Lynn was 69 years old when she had shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff. Here is her story about having surgery, and returning to play tennis again...

At age 40, I decided to quit smoking and take up tennis...

My experience with having a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder and then having shoulder surgery in order to repair it is not an especially fond memory for me. The beginning of this story really goes back to the time when I was forty years old. At age 40, I decided to quit smoking and take up tennis. I know that this seems like an ordinary event these days, because everyone, especially my children, lead very healthy lifestyles. But you have to remember that in those days, smoking a cigarette and having an afternoon cocktail was a much more common activity than going to the club to exercise is today. At any rate, my children were growing up, and for some reason, I just felt like I needed a bit of a change in my lifestyle. I had played tennis when I was in school and I always enjoyed the game, and getting back to it was hard. My body wasn't nearly as responsive as it used to be (even at age 40!) and I was really tired after the first couple of matches that I played. Nevertheless, I stuck with it, and over the course of a couple of years, I became totally engaged in the sport. It became such an important part of my life that I worked up to playing at least 5 times per week, and going to the club to play was a daily ritual. I started to enter the occasional tournament, and then started playing for the club team. Eventually, most of my social activities revolved around the people I played tennis with, and it became an integral part of my life. I am truly happy that I rediscovered tennis, because I do love the game.

I was starting to have trouble with my stroke, and I played for less and less time because my shoulder would be so sore after a workout.

When I was about 69 years old, I began to wake up at night with a pain in my right shoulder. At first it was just a nagging discomfort that made it difficult to fall asleep at night, or find a comfortable position, but eventually I began to wake up in the middle of the night with a dull throb in my shoulder and I would not be able to fall back asleep. I could not recall any specific injury or event that might have cause the pain, and I certainly had never injured my shoulder in the past. At first, he pain was not noticeable during the day, but over the course of the next 2 years, it gradually got worse so that I was in pain more and more often. I was starting to have trouble with my stroke, and I played for less and less time because my shoulder would be so sore after a workout. In spite of all of this discomfort, I was avoiding going to the doctor in fear that I would get another "well, you are getting older…." Lecture. I was also afraid that I would find out that there was in fact something seriously wrong with my shoulder that would mean that I would have to give up tennis. Eventually, the pain got to be bad enough that I wasn't enjoying playing anymore, and my tennis game started to slip, I decided that I had to go to see my doctor.

Having previously torn my ACL skiing at age 60, Dr. Pete, a sports medicine specialist, and I go way back. He's become a good friend to me over the years, and I always felt like he encouraged me to do everything that I wanted to do. I rarely got advice from him that I should slow down, or give up a certain activity. When he examined me, he found that while my pain was located directly over the rotator cuff, I had no weakness in the shoulder that he could detect. I could still raise my arm over my head with only a moderate amount shoulder pain. He told me that he suspected that I had a rotator cuff tear, but he recommended that I try some physical therapy.

I went to see the therapist, a pleasant and enthusiastic young woman, who started me on a program of strengthening exercises for the shoulder. She tried to teach me ways to use my shoulder so that it didn't aggravate the inflammation or cause my shoulder to become painful. I started taking Ibuprofen three times a day, and I stayed away from tennis. As much as I wanted to get better with therapy, the therapy was painful! I tried to stick with it, and I was so relieved when my therapist and I jointly decided that after 2 months of PT ("physical torture…"), I was not going to get any better. She recommended that I pay another visit to Dr. Pete.

Dr. Pete gave me the usual talk about my age, that I didn't need my shoulder to function better in order to earn an income, and that I wasn't in pain all the time!

