How to Know the Risks of Rotator Cuff Surgery

Rotator cuff surgery, like any surgery, has associated risks. However, if you know what these risks are before you have the surgery, you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to go through with rotator cuff surgery. And, if you do, you can do your best to minimize these risks. Read on to know the risks of rotator cuff surgery.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Ask your doctor what kind of surgery they suggest is performed on your rotator cuff. Different types of surgery differ in their inherent risk and recovery times. The different types of rotator cuff surgery include:
   
   • Impingement surgery: The surgeon shaves a small portion of bone and bone spurs and removes any irritated bursa from the underside of the acromion.
   • Rotator cuff repair: The surgeon makes a 3 inch incision in the shoulder, cuts through the deltoid muscle, removes any built-up scar tissue, carves a small trough in the upper arm, drills small holes in the bone and sews the tendon to the bone.
   • Arthroscopic surgery: The surgeon makes a buttonhole size incision, inserts a thin tube containing surgical instruments and a video camera and then performs the surgery with the remotely-controlled instruments while watching on the video screen.

2. Learn about antiseptics. If you go through with the surgery, you’re going to have to keep yourself and especially the incision clean while it heals to avoid infection. Your doctor should prescribe you antiseptics to use while you are healing.

3. Use the Internet. Go to reputable Web sites like Yahoo Health and ehealth MD to learn more about your condition and the risks involved with living with a bad rotator cuff versus having it treated (see Resources).

4. Understand the risks of rotator cuff surgery. Rotator cuff surgery, like all surgery, has some common risks associated with it. Some of the risks include:
   
   • Infection
   • Nerve and blood vessel damage
   • Joint stiffness
   • Pain
   • Unrepairability of the tendon
   • Re-tearing of the repaired rotator cuff

5. Be aware that rotator cuff surgery doesn’t result in satisfactory relief of pain in about 10 percent of all surgeries.

6. Surgeons that haven’t performed new procedures (like the arthroscopic rotator cuff surgery) many times may still be learning how to effectively perform them. Find out how much experience your surgeon has with the procedure that they will perform.

7. Comply with your post-operative rehabilitation to avoid complications with deltoid detachment. In open surgery, the deltoid muscle is detached and then reattached. In less than 1 percent of cases, the muscle detaches again.

Tips & Warnings

• An ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure. Educate yourself before you go into the operating room or into physical therapy.
• Stick with physical therapy. A weakened shoulder is more likely to be injured a second or third time.
• Keep the surgical incision clean with soap, water, and rubbing alcohol to stave of topical infections.
• If pain persists in a high degree for more than a few days after the surgery, something is wrong and you need to contact your physician.

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