recovery time shoulder surgery

As a doctor, recovery time from shoulder surgery can be prolonged. The problem is that the severe degree of immobilization that’s needed (that big blue pillow) makes that arm/hand useless. Is there a better way? Well, if you have a rotator cuff tear or ligament tear, newer and much less invasive methods of treatment may be the answer, as with less trauma from the procedure comes faster recovery times (read no blue pillow). How can this be possible? Trade the scapel for a needle. Rather than trying to sew ligaments back together or sewing a torn shoulder tendon, get the patient’s own stem cells to repair the damge. The doctor simply places the cells in the damaged area with an injection. Little trauma, little recovery. Sounds like a science fiction novel? Not really, as this procedure using your own stem cells to repair the shoulder damage is now being used reduce recooperation times. No surgery, less recovery.

recooperation from shoulder surgery

Typical shoulder surgery recovery.

As a doctor, recooperation from shoulder surgery can be tough. The problem is that the severe degree of immobilization that’s needed (that big blue pillow) makes that arm/hand useless. Is there a better way? Well, if you have a rotator cuff tear, newer and much less invasive methods of treatment may be the answer, as with less trauma from the procedure comes quicker recovery times (read no blue pillow). How can this be possible? Trade the scapel for a needle. Rather than trying to sew ligaments back together or sewing a torn rotator cuff tendon, get stem cells to repair the damge. The doctor simply places the cells in the damaged area with an injection. Little trauma, little recovery. Sounds like science fiction? Not really, as this procedure using your own stem cells to repair the damage is now being used reduce recooperation times. No surgery, less recovery. To learn more, click the video below:

Knee Replacement Surgery Recovery

Knee replacement surgery recovery is hard. As a doctor, I’ve seen everything from patients who can get back on their feet in weeks, to patients with months of severe pain requiring narcotics and ultimately poor outcomes (the knee area still hurts). Why? How can you tell who will do well and who will have a prolonged Knee replacement surgery recovery? After many years of seeing these patients, I think it comes down to why the knee hurts in the first place. Too often, the knee is diagnosed as the main pain generator, but much of the pain is really coming from somewhere else. For example, recent research has shown that while we see meniscus tears on MRI, they are often not the cause of knee pain. In addition, there is a mean serious complication rate from knee replacement surgery of 20%. This gets worse as the patient gets older, with severe consequences and complications (with protracted recovery) occurring in many more patients when they are over age 80. Even if the knee is the cause of the pain, you might consider trying non-surgical options before you pull the trigger on knee replacement. Many patients can get good results from SynVisc or other artificial joint lubricants. Some of my patients try prolotherapy. Even newer techniques are now available where the patient’s own stem cells are used to heal the problems in the knee. So one way to avoid a long Knee replacement surgery recovery watching re-runs of Oprah is to avoid the knee replacement altogether.

Torn Achilles Tendon Physical Therapy

A tear in the Achilles tendon can be either partial or complete.  Torn Achilles tendon physical therapy depends greatly on how the tendon is treated.  Surgical repair usually means significant immobilization.  This is a two edged sword.  On the one hand, immobilization can help the tendon mend, on the other, it also dramatically weakens the strength of the natural repair.  For a complete tear of the tendon (when it’s disconnected), aggressive casting may be the only way to promote even weak repair.  However, when the ligament is partially torn, the rehabilitation and recovery plan can vary widely depending on treatment method.

The rehab plan depends on if surgery is needed or not.  If the tendon is sewn back together, rehab will have to be non-weight bearing (on crutches) so at least 4-8 weeks.  However, there is a better way that can allow for quicker return to activities.  Recent research has shown good results when implanting the patient’s own adult stem cells into the tear.  This treatment technique is available now to patients in the first link above.  This is an injection of stem cells to heal the partial tendon tear.  If the Achilles tendon is repaired by this method, activity can start immediately as it helps stem cells differentiate into fibroblasts to repair the tendon.

For our patients, it’s critical to get rid of myofascial trigger points in the gastrocnemius muscle.  This can be accomplished by IMS.  This allows the muscle to function normally and allows for quicker strengthening of this critical muscle.

Shoulder Surgery Recovery

As a doctor, because we use our upper extremities for everything, shoulder surgery recovery can be very difficult. Have you seen someone walking around in a sling with a big blue pillow between their arm and chest? Shoulder joint replacement surgery is notorious for a long, painful recovery. Rotator cuff surgery is also a very long and tough recovery, mostly because the stitches placed into the tendon must be kept immobile while the tear heals. So why all this suffering? Is there a better way? This post will explore if shoulder surgery recover from a rotator cuff tear can be shortened and if there is an alternative to shoulder joint replacement surgery.

The rotator cuff is simply a group of muscles that help to stabilize the shoulder. Think of them as the muscles that help keep the ball of the shoulder in it’s shallow joint while allowing for maximum alignment and mobility. When one of these muscles and/or their tendons (like the supraspinatus) gets torn, it’s a big problem. Patients often can’t lift their arm and have pain with any movement. This can be diagnosed on an MRI. If the tear is small, then sometimes it’ll heal on it’s own with therapy. However, many partial and complete tears fail to heal. When this happens, the traditional treatment is simply sewing up the tear and immobilizing the area. This is where the recovery problems begin. Immobilizing the shoulder is tough. Hence the crazy blue pillow shown below:

Typical shoulder surgery recovery.

What happens when you immobilize the muscle for this long? Regrettably, it often causes to atrophy. This means the muscle starts to die off and this atrophy is associated with a poor outcome. How can you get around this atrophy? How about skipping the immobilization? Can you do this? Yes, the Regenexx procedure allows patients with partial rotator cuff tears to shorten their shoulder surgery recovery. Why, because it starts by skipping the surgery step. In this breakthrough procedure, your adult stem cells are injected into the rotator cuff tear under fluoroscopy (real time x-ray). Less trauma to fix the tear means less recovery. In addition, unlike simply sewing the tear and hoping for the best, the joint preservation team at The Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Centeno-Schultz Clinic places repair cells in the tear.

Shoulder Surgery Recovery

Check out the MRI pics above. Stem cells placed into the tear helped the tear heal without surgery. So if you want to avoid a lengthy recover with a crazy blue pillow, trade the surgery for a needle!