Rotator Cuff Injury

After I injured mine racing it was weak but I could still ride at almost the same speed. Then I got into trouble during a race and because it was weak I couldn't save it and went down hard. Then it was almost dead weight. Only had a minor tear, didn't require surgery. Had to take it easy for a couple months, then a month of physical therapy at a sports medicine facility and I was back to racing. Never was fully right again though, thirty five years later.

I didn't get the surgery when I should have and needed it over 20 years ago.  That meant no throwing balls with the kids when they were growing up, golf and Frisbee might be an issue.

If it's torn bad, get surgery. If not, find the physical therapist that works with the local sports teams and get some therapy.

I have "partial tears" in both of mine (ultrasound diagnosis) , injured in late December 2023.  I didn't see a doctor for 2 months.  If you can hear or feel a "clunk" in your shoulder when doing certain exercises, tell your doctor.  My Dr said that the only fix is surgery, but that if I can deal with some pain (and some lack of motion, and limitations of activities, and...) I might not get worse.  I talked to about a dozen "real" people at my gym who've had the surgery (not million-dollar athletes, and "mature" men and women) and all of them said that the surgery fixed the problem, but full recovery took about a year.  Post-surgery, they said they had to be very cautious for a month  before starting rehab.  Hope it works out for you!  

Doing PT now for my rotator cuff, mine is self induced and not stretching it caught up to me, excessive tight lats and pecs, kept the rotator cuff activated and weak. I have improvement doing the pt movemwnts and stretches.

Could be partial or full tear or labrum tear. Tore my rotator, bicep and labrum in May, very painful, Couldn't do any MX riding and affected almost everything including sleeping. 6 weeks post op now just getting out of sling, its a long road.

Possibly a banged-up AC joint from years a falling, along with some impingement and a torn rotator cuff. It will take an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. I would push hard for an MRI and if you do have a tear you might as well schedule a surgery to get it repaired. Also, I have had 4 shoulder surgeries and every single time the damage was more extensive than the MRI showed.

I have tried therapy, TB500, BP157 and just about everything else imaginable and nothing seems to heal a torn rotator cuff.

In the past I've had 2 rotator cuff full tear repairs on each shoulder, the first ops gave me a few years out of them, after the second op they failed soon after, initially they were supraspinatus tears but as I have stayed active, while still staying in-shape, now all the other tendons have now been completely torn away, I only have the main muscle keeping my arm moving, my surgeon tells me that he would only do a complete shoulder replacement as a last resort, and if I stop riding, I can still ride my RMZ450 but I don't get much air these days. Shoulder braces aren't worth sh!t, I've tried them all, no good, the best thing is keep weight training, but with care.

MRI should identify the issue - and depending on the severity, the physician will advise accordingly. Based upon your description of the range of movement and pain it will be a scope repair worst case. 

They will conduct some range movement requests and also give you some physical tasks to conduct that will help them pinpoint the part of the cuff that is damaged.

Really an underappreciated group of muscles and ligaments, if your rotator is severely damaged it could be a lifelong issue and change the way you do many things, including your work.

What's the time range for recovery from scope-repair?  Thanks.

Rotator cuff injury is a broad term, and your injury is likely to be one particular part of the group of tendons/muscle that make up the rotator cuff.  Mine was a full thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon. 

I had a partial at first, (trying to keep up with younger dudes in my family playing disc golf), then finished it off proper with a crash on two wheels.  It's a weird injury.  Walking around with my arms at my side made it ache.  Sleeping was only done on my side or on my back with the arm above my head.  Lying on my back with my arms at my side was no bueno.  I could carry a 50 lb. bag of feed around, but couldn't raise my arm to comb my hair.  An MRI was the only way to properly diagnose it- lying in that tube was excruciating.  The pic was interesting- looked like two sea anemones having a chat. A partial tear can be healed, but a full thickness tear will need surgery. My injury was early summer, but I was able to finish out the season riding, 'cause that didn't often involve raising my arm.  Got it fixed right after the season ended.  Doc said full strength/mobility would take 6-8 months, but I hit therapy hard, and was ready to go when racing resumed 5 months later.  I still have a little bit of motion range limitation reaching across my body, especially behind my  back, but not too bad.

