Has anyone had a reverse shoulder replacement?

SMSW

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I'm considering a reverse shoulder replacement - it is called a reverse because the doc saws the ball off the humerus, mills a recess that gets a metal and plastic cup, and secures a ball fitting to the scapula. This procedure is recommended for rotator cuff injuries. They no longer repair the muscles for folks over 65 for rotator cuff tears...now it is replacement time.

@Uncle Phil has had two standard replacements, opposite what I am looking at, and he has shared his experience with me. If you have had this surgery, I have some questions.

My concerns are:
What is your range of motion after surgery? I have nearly total range of motion, but no strength - cannot lift a coffee pot to pour a cup w/ my left arm. My supraspinatus* muscle is torn through and one of the tendons to my bicep is also torn. The 'lifting' function of these will be replaced with the deltoid muscle. Since the geometry changes, one's range of motion may be limited. One woman who I have spoken with said she cannot reach above her waist on her back with the arm that underwent the surgery. She can reach mid back with her other arm. This might not be a bad trade-off...there are back scratchers galore. :rofl1:
How long was recovery? A friend said if they told you it would take a year to feel 100%, nobody would go through with this unless there was major pain. I have little to no pain...just lack of strength.
How long before you started PT after the operation, and how long did the PT last?
How is your strength after the operation?

A very big part of this is having confidence in your surgeon. I've had an initial interview with one of the most highly rated shoulder guys in town. My wife, who was with me, said later that the exam room could barely contain the surgeon's ego. I felt that he minimized the potential problems and the procedure. He said the operation takes 20 minutes (I'd guess preop prep and post op recovery are not included here), he said after 2 days I 'd begin light physical therapy and be back to normal in 14 weeks. I am going to get another opinion. Fortunately, Cleveland has more than a few excellent orthopedic surgeons who specialize in shoulders, and all accept Medicare (well, maybe the guys who fix professional athletes do not).
 
Confidence is important. There are many highly skilled sport surgeons available. I’m near Rush in Chicago, a wonderful facility that all the professional sports teams frequent when needed. Best of luck!
 
My sister and a good friend of mine have had the reverse shoulder replacement and both have good range of motion, my friend at least can reach straight up. Not sure about my sister, I just never asked, but she’s way better off now. It seems the reverse method is becoming the standard of practice of late.
 
wjbertrand said:
My sister and a good friend of mine have had the reverse shoulder replacement and both have good range of motion, my friend at least can reach straight up. Not sure about my sister, I just never asked, but she’s way better off now. It seems the reverse method is becoming the standard of practice of late.
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From what I was told, they generally do a 'reverse' when the rotator cuff is torn or if there are muscle issues.
I found out that even with a 'regular' replacement like mine muscles don't get put back where they used to be and your rotator cuff has to be cut anyway. ;)
 
Well I'm 69 and recovering from shoulder surgery as I write this. My rotator cuff tendons were completely detached as was one bicep tendon and a tendon to the shoulder blade? was partially detached. They put anchors with sutures in them into the bone and then reattached the rotator cuff. Surgeon was great and went over everything step by step both before and after the surgery including going over arthroscopic pictures post op. He made it very clear to me I had to cool it, chill for six weeks, follow instruction including wearing a brace/sling deal 24/7 for best chance of recovery. I really got the warm fuzzy from him both before and after. The first surgeon I saw I couldn't get away from fast enough! It wasn't that he was recommending doing anything much different but his attitude about the whole deal sucked - for lack of a better term.

If you're not feeling great about what the first surgeon said or his attitude then get a second opinion. It's your shoulder and you want to know you're in the best hands possible before you commit to anything.

I will be in this brace/sling deal for a total of 6 weeks. I expect or have been told 3-4 months PT minimum after that.

My pain level was pretty high before surgery. Doc said I had and showed me pictures of "one pissed off shoulder" after surgery. He did both of my nephew's shoulders and my nephew is 100% after. I'm hoping for similar results.
 
