Reatteched Shoulder Tendons?

[TommyK]

Greetings,

Has anyone who has had shoulder tendons reattached still practicing MA in any form? I had my double tendon reattachemnt in the right shoulder 4 1/2 months ago. My surgeon still has me in Physical Therapy, but said I could go back to practice if there is no contact (free fighting)and no one 'pulls' on my repaired arm. I would like to compare experiences. By the way this is my 15th year in this school and I'm 51.

Thanks in advance,
Regards,
TommyK
Tom Militello
"There is no such thing as a stupid question...I hope!?

[unsound000]

My teacher has shortened shoulder tendons and has limited use of that arm. He stillt teaches but often must use his left arm. He has never mentioned any problem with the training or injured his arm further. I would worry less about someone hitting your arm than about you throwing it out somehow or doing too much too early.
Another problem that you will run into is that your rolls and falls will suffer. This is generally true after almost any injury as the body tries to "guard" the injured limb. This results in tense falls and improper form. Do your best to stick to the right form on your falls as this is safest. Your body may try to avoid taking certain falls even though you are willing. You'll have to be patient. If you do feel pain in the area, then immediately stop and check with your therapist and see if there is any change. Don't try and tough it out. My guess is that if you hurt it during practice then you will have a much harder time getting into the swing of things again, then if you hurt it doing something else. If you did hurt it during practice, then that brings up a bunch of new questions. Your age means that you take longer to heal. My guess is that age does not greatly increase the possibility of reinjuring a ligament but I'm not a doctor so I don't know.

[MarkF]

Welcome to E-budo, unsound000!

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Mark

[Joe Kras]

Two points that bear repeating:

1) The repaired shoulder will never be as good (flexible, strong) as it was prior to the injury. In some ways it may eventually come close, but it will never be quite the same.

2) The repair will continue to remodel and reach its final strength and flexibility (assuming no reinjury) in about a YEAR. So take it slow. The big question is "What type of art do you train in?". The more that the shoulder is actively involved in your art, the less that you will be able to do.

But whatever you do, take it slowly, and eventually you'll probably be able to compensate fairly well, so that only you will notice the differences. Unfortunately, problems such as yours are not uncommon in martial artists as we age.

Joe Kras (an anesthesiologist, not an orthopedic surgeon)
St. Louis, MO USA