Rotator Cuff Injury

Shenks

Shenks

Experienced
That's where I am currently... waiting for an MRI scan before surgery gets scheduled.

I recently upgraded from my Axe FX II to the III and find myself unable to play guitar at all. Frustration is huge.

My real question is for anybody who has experienced the same and how long after surgery it was before playing guitar was possible? After playing guitar for the last 30+ years I am just trying to come to terms with this enforced interruption in my music.
 
Hopefully it’s just impingement If so you’ll be playing again in a few weeks. If it’s a bad rotator cuff it could be a few to several months.
 
Impingement is no cake walk either.
Either way you most likely need to deal with the inflammation and the best way to do that is Ice packs several times throughout the day.
Lots and lots of videos on youtube showing Physical Therapy exercises, but reality is, it's a long journey to recovery.
I'm 15 months in and no choice but to learn to live with it.
 
I blame my injury on the dog... was on a long lead, he saw a squirrel, shot off and I didn't drop the lead so wrenched my shoulder backwards. I had a co-corticosteroid injection from my GP at New Year but this didn't help.

I did manage with the guitar originally but over the months it has got worse which I am told is often a primary indicator of a tear, but only the MRI will tell for sure.

Currently on a cocktail of different painkillers thru the day, paracetamol, co-codamol, amitriptyline.
 
Toopy14 said:
I had an impingement in my right shoulder and I couldn't lift my arm above the plane of my shoulder for nearly two years. There were times just reaching for a light switch nearly had me in tears and would bring me to my knees.
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And it healed on its own or did you have some kind of procedure eventually?
 
If you really wanna get experimental, you could likely improve recovery time with a stack of TB-500, BPC-157, and MK-677.

Don’t skip on the physical therapy either if you want to make a full recovery.
 
Fro68 said:
Hopefully it’s just impingement If so you’ll be playing again in a few weeks. If it’s a bad rotator cuff it could be a few to several months.
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I’ve had shoulder impingement a few times. Not pleasant, especially on my job. Guitar playing was aggravating it, so I learned to let my shoulder relax when playing. Never had a rotator cuff injury.

Best wishes to the OP. Hope you heal fast
 
CodePoet said:
And it healed on its own or did you have some kind of procedure eventually?
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Thankfully, no surgery.

It eventually healed on its own, with heat and ice treatments, ibuprofen, light weight exercises and time. You should have an ultrasound to make sure there is no tear. If there is, if it’s a minor tear, the best thing is to let it heal on its own. If there is no tear, it’s likely a swollen bursa sac, which causes the impingement. If that’s the case, you have to get the swelling down and use your shoulder as much as possible, to prevent ‘frozen shoulder’.
 
Rotator Cuff injury in my early 40s - could not raise my right arm - definitely from golf which I used to play a lot of, and before I started on guitar. No surgery, but did physio for a few months - re-injured it a couple
of times with golf - ultimately had to take a year off golf to give it enough time to heal.

Since starting guitar,
tendonitis in my right elbow (lefty fretting side) has flared up (was also an issue with golf). I frequently have to stop playing for a week or 2 to let that calm down.

I fondly remember feeling invincible in my youth....no more.
 
sprint said:
I fondly remember feeling invincible in my youth....no more
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Yup I remember those days ,and now a days my left hand knuckles are fatter than my fingers ,47 years playing ,sometimes hurts 😟.
tendonitis in my shoulders from texturing ceiling for 40 years
 
Shenks said:
That's where I am currently... waiting for an MRI scan before surgery gets scheduled.

I recently upgraded from my Axe FX II to the III and find myself unable to play guitar at all. Frustration is huge.

My real question is for anybody who has experienced the same and how long after surgery it was before playing guitar was possible? After playing guitar for the last 30+ years I am just trying to come to terms with this enforced interruption in my music.
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Hi Shenks I had my right shoulder fixed several years ago and was a couple weeks and I was picking it up some in about 2 months I was back at it I have to say it’s no fun but glad I got it fixed.

