What to expect when needing: Rotator Cuff Surgery

Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. I am sharing my experiences with a rotator cuff injury and not suggesting how anyone else should handle their medical injuries. This is simply to tell my story and hopefully provide helpful information for anyone else going through a similar situation. Anything this story causes you to consider doing should be discussed with a medical professional as all situations are different. Once again, this is written to be helpful information to be discussed with a medical professional and not written to be medical advice.

It all stemmed from ignorance and youthful stubbornness. I had been training to be a US Marine, recently started Crossfit, and was of the mindset that pain was weakness. Something you pushed through no matter the intensity. Pain was not a warning sign to heed but a weakness to be eliminated and mentally conquered. Translation. I was young and stupid. Muscle ups were the next movement I was ready to conquer. Proficient at doing large sets of true strict pullups and having strict chest to bar and dips under my belt, being able to get into the gymnasts starting position was next on my list.

Now let me start out by clarifying that no Crossfit movement in and of itself is dangerous. Movements or new skills of any kind are only dangerous when done without active supervision and training. Just like someone shouldn’t learn to drive without a teacher, learning more advanced physical exercises should be done with help. I did look up videos and how-tos but I didn’t spend the money to simply purchase a course that would take me through progressions and make sure I knew what muscles should be activating. Unfortunately for me I was strong enough to truly just muscle through muscle ups. I would chicken wing it every time on the bar (not on the rings thankfully). “Chicken winging” is when instead of both arms landing in the dip position at the same time, one arm lands first, putting extreme strain on the shoulder to hold the position until the other arm gets above the bar.

Honestly things probably would have still ended up okay if a workout in the Crossfit open hadn’t had muscle ups. I had just gotten good enough to know I could do a couple, leaving me hungry to hit as many as possible. Normally I would work on this movement when I was fresh so my muscles weren’t too tired, but the movement was programmed halfway through the workout when my muscles would be fatigued. Regardless, I’m a relentlessly competitive person and pushed through the workout. I got to the muscle ups and took my time, managing to hit a couple. The time was flying by and I had just enough time for one last attempt. I got one arm over but had to fight hard to get the other up. I should have given up and dropped down, but I can’t stand losing when I’ve tasted victory. I fought hard and made the rep, but I also felt something in my shoulder. I can’t remember for sure, but I believe I felt and heard something like a pop.

The next week of workouts greatly stressed my upper body with hundreds of push-ups, chest to bar, and the like. And like the stubborn idiot I am, I did them all. I felt fairly uncomfortable at first, then by the end of the week, intense pain. I was doing another open workout with lots of chest to bar and thrusters. My husband, Kirk, was judging me, making sure every rep was to standard. At first, I was able to hide the intense pain I felt with every chest to bar. But the pain continued to increase and despite my high pain tolerance, I soon found myself slightly grimacing. This quickly turned into blatant pain displaying across my face. Kirk told me to stop if it was hurting, I pushed on. Kirk finally quietly said, “this isn’t worth hurting yourself.” As his words sunk in, I stopped, turning to walk with purpose outside as I burst into tears sobbing. The pain was intense, I knew something was wrong.

I set up an appointment at an orthopedic center in Atlanta. After a short exam and an X-ray, I was told everything was fine. I probably simply pulled or sprained something since no bones were broken and the manual rotator cuff exam had shown nothing. The doctor told me to rest the arm and not use it exercising for a few months. I did as I was told and thought I would go stir crazy only days into the rest time. But I was good and after the time off I was able to jump back into my normal workouts. A huge help transitioning back to normal workouts was the Crossover Symmetry system. They’re wonderful for rehab as well as warming up before working out. I did this religiously before every workout.

I was fine for close to two years, but didn’t notice over that time how my snatches and overhead movements slowly got less even. My left side was not functioning correctly. It started to be more noticeable and my coaches pointed it out to me. I got programs to work on certain muscles, worked on single arm movements and stability. Still it didn’t greatly improve. But I was lifting heavy, getting stronger, and often hitting PRs. It wasn’t hurting so I figured it was just an imbalance to keep working on.

Then the night came where I woke up from intense shoulder pain. My neck, traps, upper back, shoulder, and arm all took turns aching intensely. I had never experienced pain waking me up from sleep. I’m a deep sleeper who sleeps peacefully through rainstorms, nearby tornados, and loud indoor noises. My shoulder was not happy. But again, it wasn’t shots of pain, but a deep ache. I figured I had some bad knots and tired, sore muscles. After about a week I was ready for some relief. I visited a physical therapist who checked for rotator cuff issues, finding nothing that seemed concerning, and after some dry needling therapy and other manual work I found incredible relief after a few visits. A few months later though the pain resurfaced. Once again, only at night or sometimes when sitting, and not causing any issues or any pain when exercising.

My physical therapist had moved so I went to my local chiropractor. She also checked for rotator cuff tears and found nothing. We focused on cupping therapy which also helped to relieve some of the pain. When it began to intensify once again, I found another PT to see if any further therapies such as dry needling could be used. She also checked manually for a rotator cuff tear (this is the fourth, very knowledgeable, well trained professional to check my shoulder) and found nothing of concern besides some odd muscle imbalances. We proceeded with dry needling again.

When this fourth attempt did not offer the longer relief my previous attempts had, I began to suspect I had a rare case going on with my shoulders. Taking matters into my own hands I chose to advocate for myself and found a local MRI location that did not require a doctor’s order. For only $400 I skipped a trip to a doctor and their co-pay, got an MRI quickly and easily, and got a radiologist report. A day later I learned I had a full thickness tear in my rotator cuff, a bone spur, bursitis, and arthritis on my collarbone.

While not happy about the diagnosis, I honestly was thrilled to simply know the cause of my pain and be able to create an action plan moving forward. While I was extremely young to be needing rotator cuff surgery I quickly learned from my research and talking to others who had had the same surgery, that with a full thickness tear I would most likely need surgery to properly recover.

When you have a partial tear, physical therapy is often suggested as a first line of defense. Building the surrounding muscles up to protect and take up the slack for the injured muscle. With a full tear, it is often the best option to fully repair it so the muscle doesn’t continue to atrophy and retract from the bone.

Now I was on the hunt for a surgeon. There were a few people at my gym, and medical professional friends who suggested surgeon options. I researched, visited healthgrades.com, and checked out the website pages for numerous surgeons. I ultimately settled on a surgeon who worked primarily on athletes, had amazing reviews, and I felt good about, A few days after setting a consultation with him for later that week, I had a friend suggest him. I felt that gave some confirmation to my choice.

I learned from my surgeon that I had built up my surrounding muscles so much that it masked my intense injury. This had caused the previous four medical professionals, without the knowledge of an MRI, the assumption that I had just a slight muscle imbalance. That information mixed with my young age of 28 (rotator cuff tears are most common in 50-60 year olds) made a rotator cuff tear seem even more unlikely.

I discussed all my options with my surgeon, ultimately being told surgery was in my future if I wanted to continue more intense exercising. I was ready to get back to normal so we penciled in a surgery date that same day. I had a few weeks to make a final decision, but I truly had made up my mind almost a week before when I received my radiology reports back. I was ready to be properly fixed. PT could only do so much, and I’d already gone down that route some. I finalized my surgery date and a new stage of my journey began.