Acromioplasty (Subacromial decompression)
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I don't think I can put it off any longer. How bad is the recovery? The PA who shoots me with cortisone says its not all that bad, but then he also says there's no lifetime limit on cortisone shots either. Anyone have experience with this? |
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A decompression should be very straight forward and the recovery is not bad because all they are doing is shaving down the spur on the acromion process. So the pain is sort of like a fracture site but not as bad its different. The patients that I have treated post op say it was a good decision to get it done. It is a rather straight forward procedure really and there recovery time was not long compared to what they put up with. A few months of PT and they were back to regular activity, now this was based on their pre-surgical conditioning and some other factors. |
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I underwent subacromial decompression 10 or 12 years ago. I have the type 3 acromian which is the most "hooked" one i.e. the type that creates the least space inside the joint capsule. Thus every time I reach over my head there is some impingement. I just gritted my teeth and dealt with the pain for many years and never tried cortisone. It was my first surgery, and I had a lot of trepidation about going under the knife (laprascopic surgery to be more accurate). |
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I had it done 6 or 7 years ago. It was an arthoscopic procedure performed at Stanford University by Tim Mc Adams. I had no post operative pain, I literally took 1 Vicodin then realized I didn't need them. I was fitted with a sling and cooling pad that used circulating ice chilled water whilst in Surgery which was removed about 4 days later when I returned for a checkup. I kayaked a class IV river a week later, back to full blown class V within the month (Probably shouldn't have done that!). The surgeons advice WAS to go easy for 5-6 weeks until the sharp and rough surfaces created during the procedure had become smooth and lubricated again. Still problem free to this day. |
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Ian- do you know what type of acromion you had? Like tigerclaw, mine is a 3; an eagles beak. Feels like a big fat nail is stuck into my shoulder. |
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Tigerclaw, sorry you had such a rough experience. I have been a PT for nearly 20 years and have treated a lot of shoulders and in that time I can't recall someone with that kind of bruising after even a capsular or tendon repair. Did you by chance have a tear in the supraspiantus that was not repaired? Often times with a grade 3 spur there will be a partial thickness tear in that tendon. Some surgeons insist on repairing it others will let it go to heal on its own. If the later was the case then that could account for the prolonged healing time and limitations. |
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Old and Busted wrote:Ian- do you know what type of acromion you had? Like tigerclaw, mine is a 3; an eagles beak. Feels like a big fat nail is stuck into my shoulder. And thats awesome how you 2 could not have had more different of an experience.That's one detail I'm afraid I don't recall...I'm not sure the surgeon ever quantified the type of spur removed. Part of the goal of my surgery was to investigate (and repair) a suspected partial tear. In the event I recall nothing was deemed necessary once they could see the (minimal) damage. Empirically the effect of the surgery was very obvious, all the pain I had been suffering as a result of the impingement was gone. Also to PeterD's good PT advice...since I had no tear repair done I could resume active PT immediately and I continued the full recommended course. |
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Dr. Stephen Paul in Boulder performed my my subacromial decompression in Jan 2009, and 5 years later it continues to be great decision to get it fixed, one I should have made sooner rather than living with the pain (and making it worse). My acromion was a Type 2. It was my first surgery ever and I was dreading recovery. |