Photos of Shoulder Surgery

Just a warning…these are actual photos from my arthroscopic surgery, so it could be viewed as a bit graphic by some!  I was so excited that my surgeon finally sent them to me.  So I decided to do a separate post to illustrate all that I had done.

1.  CALCIUM DEBRIDEMENT – This is where he punctured the rotator cuff tendon at the site of the calcium deposit, which appeared white under the surface, and then drilled it all out, removing it as he went.

2.  ROTATOR CUFF REPAIR WITH 4 ANCHORS – This begins with the empty cavity in the tendon that was created by the removal of the calcium deposit.  He screwed 4 anchors into the humerous head to use for tying up the remaining tendon with sutures in order to make the repair.

3.  BURSECTOMY – These photos show the super inflamed bursa, which is all discolored, and the empty spot after it was removed.  All healthy tissue should show up as white or pale.  Inflamed tissues show dark colors.  This bursa had seen better days, which is why he removed it altogether. 

4.  SUBACROMIAL DECOMPRESSION – The post-bursectomy picture also shows the acromion bone at the top.  See how it curves down?  That puts unnecessary pressure on the rotator cuff.  So the decompression involved shaving that bone into a flat plain to eliminate pressure on the future new bursa and rotator cuff, freeing up the space and reducing friction.

5.  LABRAL DEBRIDEMENT – While doing the surgery, he discovered many small tears in the labrum, kind of like a frayed edge.  He shaved that smooth so that there will be smooth rotation in the ball and socket. 

6.  SYNOVECTOMY – This shows the inflamed synovial tissue, which also needed to be removed altogether.

Here is the one healthy tissue I had…the biceps tendon!

So that’s it!

I started physical therapy this week.  It’s shocking how it can take an hour to have someone barely move your arm, but that’s the case!  The therapist basically has me lie down on my back with a towel rolled under my shoulder for support, and then he very, very slowly tries to manually manipulate my arm in various directions.  It’s painstakingly slow and painful.  He also rubs out all the little muscles in the top of the shoulder, and that’s the most painful thing you could imagine!  Just touching on the surface of the skin hurts, much less pressing down and rubbing on those muscles.  It’s excruciating, truly!  The therapist said it’s not from bruising but from the seizing up of all those muscles as a defensive response to the surgery.  Ugh!  It’s definitely going to take a lot of work to work out those kinks and stretch everything back out!  I can barely even tilt my head to the right because it’s all so tight and locked up.  He said as those muscles in the shoulder loosen up, so will my neck.  I can’t wait!

I have another week to go in the immobilizer sling.  Next Friday will be 4 weeks post-op, and then I can remove the immobilizer pad and just wear the sling by itself after that.  I’ll have 2 more weeks thereafter in the sling, and then if all goes well, I can come out of the sling at 6 weeks post-op on December 27th.  Yay!  My arm will be free for my birthday on the new year! 

My therapy up until then will only consist of those passive movements.  If I can achieve the target range of motion in passive motion by then, then we will begin to work on assisted movements thereafter.  I can’t wait!  There is a lot of aching and the need for icing after therapy, but it’s so worth it!  I had therapy yesterday and slept with the ice machine on all night, but when I took my sling off for my morning pendulum exercises today, the shoulder definitely felt looser than before.  That’s awesome!

Clearly, it’s going to be a long recovery, but I’m on the road to getting back to my everyday  life, and I’m happy about that!