Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Guess I am not doing any free climbing soon.

It is official. I am scheduled to have shoulder surgery January 3rd to repair torn tendons and shave off a bone spur which is partially resposible for cutting the supraspinatous tendon. It is one of two rotator cuff tendons plus the long head of the biceps I have torn. Most likely the result of 27 years of adjusting patients. Those 300 and 400 pounders didn't help.Crazy I had no shoulder pain and I turned a wrench, felt a pop which was the ligament that holds the bicep tendon in its groove. Pain was instant and in 7 weeks has not gone away just gradually getting worse. MRI showed a pretty messed up shoulder. Now I am out anywhere from 2-4 months. I have to spend one freaken month in an arm sling. "Don't cry for me Argentina....."

Rod, I can so relate. About 4 years ago, I was up at my father's house in the NC mountains. He had a tree that had been cut down and into 4-5 foot sections. We were able to roll all the sections about 40 feet to a staging area. The one section that would not roll was the butt end of the tree where it was felled. It was heavily fluted on one end and would only roll in a circle. To move it, I would get my hands under one end and stand the log up, push it over and so on. This was a large diameter tree and the weight of the sections was way up there. On about the seventh lift, where I was transitioning my hand grip there was a loud audible pop. Ruptured right bicep. When I got back to Atlanta I went and saw my friend who is an orthopedist. Xray showed a small bone spur near the intertubercular groove.

I have four customers who are shoulder specialist and talked to each one of them about my condition. The conclusion I drew was that as long as I was not in pain I could hold off on the surgery. From what they said, a lot of bicep rupturs are not repaired. Aside from a slight slumped appearance, my arm is doing great and there is no pain from the bone spur - yet. I know at some point my spur will start to cause some pain such as when I'm sleeping on my side. My bicep has slumped down on the humerus and attached itself well there. I am now able to do a full upper body workout with just a few limitations. Have learned to use my lats and other muscles to take some of the load and do well at the climbing gym. Turning a corkscrew is a real pain in the ass now though.

All like injuries are not the same. Yours sounds a bit more involved. Good luck with it. Hopefully it won't be as bad as you think.

John

The pain is pretty bad and really hurts when I work. The quick fix option I was given was to just cut the long head bicep tendon and let it retract into that Popeye bicep bump.That wouldn't adress the other tears. I decided in the more complete and hopefully better longterm fix.

We need to discuss this human body engineering weakness -- the shoulder -- with the designer: back to R&D for improvements! It seems like every active person I know has a shoulder ailment that is waiting for surgery, had surgery, or needs surgery (my own mishap involved an 8 foot ladder hooked over the arm&shoulder that spun backwards....seemingly twisting my arm off in the process -- instant dislocation and a lifetime of tippy-toeing around setting off months of pain)Outside of using a rowing machine, it seems like every other load bearing maneuver causes the ball to rattle around in the socket, due to the fact that everything was stretched (push-ups are now a particular no-no, with pull-ups a close second -- a move that I used to like to show off....serves me right)

I hope that your surgery improves your pain, Rod. What will your patients do while you are recovering??

I guess the arm wrestling competition is out?

Dammit Rod...... looks like I'll have to get you on a hike now.

Good luck, Rod. I've had shoulder surgery on both shoulders.

Take good care of it, especially during recovery, and it will serve you well. Mis-use it like me, and it will be sore in a year or two.

Add me to the list....dislocated on the Cornice at Mammoth 25 years ago. I've become an expert at re-locating the ball in the socket without assistance.

Can you imagine coaching little league and trying to teach kids how to throw the ball correctly when every throw feels like your arm is being torn off?

Joe Q will appreciate this story....Our baseball pro at the our little league field is Reggie Smith. At the beginning of every season he gives a coaching clinic and for some reason he picks me as his guinea pig. (could be because I am a commissioner). And every year he has me demonstrate how to throw the ball. And every year I throw the ball incorrectly and he shows me how to throw the ball. Which, I do...while holding back the reaction of from the stabs of pain in my shoulder. Thanks Reggie!

As soon as I am done coaching little league I am going to get the surgery done. I'm definitely having some nerve issues that the docs think is related.

Rod, that's just not fair - you've had way more than your share of medical crap in the past few years! Hope the surgery goes well and you mend quickly. At least you can hope the results are aesthetically better than catpappy's - his upper arm looks like someone took a hammer to it.

I'm not in that group that needs shoulder surgery, even at age 54. At least not yet. Every few years I'll need a cortisone/steroid shot for tendinitis (or it'll go away on it's own if I'm stubborn enough), but that's about it. After the roped fall I took on Cathedral Peak this past summer I was sure I'd finally punched my ticket for a shoulder procedure, but it was just a simple sprain and healed up fine.

Hope to see you for another Portal burger this summer, Rod - whole, healthy and full of piss and vinegar!

Uhhh Gary, that's what a well conditioned arm is supposed to look like.

John

Bee is right again. The shoulder is a very complicated and poorly designed region for most of the things we like to use it for.It doesn't hold up well for throwing a baseball 90+ MPH.It doesn't take falls well whether you land on it or stick your arm out to break your fall. It doesn't even hold up to 27 years of manipulating peoples spines. What is the deal?
Gary you are right 2011 has not been my best year of health. 2012 is going to be much better.I plan of getting back into working out and hiking shape.I plan on doing Whitney once or twice in 2012.Lets all hike together.

You got it bro! Actually, John and I will be out there for Death Valley the first week of March - if you're up to a desert stroll, or just a beer with friends, come on out!

Rod, I have a friend who claims that he had "colonoscopy-elbow" from being a GI doc. hahaha

I feel your pain. I am now 6 post-hell-weeks following total knee. Everyone asked "did your hiking and mountaineering do that?" so I remind them that there are plenty of people who do nothing but sit in their Barcaloungers who get the same problem.

Sorry, it would not be realistic to say speedy recovery, but... Best Wishes.

Harvey

Sorry for your misfortune. Think positive.

I hear being in Bishop might be helpful...

Seriously, Rod, best of luck. I'll be pulling for you, and if you need any help, give me a buzz. I've been told I'm a pretty good cook, too...