Im waiting to get my left shoulder fixed it’s been messed up since before hurricane Michael hit here in the panhandle of Florida.
I just saw the doctor for a bunch of things I have messed up and won’t get the MRI until I’m ready for surgery as soon as I get in are new house and settled in I’m having my left shoulder done I’m ready I can’t put it off to much more as I am starting to favor it more and more And the crunching is really getting worse.

It’s definitely no fun but if you need to get it done it’s best just to do it. You will feel better and you will be able to jam again in two months after my last surgery I was back at playing the guitar no problem.
 
Shenks said:
That's where I am currently... waiting for an MRI scan before surgery gets scheduled.

I recently upgraded from my Axe FX II to the III and find myself unable to play guitar at all. Frustration is huge.

My real question is for anybody who has experienced the same and how long after surgery it was before playing guitar was possible? After playing guitar for the last 30+ years I am just trying to come to terms with this enforced interruption in my music.
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Smoker, drinker, overweight, sedentary? Just asking, as those should be mitigated first. These things inflame everything.
 
I've always been used to having good health and a good level of fitness - my BMI is good, low body fat, don't drink excessively (but I do smoke a little), good diet. Even though I've now got a desk job from previously working in the building trade, I regularly exercise with walking, Pilates, weight training.

I think that's why it has hit me so hard because now my abilities are severely restricted.

Good to hear from various people that a couple of months or so and it was back to guitar as that's the bit that gets to me the most.
 
Shenks said:
I've always been used to having good health and a good level of fitness - my BMI is good, low body fat, don't drink excessively (but I do smoke a little), good diet. Even though I've now got a desk job from previously working in the building trade, I regularly exercise with walking, Pilates, weight training.

I think that's why it has hit me so hard because now my abilities are severely restricted.

Good to hear from various people that a couple of months or so and it was back to guitar as that's the bit that gets to me the most.
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yes - I remember feeling in the midst of my RTC injury that my shoulder would be problematic forever, and for sure it was delicate and easily re-injure-able for a while as I found out, but given time to properly heal, it can be good as new. I've had no further RTC injury in the following 15yrs, though I did do a re-design of my golf swing at the time to avoid some things I was doing that initially caused an injury.
 
My shoulder flares up often. Stretchy band therapy helps a lot, that and holding a light weight and let it pendulum swing around in circles first without using any muscle, then try to widen and slow the circle. Usually clears up within a week or so. Might not be for You but worth a try.
 
I have a torn labrum (old sports injury over a decade old) on my left shoulder. Was advised not to get surgery by my Dr. and just treat it with therapy and Ibuprofen. Hurts more during the winter but it is better now (I guess therapy is helping).
 
I have a shoulder injury that prevented me from lifting my arm or even leaning against anything. I have noticed that a lot of men in their 40's-50's and older end up with shoulder injuries on their least dominant side. For me, that was my left arm, fretting hand. 8 years ago, it got so bad that I thought I saw the end of my playing days approaching. So, I decided to quit instead of grinding down. In the following year my shoulder got worse -- more pain, more immobile. Eventually, I went back to playing guitar because, no matter what level my guitar playing might be at, it was too important to me to quit, whether it hurt me or not. What I discovered, in my case, is that playing guitar actually worked as a sort of physical therapy. With the added benefit that I would be distracted from the pain more while playing guitar. I still have an injured shoulder. There are still limitations on strength. There is still pain. The shoulder is still vulnerable. But, my arm is much quicker, more mobile and more limber. And, there is less pain.

Physical therapy is about doing more than you feel like doing; but, less than what will cause more damage, Everybody's situation is different. For me, continuing to play guitar -- a lot, while in pain, helped me out quite a bit.

However, if I was playing professionally, I imagine I would have to get it fixed. It would just be too much of a wild card -- too easy to accidentally re-injure and make things worse.
 
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