Guest guest Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Avis, C, Llweyn, SB, and Beth, Through the years, there has been conversations concerning struggles with Shoulders following revision surgery. I had issues with both of mine since surgery, for me it cropped up while still in the brace, about three months after surgery. I had a mini van at the time, that was more like driving a light truck, and had a bucket seat. I went to click the seat belt into it's holder, that was slightly behind me, and there was a loud pop, and then it hurt like the dickens. My range of motion with that shoulder was minimal after that, and it hurt, especially when trying to sleep, so I babied it till I went to see my surgeon for a follow up. He did a round of movements with it, and said I needed PT, so off I went. The jist of it was I had impingement, and the PT wasn't fun, she'd do a lot of deep tissue work, then ultrasound with some kind of medication patch, and then an hour of exercises, twice a week for a month. Her explanation was that one, my shoulder was reacting to my newly revised stance, it liked me gimpy, my shoulder hanging down, since it had been that way for decades, it was a major shock to have it brought up level with my other shoulder. She also said my shoulders were rolled forward, at the joint itself, and she worked very hard to change that posture. She also said she fully expected my other shoulder to react too eventually, and it did about six months later, and I had to do another round of PT then, but far less because I knew the drill, and that one wasn't as bad. Overall it took a full year till they stopped hurting all together while in bed, but PT brought it down drastically, returned my range of motion, and eventually the pain faded away. Since then, and I'm almost eight years out from my last revision, my elbows have been my next concern, and that too has been a postural, mechanical, problem with the use of grabbers. Picking up too much weight with ones arm extended with a grabber puts wear on the elbow. I have little forward lean, due to my weird hardware configuration, I pull at a connector if I do, so I still use grabbers a great deal. So after a busy day, with much household chores, those too can ache. I have found ways around it, first, things on the floor are left for the kids to pick up, or I skoot then to a corner with my foot till they get home. I try not to do more than three loads of laundry in any one day, as I still use the grabber to get things out of the back of the dryer, or I kneel and do it. I have brought it around to where it hurts maybe one day a week, from everyday, and if I'm good I can avoid the hurting all together. I guess you do with what you have, but I do believe for many of us, with very fused spines( I'm T1 to the sacrum) that when you take the ability for movement away from the spine, other parts of the body will pay from the over use they will get. For me it has been my shoulders and elbows. I guess one of the joys of this group is that we are a true follow up survey, a snapshot of how revised spines and the body holds up over time, as most of us would never meet another person like ourselves out in the general public. Not that what I experience will be the same as another member exactly, but awareness is good to have. I think many of us would have done things differently if we had known that wear and tear below our Harrington Rod fusions would have been such a issue. I have valued Bonnie's posts of her issues, since she is a few years further out than me. Not that I'm looking for problems, but awareness puts you in a place of power if something does crop up. My doc was very plain with me, that at the time of my revision, they had no idea how we would hold up even ten years out, and forget about twenty. Now by being here, for those of you that have come after some of us founding members, you can converse with those who are 5, 7, and even 11 years out, and see just how we are doing. I'm thankful everyday for my surgeon, his skills, and my own stick-to-itive-ness to find my answers. Is it perfect, no, but drastically better. There is hope over time, these docs will get even better at the surgery, that things will evolve, and they will learn from how us pioneers do over time. Colorado Springs [ ] Re: New Symptoms I can't believe this. I had my surgery in February and returned home March 1st. Since being home, I have had shoulder pain and found out last week that both shoulders have rotator cuff tears. I got a shot in the left shoulder which took the pain away for a week so now it's back with a vengeance. My neighbor who is a nurse suggested that because we cannot use out upper bodies directly after surgery, we use our arms and shoulders to compensate and apparently it is too much. All I know is that both shoulders hurt and I don't have a clue what to do about it. If I could get surgery which would fix it I would get it but that doesnt seem to be the answer.Avis Pitkowtheizzardearthlink (DOT) net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Avis, I have a rotator cuff issue in my right arm and have had it since I played volleyball back in my twenties. I do believe that it was easier to injure my shoulder because I don't move like unfused people. Anyway, my physical therapist has helped me with some exercises that work the tendon in that area and it really helped ease the pain. I don't know if I can accurately describe it for you, but I'll try. You hold your arms out in front of you at about mid waist and then hold your hand like your holding a can of pop (or beer!) and then keeping your hands in that position, turn your hands upside down as though you are dumping out the can. Keeping your arms extended and your hands in that upside down can position, slowly lower and raise your arms. This works a specific tendon in the shoulder. Repeat the move 5 times in row and do 3 sets, just to start. You then increase your reps and can even hold light weights in your hands as things improve. I would check with a physical therapist before doing this to make sure it is the right exercise for you, but it did help me. Jeanne [ ] Re: New Symptoms I can't believe this. I had my surgery in February and returned home March 1st. Since being home, I have had shoulder pain and found out last week that both shoulders have rotator cuff tears. I got a shot in the left shoulder which took the pain away for a week so now it's back with a vengeance. My neighbor who is a nurse suggested that because we cannot use out upper bodies directly after surgery, we use our arms and shoulders to compensate and apparently it is too much. All I know is that both shoulders hurt and I don't have a clue what to do about it. If I could get surgery which would fix it I would get it but that doesnt seem to be the answer.Avis Pitkowtheizzardearthlink (DOT) net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 I have had numbness on my left side for a while now, but lately I have been having numbness on my left side mostly in my hand. When I sleep at night I wake up I can hardly move my fingers. Once I get up and move them a little the feeling will start coming back. Not sure what to do, I think my doctor thinks I am a nuts with so many different symptoms and nowhere does it show that I have problems with my nerves. If you find any exercises that help let me know! Annette > > i've started having numbness in my hands. the scoliosis research society site had a great article that mentioned " thoracic outlet sybdrome " AKA " dead arm " . i know that i don't have carpal tunnel. it happens when my arms are extended in front for any length of time. does anyone have any suggestions or excersises?................K > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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