4 days ago I had a subscapularis repair and bicep tenodesis (re-attachment of tendon at a different point from its original insertion).
Background to this is a surfing mishap in September last year. After re-habbing my left shoulder from my nerve damage skateboarding accident I was trying to transition myself from my foamie re-hab boar back onto my fibreglass shortie. While I didn't find the 4' 8" foamie particularly easy to ride I was by now well in tune with it and its broad width and rectangular planshape meant it was at least a stable platform unlike my 18 3/8" local custom. I had lost my pop up.
I twisted my body to face the wave during a very awkward pop up and ended up putting all my weight onto an inwardly rotated adducted across my body right arm. I suffered a posterior "instability incident" which according to an MRI diagnosis had caused a cleft in the subscapularis and a displaced long head bicep tendon sitting in that cleft.
I went thru the usual rotator cuff re-hab and over a period of weeks/months all symptoms went away. There was a long wait to get the surgeon's opinion. In the meantime, I practiced the pop up rigorously on the floor and figured out exactly what I needed to do and got my pop up back. I tested either stronger or equally strong to my left shoulder in all directions, the physio didn't think I was going to need surgery.
Had my surgeon's appointment mid december and the verdict was surgery needed, not urgent but unless I did it the displaced bicep tendon would eventually saw through the suscapularis. I told him that it felt like my bicep had gone back into the groove and was told that was impossible. I promptly booked surgery for end of january because I didn't want to cancel my Thailand holiday with my wife.
On holiday surfing in the gulf of Thailand where I was feeling no pain, heaving suitcases etc with no symptoms, my wife asked the very reasonable question "do you need surgery?".
I remembered this from our in-house doc on the hills-sachs thread.
So glad I got that second opinion, made the remaining few weeks wait for surgery more bearable and removed that nagging doubt about whether I needed it. I am taking the long term optimistic view that I want to be surfing at 70 because its going to be many months before I can return to surfing.
Background to this is a surfing mishap in September last year. After re-habbing my left shoulder from my nerve damage skateboarding accident I was trying to transition myself from my foamie re-hab boar back onto my fibreglass shortie. While I didn't find the 4' 8" foamie particularly easy to ride I was by now well in tune with it and its broad width and rectangular planshape meant it was at least a stable platform unlike my 18 3/8" local custom. I had lost my pop up.
I twisted my body to face the wave during a very awkward pop up and ended up putting all my weight onto an inwardly rotated adducted across my body right arm. I suffered a posterior "instability incident" which according to an MRI diagnosis had caused a cleft in the subscapularis and a displaced long head bicep tendon sitting in that cleft.
I went thru the usual rotator cuff re-hab and over a period of weeks/months all symptoms went away. There was a long wait to get the surgeon's opinion. In the meantime, I practiced the pop up rigorously on the floor and figured out exactly what I needed to do and got my pop up back. I tested either stronger or equally strong to my left shoulder in all directions, the physio didn't think I was going to need surgery.
Had my surgeon's appointment mid december and the verdict was surgery needed, not urgent but unless I did it the displaced bicep tendon would eventually saw through the suscapularis. I told him that it felt like my bicep had gone back into the groove and was told that was impossible. I promptly booked surgery for end of january because I didn't want to cancel my Thailand holiday with my wife.
On holiday surfing in the gulf of Thailand where I was feeling no pain, heaving suitcases etc with no symptoms, my wife asked the very reasonable question "do you need surgery?".
I remembered this from our in-house doc on the hills-sachs thread.
Despite this a gnawing doubt grew each day and upon return I made an appointment with my physio to get his opinion - he does not second guess the surgeon (who he works with). His strong advice was go ahead with surgery. Still there was doubt in my mind so I made an appointment with a sports doctor who I had seen before and trusted. He gave me some tests on which he didn't comment. He then looked at the MRI and told me it might not be causing me problems now, but at some point in the future it probably will "good insurance policy to get it repaired now" he said.
So glad I got that second opinion, made the remaining few weeks wait for surgery more bearable and removed that nagging doubt about whether I needed it. I am taking the long term optimistic view that I want to be surfing at 70 because its going to be many months before I can return to surfing.
