The answer in the majority of patients is yes. We’re doing more and more reverses in patients who have intact rotator cuffs. We detach part of the rotator cuff, the subscapularis, and then reattach it for surgery. The less of the cuff, the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor, we leave, and we don’t mess with…
I do not put an age limit on rotator cuff surgery. Some surgeons make a mistake when they say, “You’re over this age, and if you look at the data, our healing rates are this.” Looking deeper into those studies, the right age is a factor. There’s no question that the older you are, the…
The answer is no, but it will be way better. That’s why we’re doing rotator cuff surgery to fix the problem in your shoulder. When you look at our data, we specialize in this surgery. In my practice, I do close to 400 rotator cuff repairs a year, which is way more than the average…
The answer is in 99% of patients, yes. This is a common misconception that I get all the time. Some other doctors, even surgeons, say, “Oh, there’s no way your rotator cuffs are torn.” You can move your arm. Tons of people can move their arms with rotator cuff tears. It’s like 99%. Some people…
This will vary depending on what surgeon does your surgery and what they tell you. In my practice, the way we treat patients is different. We are much more accelerated than 99% of surgeons. For us, after two weeks, the sling is completely optional. You can move your arm around. I’m okay with early active…
This is a good question because it’s kind of nuanced. In many shoulder replacements, we use the rotator cuff and four tendons. But the one in the front is called the subscapularis. Think of that as a tendon. That’s the door to the shoulder. But we must open the door, insert the shoulder replacement, and…
Two weeks after rotator cuff surgery. The portal sites we do, these arthroscopically are healed. You’ll have some bruising down your arm. That’s typical. Some have more than others. It’s normal. Don’t worry about it. You’re kind of through the rough patch. The hardest part of rotator cuff surgery is the first week or two….
I’m gonna keep this simple. You shouldn’t do things that cause a high level of pain. In general, our protocols are right after rotator cuff surgery, we allow gentle, active motion like the hand to head, but not higher. We don’t want you to lift your arms. That’s what you won’t want to do right…
This is a question we get a lot from our patients. If you have pain in your shoulder, I still actually encourage everyone to continue to exercise and even do exercises with their shoulder. But I don’t want you to do things that hurt. In general, if you can see your hand, it’s less stress…
For this, it would be rotator cuff pathology. It would be pinching impingement or tendonitis of the rotator cuff muscles. When you elevate, if you look at the human shoulder, there’s an acromion here, the rotator cuff slides underneath it. If there’s weakness or tearing of the rotator cuff, you can get some impingement symptoms,…
