Had to have it done. Rotator Cuff

[2rsquared]

Ok...I think I might be ready to give it a try. I have been hitting the PT pretty hard and near 100% full range of motion, however my strength is still lacking. It will be 6 months since my rotator cuff surgery come July 4th.

I was able buy some 50# limbs for my old Elite GT500. I hope to take it to Lancaster's soon and have them installed and turned down as low as they will go.

Does anyone have any good links to some videos that show proper drawing form? I am using a thumb release (Stan Just X) if that matters.

I will most likely draw low using my lower lat muscles and then bring my arm/elbow/shoulder up to my anchor point (if this makes any sense).

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[Arctic Hunter]

That's what I've been having to do. Draw low using a push pull motion. Not perfect form, but it's getting stronger and slowly getting better. The end of this month will be five months for me. I've maxed out my wife's 40lb limbs and I'm about to try some 50-60lb limbs.

I drew an elk tag this year, so I'm shooting for 60# by August.

It's a long recovery.....stay strong.

 

[DRP]

good luck to everyone! stick with the PT and stretching as long as possible. My surgery was January 19th on my left shoulder (im right handed) and im shooting my bow now at 55lbs. I only shoot about 10 arrows a day and had to take my stabilizer off and my quiver to keep the overall weight of the bow down. I also drew a premuim elk tag in oregon this year so its imperative to be shooting well by the 1st of September.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

Resurrecting this thread to see how everybody is doing. My surgery was just over a year ago. Just ordered a 70# compound. Shot 60 all year. Still some pain here and there, but mostly from working out.

I started doing some specific exercises to build myself back up enough to shoot my recurves again. It's going to take a while to get that back. Guess I'll stick with wheels for a little longer.

Hope everybody is healing up well.

 

[DRP]

Glad to hear your recovering, I had my surgery right at a year ago (Jan 19 2018). Im doing well, I do have some discomfort from time to time. I found that my biggest issue was from the bicep tendon relocate. its been real tight and the exercise's I was given didn't help much. I started hanging from a pull up bar and WOW that did wonders at stretching things out, I now hang for about 20-30 seconds every morning when I get up and again in the afternoon after work. I was able to arrow a decent 3pt mule deer last year but my shooting was definitely limited.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

Glad to hear your recovering, I had my surgery right at a year ago (Jan 19 2018). Im doing well, I do have some discomfort from time to time. I found that my biggest issue was from the bicep tendon relocate. its been real tight and the exercise's I was given didn't help much. I started hanging from a pull up bar and WOW that did wonders at stretching things out, I now hang for about 20-30 seconds every morning when I get up and again in the afternoon after work. I was able to arrow a decent 3pt mule deer last year but my shooting was definitely limited.

Dude....I am having a similar issue since they reattached my bicep tendon. I will have to give that a shot.

 

[lyle_destroys]

Im 27 and my left shoulder is already trashed. Right one isnt too much of a problem. When I was in the army had a bunch of x-rays and mri's done because of shoulder pain and the PA said I would most likely have to have both mine done by the time im 40. Im really not looking forward to it. Anything you guys can recommend to prolong this? I lift but I dont get too crazy on my bench and I have to limit my shoulder exercises so I dont irritate it.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

I'd recommend trying physical therapy. It didn't help mine. But most doctors will send you there first anyway. The only that seemed to help mine was laying off any lifting that caused it to get inflamed.

Ibuprofen and steroid/cortisone shots masked the pain for a while.

 

[Car7x]

4 shoulder jobs, covering most of the issues outlined so far. 2 on each side, the last being the only classic RC on the bow shoulder. Still have partially torn biceps tendon, they think. Just going to run it as long as I can, I'm 65. That's just the shoulder stuff.

I dropped poundage to about 55, feel like I might be able to do 60 smooth at some point, and moved my max deer range in to around 50. I'm not as strong holding up the bow as I was. But I'm damn glad to be out there. I figure I'll just be smarter, get in sneaker, and try not to hold long draws. (Enough about me - how do you think I'm coping. ;/).

I saw an old guy huffing and puffing around the track. His T shirt said:

'When all else fails, lower your expectations'

Like all have said, do what your PT says. My nugget - learned the hard way - might be appropriate in our group of hard chargers:

Don't overdo what your PT says. Recovering from an arm shortening (yeah, they do that; positive ulnar variance) I I moved up weights too fast. Just getting past a year of forearm tendinitis as a result. Don't rush it, and don't stress. Happy Trails!

 

[Blacktail_Packer]

Im 27 and my left shoulder is already trashed. Right one isnt too much of a problem. When I was in the army had a bunch of x-rays and mri's done because of shoulder pain and the PA said I would most likely have to have both mine done by the time im 40. Im really not looking forward to it. Anything you guys can recommend to prolong this? I lift but I dont get too crazy on my bench and I have to limit my shoulder exercises so I dont irritate it.

