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**Peregrino** · 09-07-2014, 17:34

I've been following your adventure from the beginning but didn't feel a need to contribute until now. I had a Bankart repair performed 02 APR. The physician REFUSED to allow PT until mid-AUG. Bottom line - things were bad enough (a lot more damage than expected compounded by previous untreated injuries) when he went in that he didn't want an overzealous PT tech undoing his "masterpiece". I'm progressing well; he cleared me "not to return" on my last visit 03 SEP, instructing me to cautiously continue with the prescribed course of PT.

The data point for you is that there is no such thing as a routine repair. Your Ortho knows what he did and what can be expected over the course of recovery. Keep him in the loop until you have a clean bill of health and recovery has progressed as far as can be expected. Do not expect 100% restoration of function. My physician informed me that I can only expect about 70% after 12 months. As consolation he also told me "that's more than most people need/use anyway". As if that made me feel any better.

The current/projected course of PT is focused on assisted stretching to prevent "frozen shoulder" and gradual increase of exercises designed to build stabilizing muscle. I've also been given a (common sense) list of activities to avoid. I have been repeatedly cautioned to avoid anything causing "pain". Apparently it really isn't "weakness leaving the body" as we've been told all these years. Who'da thunk?

Thankfully, I continue to improve. I have recovered sufficiently that I can once again manipulate a 9mm (haven't tried the .40, .44, or .45 yet); unfortunately I can't get my support elbow under my long gun, I've no idea yet what it means for archery season this year, and I'll be "throwing like a girl" probably for the rest of my life. And it still aches almost continuously though I was able/eager to quit narcotic pain meds W/I 2 weeks of the surgery. I've been assured everything is normal and progressing as expected - not to push it like we've all done while in uniform to "get back in the game faster".

Do as you've been told by your med care team, don't re-injure yourself by pushing too hard/fast, and be accepting of "the new normal". Screwing any of that up will most likely result in additional surgery (guys in my office facing 3rd and 4th surgeries on the same injury for FTFSI!). I don't know about you but avoidable pain (unnecessary surgeries fall in that category) isn't one of my fetishes. Good luck with your recovery; it's a long road, one I'm not that far down myself.

09-07-2014, 17:34	#59
Peregrino Quiet Professional Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Occupied Pineland Posts: 4,701	I've been following your adventure from the beginning but didn't feel a need to contribute until now. I had a Bankart repair performed 02 APR. The physician REFUSED to allow PT until mid-AUG. Bottom line - things were bad enough (a lot more damage than expected compounded by previous untreated injuries) when he went in that he didn't want an overzealous PT tech undoing his "masterpiece". I'm progressing well; he cleared me "not to return" on my last visit 03 SEP, instructing me to cautiously continue with the prescribed course of PT. The data point for you is that there is no such thing as a routine repair. Your Ortho knows what he did and what can be expected over the course of recovery. Keep him in the loop until you have a clean bill of health and recovery has progressed as far as can be expected. Do not expect 100% restoration of function. My physician informed me that I can only expect about 70% after 12 months. As consolation he also told me "that's more than most people need/use anyway". As if that made me feel any better. The current/projected course of PT is focused on assisted stretching to prevent "frozen shoulder" and gradual increase of exercises designed to build stabilizing muscle. I've also been given a (common sense) list of activities to avoid. I have been repeatedly cautioned to avoid anything causing "pain". Apparently it really isn't "weakness leaving the body" as we've been told all these years. Who'da thunk? Thankfully, I continue to improve. I have recovered sufficiently that I can once again manipulate a 9mm (haven't tried the .40, .44, or .45 yet); unfortunately I can't get my support elbow under my long gun, I've no idea yet what it means for archery season this year, and I'll be "throwing like a girl" probably for the rest of my life. And it still aches almost continuously though I was able/eager to quit narcotic pain meds W/I 2 weeks of the surgery. I've been assured everything is normal and progressing as expected - not to push it like we've all done while in uniform to "get back in the game faster". Do as you've been told by your med care team, don't re-injure yourself by pushing too hard/fast, and be accepting of "the new normal". Screwing any of that up will most likely result in additional surgery (guys in my office facing 3rd and 4th surgeries on the same injury for FTFSI!). I don't know about you but avoidable pain (unnecessary surgeries fall in that category) isn't one of my fetishes. Good luck with your recovery; it's a long road, one I'm not that far down myself. __________________ A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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