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Donk said:
Well I'm 69 and recovering from shoulder surgery as I write this.

If you're not feeling great about what the first surgeon said or his attitude then get a second opinion. It's your shoulder and you want to know you're in the best hands possible before you commit to anything.
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Good luck with your recovery.

I am going to get a second opinion. For me, having confidence in the doc is a big part of it. The only downside here in Cleveland (if this is a downside) is there are many very qualified and expert shoulder docs all with great credentials. Too many choices and I'm trying to narrow the field by talking to friends and people who have had the surgery. I'm not sure how many 'second opinions' I get w/ medicare, but I am going to make an appt. with the 2nd doc I choose next week.
 
Chris09 said:
it all tears away eventually; I embraced that when I was twenty, the only remaining question was, could I live with what I had left?
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Not true. My other shoulder is in great shape, as are most my other joints. Considering how badly I abused my body it is quite amazing. Lots of people get through life without major joint or tendon issues
 
Definitely get the second opinion if you have any uneasy feelings about it. When I had my right knee replaced, I didn't question the recommendation from my primary care doc. He made it very clear to talk only to that orthopedic surgeon and no one else in that office. And when I actually had the surgery done, I was asked by several nurses along the process as to who would be doing the surgery. Always, the response from them was, "You're lucky." The nurses know who is good and who isn't.

I had an endoscopy a couple years back to explore why I was coughing late at night. I had GERD, so my ENT doc thought that was perhaps causing it. Doc A did the endoscopy and told me that if I was 10 years younger, he'd do something different. But at my age, he was going to keep me on acid blockers and increase the dosage. That was the first clue not to trust him.; if I was younger, he'd do surgery. I went back to my ENT doc and told her what happened. She gave me the name of the surgeon that other surgeons go to for me to get checked out. It turns out I didn't have a sphincter muscle anymore at the top of my stomach and I had Barrett's Esophagus. After surgery with him, I no longer take any acid blockers.

Sometimes that second opinion is very worthwhile.

We're in a time now where docs that accept the Medicare prices aren't necessarily working like Dr. Welby, M.D. (Now we'll see how old you really are if you recognize that name.) The hospitals want to move people through as fast as they can to maximize their profits and the docs are doing the same to maximize their income. And you're left living with whatever mistakes that causes.

Chris
 
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I remember when knee replacements were a 3 day stay in the hospital to ensure proper mobility and pain management.
Now they are 'outpatient' - get the patient out of here as quickly as they can! :)
 
Daboo said:
I was asked by several nurses along the process as to who would be doing the surgery. Always, the response from them was, "You're lucky." The nurses know who is good and who isn't.
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I spent 5 years working part time as a ward clerk in a major 800 bed teaching hospital and going to university part time. Worked in every area except neurosurgery and spent 2 summers in the operating room at the main desk. Clerical staff are invisible in terms of nurses, interns and residents talking candidly in front of them about everything, including attending staff, their attitudes, their relative skill set and their "redo" and infection rates. In particular, part of the duties for RN staff at the desk was to allot OR time to specific surgeons for specific procedures. Detailed records were kept to ensure the correct amount of time for setup, the procedure itself and turn around + cleaning was allocated or the room would start to back up and elective cases would have to be cancelled at the end of the day. It was not uncommon for some surgeons to take twice the amount of time to do procedures and often the same MD's had issues with patients post op.

Rest assured that while all MD's pass the same tests to be board certified in their specialty skill levels and success rates vary widely. In a class of 100 there are the top 5% and the bottom 5%.

Yes, if you can find an RN who is working in the OR or in the post op ortho area they would be able to give you great advice about who to go to, and more importantly, who to avoid.