Like Arctic said I’d lay off the lifting and focus more on the pt. I’m still in early recovery compared to a lot of guys here (10/26/18 so just over 3 months)
My surgery wasn’t as involved as a lot of guy. Mine was only a partial tear but the injury was 10 years ago and I’ve messed my posture and how I use my body up trying to baby my shoulder. I’m working with a personal trainer now in addition to PT and I’m hoping that by this season I’ll be in the best shape I’ve been in in a long while and hopefully I’ll actually be able to get a good night sleep. That was the big deciding factor for me, I need my sleep.

 

[Backyard]

Im 27 and my left shoulder is already trashed. Right one isnt too much of a problem. When I was in the army had a bunch of x-rays and mri's done because of shoulder pain and the PA said I would most likely have to have both mine done by the time im 40. Im really not looking forward to it. Anything you guys can recommend to prolong this? I lift but I dont get too crazy on my bench and I have to limit my shoulder exercises so I dont irritate it.

I've had both done, one far worse than the other, 2 yrs apart, thae last being 2 yrs ago.
Both my PT guy and a trainer with a masters deg. had me doing (still do em now) front , lateral and 45° arm raises with light weight dumbells, 5-12 lbs. doing reps/sets with both palms down and palms up. These really help to strengthen the muscles that create the rotator cuff.
Look up "arm raises".
Good luck.

 

[Odell]

i am currently rehabbing a frozen shoulder and its a nightmare. I wake up 6-10 times a night, can't do much at all with my right arm. Guess I won't be playing softball or shooting my bow any time soon.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

i am currently rehabbing a frozen shoulder and its a nightmare. I wake up 6-10 times a night, can't do much at all with my right arm. Guess I won't be playing softball or shooting my bow any time soon.

That sucks man. Hope it starts getting better soon. Get you a set of lighter limbs and start building it back up when the doc clears you.

Maybe you can get it built back up enough to bowhunt this fall.

 

[DRP]

i am currently rehabbing a frozen shoulder and its a nightmare. I wake up 6-10 times a night, can't do much at all with my right arm. Guess I won't be playing softball or shooting my bow any time soon.

Check out DR. Hightower on YouTube, he is a chiropractor that has some interesting techniques for releasing a frozen shoulder. He seems pretty educated and is a member of Mensa.

 

[2rsquared]

I lift but I dont get too crazy on my bench and I have to limit my shoulder exercises so I dont irritate it.

Lifting weights is good but I would forget about bench pressing...especially heavy barbell. There are alternatives to working the chest/pecs that are more effective and put less stress on your shoulders.

It's all about balance. An overdeveloped chest and front delts and underdeveloped back and rear delts will wreak havoc on your rotator cuffs.

Seek the advice of a PT and include rotator cuff strengthening and stretching into your workout routine.

As someone who always lifted heavy, I have since learned to leave the ego at home and use lighter weight but with more focus on form and muscle contraction. I no longer care about simply moving the most weight that I can from point A to point B. There are more effective ways.

I felt weird doing shoulder raises with 2 1/2 pound dumbbells and wimpy stretch bands, but that along with other rotator cuff exercises/stretching has done wonders. "Face pulls" using light bands has helped strengthen my rotator cuffs a lot and helped bring everything back into balance.

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[Mmcan]

Coming back to this after laying off of the forum for a while. I hope everyone is continuing to heal and rehab, regardless of what stage of this game you’re in.

I would echo the comments about PT. Very important. Do as instructed, but don’t overdo it. Had to chuckle at the comment above saying he felt like a wimp doing shoulder raises w 2 1/2 lbs. But remember when you couldn’t even raise your arm? “Check your ego”. Indeed, words of wisdom. Progress and healing will come, albeit slower than any of us would like.

My surgery will be 2 years ago this November. I’m at damn near full function after having had work done to basically every component of my shoulder. Bone, cartilage, ligaments, muscle, tendon, and anchors. I do something for it every day (stretching, ROM exercises), and start every lifting session with exercises specifically targeting keeping my shoulder strong and healthy. For sure, certain exercises are absolutely taboo. And I focus hard on reps and form much more than I ever have. And forget about “heavy” lifting. I strive for function and avoiding injury.

Keep up the hard work.

 

[Arctic Hunter]

I’m a little over a year and a half past surgery. Shoulder is pretty good now, and I’d call it nearly 100 percent. It’s light years beyond what it was before the surgery.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Hope everybody else has recovered well too.

 

[toadmeister]

I’m a little over a year and a half past surgery. Shoulder is pretty good now, and I’d call it nearly 100 percent. It’s light years beyond what it was before the surgery.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Hope everybody else has recovered well too.

Congratulations!

On a related note I had my neck surgery, C6-7 fused and I feel do much better after 5 weeks. On week 3 after surgery I rode my bicycle 2 days of RAGBRAI for 106 miles than on week 4 and 5 hiked/backpacked 66 miles in Philmont NM with my son's Boy Scout troop. We climbed 6 mountains.

Could not have done it without surgury. Time to get ready for Bowhunting season!

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[2rsquared]

It's been a little over a year and 1/2 now since my shoulder surgery. I am still doing my rotator cuff exercises almost every day. Laying in the floor right now watching tv doing them as we speak.

Getting "swole" (as my son would say) and bumping it up to the big "purple" dumbbells now.

My workout equipment is below.

Keep it up everyone...whether you are fully recovered or not.

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