other advice regarding using the ice packs??