Also, in my experience, there is no correlation between ego and skill. There were many insufferable bas...... who treated all staff like dirt. Some were acknowledged to be brilliant, and some were duds.
 
vanity always rears it's head; the question is do you want it; after... I'll throw a dart, 54 the real question becomes what Tom Berenger tells; take the pain, can you take the pain, well now, there's pills for that which takes it out of the equation if you're old [like me] and you're getting weaker, how much weaker will you be when you're strong enough to get out of the bed that you laid down in, is it worth risking everything you had in the first place,
good joke is hey, it hurts when I move my arm like this... well it was funny up until the time I was about forty but that was long ago
It's an industry that needs customers and spends a lot on promotion
[edit] but hey, don't listen to me, I'm just a dumb refrigeration mechanic... that worked at a hospital... with a morgue... for twenty two years...
I'm uneducated, my opinion means nothing...
 
I had a total knee replacement in November 2015. There was a pre-op briefing of all the people with upcoming appointments for knee and hip replacements. I walked into that room on my own. The others there looked o-o-l-l-l-l-d-d-d. They came in with canes, walkers and wheel chairs. I walked in. I almost bailed on the knee replacement.

But I had the knee replacement. Lived through the pain afterwards of the PT and healing. Four months later, I took a "short" hike with my son-in-law. It turned out to be 8 miles. That summer, I hiked up to the East Observation Point at Zion National Park. Neither of those two hikes would've been possible without the surgery.

At whatever point you are if you don't get the surgery...is where you'll start going downhill. It won't get better, just worse.
 
Uncle Phil said:
I remember when knee replacements were a 3 day stay in the hospital to ensure proper mobility and pain management.
Now they are 'outpatient' - get the patient out of here as quickly as they can! :)
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Both of my knee replacements were basically out patient procedures. Surgery in the morning, home in the afternoon. They had me walking the ward (using a walker) and up and down stains (one foot at a time) almost as soon as I woke up.

Regarding the decision to do any kind of joint replacement vs. living with the pain and growing limitations, it was a no brainer to do the replacements for me. I watched my mom end up in a wheel chair after suffering for years trying to get around. Once in the chair, her physical condition deteriorated quickly. Not for me!
 
Daboo said:
I walked into that room on my own. The others there looked o-o-l-l-l-l-d-d-d.
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Friend of mine checked into a retirement community w/ an assisted living option shortly after Covid 19 hit. He went there to get the vaccination and while on line called me. He said, "I'm on line to get my shot. You know, all these people here look old!"
 
wjbertrand said:
Both of my knee replacements were basically out patient procedures. Surgery in the morning, home in the afternoon. They had me walking the ward (using a walker) and up and down stains (one foot at a time) almost as soon as I woke up.

Regarding the decision to do any kind of joint replacement vs. living with the pain and growing limitations, it was a no brainer to do the replacements for me. I watched my mom end up in a wheel chair after suffering for years trying to get around. Once in the chair, her physical condition deteriorated quickly. Not for me!
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My philosophy is "If (fill in the body part) makes me stop and think how will it affect what I am about to do" it's time to get to fixed if it can be fixed.
I tell people with knee replacements that the first time you go down or up a set of stairs without thinking about, you are recovered! ;)
 
I'm 73. I'm not ready to pull up the rocking chair and wait to die. And yet at least one doctor I've encountered in the last couple years, figures when you're in the 70s, it is time for his patients to do just that. I disagree. UP has it right. If part of my body won't work any more...can I get it fixed? Or is this just something I have to accept as being part of growing old? If I can get back to the pain free mobility I had before, I want it.

@Uncle Phil - I know we're supposed to recycle electronics instead of throwing it in the trash. Do they recycle all the metal in our bodies when we die? ;)

Chris
 
Daboo said:
I'm 73. I'm not ready to pull up the rocking chair and wait to die. And yet at least one doctor I've encountered in the last couple years, figures when you're in the 70s, it is time for his patients to do just that. I disagree. UP has it right. If part of my body won't work any more...can I get it fixed? Or is this just something I have to accept as being part of growing old? If I can get back to the pain free mobility I had before, I want it.

@Uncle Phil - I know we're supposed to recycle electronics instead of throwing it in the trash. Do they recycle all the metal in our bodies when we die? ;)

Chris
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I don't know - they may just part us out ... ;)
 
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