Yeah, mine hurts bad at times, but the ultrasound didn't look too bad, and pain isn't constant.  I'm still able to do many arm exercises with weights, with no problems.  I tore both of them doing bench presses, trying to meet a personal goal (not a large amount, by any means, just trying to build a little muscle.)  I had an mri (for lumbar issues) last week, and did easy stretches before getting in - it wasn't too bad.  Sleeping can be difficult, due to lower back issues and rotator cuffs - I often sleep on a couch, using multiple pillows of different sizes to position legs and arms.    Thanks for the info!  

from what I've read 4-6 months 

My left shoulder has 3 full tears.  The rotator cuff has 4 individual muscles connected to bone  by tendons.  Im getting surgery in November.  It looks to be 6 to 9 months of rehab. Im 57. The crash happened in June of 24. I couldn't get surgery earlier because my deltoid was not working at all. The axillary nerve that sparks the deltoid was not working at all. I am a gimp. A gimp who still rides and pours concrete. Im crossing my fingers that the surgery will be a success. At my age with 3 tears 15 months ago the odds are not great for a perfect outcome.  But even a semi success will be a positive.  

I’m 45 and had rotator cuff surgery last November. I had a full rupture and my bicept was no longer attached. I started physical therapy 10 days after surgery and just had my last session 3 weeks ago. My injury was caused over time and not just from one crash but my range of motion had decreased significantly in the last year before my surgery and I couldn’t raise my arm above my head. 

I just started riding again about 6 weeks ago and noticed that my arm pump has all but gone away. The recovery was not pleasant but sitting here 10 months post surgery I’m glad I did it. I still can’t throw a ball or do an overhead press in the gym without some discomfort but it’s getting better. Plan to start racing again next month.

Last winter,I thought for sure I had torn cuffs on both shoulders, one from a crash and the other just from over use. Both shoulders had become weak and were very painful after riding…. I took some time off from riding and focused on specific rehab for shoulder strengthening…lots of bands & lite weights….both shoulders are much better…I ride 2-3 times a week and Mtn bike in between….Riding Mx & off road hammers your body….

I had a complete tear of my superspinautis and, fully tore my rotator cuff as well. I hit a tree in 2023 riding single track in the rain. 
 

I couldn’t lift my arm at all. After a visit to the ER and, getting told it was inflamed, I sought a second opinion with a specialist. After a MRI, I was scheduled for surgery six weeks later. I won’t lie, post op pain is real. I couldn’t sleep sitting up, constantly woke up in pain and, couldn’t do anything for myself. Including cutting my food and, getting dressed. After six weeks recovering, I started physical therapy (take it very serious). Fortunately, I was able to get on FMLA to help with bills. My surgery was on Halloween. I returned to work March 18th. After returning to work, it still took several months to get my strength back. I work construction as a commercial plumber so, throwing cast iron pipe in the air wasn’t the easiest task. It FKN SUCKED. 

My only advice is don’t expect a speedy recovery. Take your time. Take physical therapy serious and, get some of the pulleys you’ll be using for at home use. Just don’t over do it. 

Best of luck to ya

Look up shoulder impingement. Your neck, bicep or pec (or combination of all in my case) can get tight and stop your shoulder from moving properly. I don’t know if it pinches a nerve or what but I couldn’t even touch my opposite shoulder if I raised my elbow high enough to be in front of my face. No tears. It’s happened once to both shoulders at different times, one from crashing and the other from going to heavy with free weights.

I damaged both my shoulders and were able to get them fixed with Injections of Whartons Jelly, Google it and read about it. Its a form of Stem Cell. You would need to see an regenerative medicine doctor, but they can help with out surgery. I have recommended this to a few others and it helped them too. I go to Steel City Medical Center in Pittsburgh PA.

Had the exact same symptoms OP. Left side, anything below shoulder level, no issues.  Anything above shoulder level, no bueno.  First visit with he ortho, he wants to get a range of motion.  Has me swing it around some, then grabs me by the wrist and takes it right up to the ceiling...OUCH!  "Is it fixed now Doc?!" Turns out to be a partial tear, and had the surgery.  Now, if you go the surgery route.  Surgery is the easy part, the post surgery is what blows.  

You'll be in a sling for 6 weeks, 24/7. Schedule your surgery when the weather is nice, changing is a hassle until you get a routine.  And you don't want to be sweating all over it, you only get one.  You'll be sleeping on a recliner for a few weeks, so make sure adjusting buttons or levers are on the non-surgery side.  If you're going to drive, get a steering wheel knob.  Just a couple things I recall when having mine repaired.            

When I did mine after about a week I had no pain pretty much. but I could only raise it half way and it was weak / felt not the most stable. 

I had surgery few weeks after it happened, and it went awesome, I was fully back and 100% movement in 3 months. I also did not wear the brace like they said and kept my arm moving, I think that made my recovery time much faster. 

I asked my pain doctor about stem cell therapy for partially torn rotator cuffs today.  He said that he doesn't do it, because most insurance won't  cover it, but he gave me the name of a clinic that specializes in it.  I wasn't surprised to see that it's located in a part of (Midwest) town where the average home value is $1.5M.