When I went back to Dr. Pete, he examined my shoulder again, and we talked for a while about what was happening in therapy and what I wanted out of my shoulder. At the end of that clinic visit, he ordered an arthrogram. He explained this test as a special type of an x-ray combined with an injection of dye into the shoulder joint that lets the radiology doctor see if there is a tear in one of the rotator cuff tendons. My test was definitely positive. I understand that they tend to do this type of test now using an MRI scanner instead of poking the needle into your shoulder joint. If you have this as an option, take the MRI because the arthrogram was an ordeal in its own right. Dr. Pete gave me the usual talk about my age, that I didn't need my shoulder to function better in order to earn an income, and that I wasn't in pain all the time! I told him that I wanted to play tennis and that golf was important to me, and I didn't want to give these activities up. He explained that this was an elective surgery, so it was up to me to decide if I could accept the risks of surgery in order to improve the function of my shoulder. He explained that complications from shoulder surgery were rare, but if I had a complication, it might make my shoulder even worse that it was already. We had a long talk about the in's and out's of the surgery, and I talked it over with my husband. In the end, we all decided that shoulder surgery was a good way to go, because I clearly hadn't improved with physical therapy, and there were still things that I really wanted to do.

I had surgery the next week. My shoulder surgery was done using a combination of arthroscopic and open technique. My surgeon explained that he would use an arthroscope to look inside my shoulder at the beginning of the procedure and then probably fix the tear through a small incision. The whole experience of the day of surgery is still a bit foggy for me. I suppose that its best just to go on autopilot in that type of a situation, because it always seem like there is so much happening that its hard to keep track. People taking your blood pressure, starting IV's, meeting the anesthesiologist, and then I clearly remember the nurse asking me if I was in any pain in the recovery room. I don't remember all that I said because I had a general anesthetic during the procedure and I was still pretty groggy. We had a delightful conversation, but I'm sure that I was just babbling away.

He told me that when he looked inside my shoulder with the arthroscope, he found that the tear was much bigger than the arthrogram suggested that it would be. However, he was able to repair it somehow.

After a couple of hours, my surgeon came around to see me. He told me that when he looked inside my shoulder with the arthroscope, he found that the tear was much bigger than the arthrogram suggested that it would be. However, he was able to repair it somehow. He explained to me all that he did during the surgery and it certainly sounded impressive, but I didn't really understand much of it. He said that underneath the bandages there was a fairly small incision over my shoulder, that would heal without much of a scar. The shoulder pain on the first night was moderate, but nothing that I felt I couldn't handle. I took a couple of pain pills and had a good night's sleep. To tell you the truth, I was probably too exhausted to be in much pain. The second night was a different story. It was a terrible night! Someone had told me that shoulder surgery was one of the most painful surgeries that you could go through, and at 2 o'clock in the morning during the second night I was certain that they were correct. I took the pain pills as directed, but I just couldn't get comfortable. I finally drifted off to sleep sitting in a large, comfy chair, watching television in the early morning hours.

That was certainly the worst of it. After the 2nd night, things started to improve quite quickly and I really started to get better in a hurry. By five days after the surgery I was feeling fine, and back to my usual self. After about ten days, I went back to see Dr. Pete. He took the bandages off and showed me the incision. He said that it was healing well, and there wasn't any sign of an infection. After I saw him in his office, he sent me back to my previous PT friend, who I was now calling the "Physical Terrorist". We began the process of rehabilitation and strengthening for the shoulder. Dr. Pete told me again that it would take 5 months to regain full function of the shoulder, "especially at my age", so I was determined to make it under five months.

Holding a racket in my arm scared me at first and I certainly felt like I was never going to get back to having a smooth swing.

While the therapy was both painful and hard work, I was encouraged by the progress that I was seeing in my shoulder. Realistically, it took more like 6 months for me to regain all of my function. Seven months after my operation, I began to hit the tennis ball again for the first time. Holding a racket in my arm scared me at first and I certainly felt like I was never going to get back to having a smooth swing. I had one of the instructors help me at first, and I started slowly, but was able to get back to my full game over the course of about six weeks. While I was nervously awaiting the first sign of pain to tell me that my shoulder wouldn't work again, to tell the truth I have not had a single twinge of pain ever since. Now I'm 76, and my tennis game is as exactly like you would suspect it to be…. but my shoulder never hurts.

Shoulder surgery may sound like a lot of misery and a hard road at first, but in my view, it was worth it. For me, activity is life, and I'm not ready to give something up that easily. Tennis keeps me young and healthy. As I find it harder and harder to find a game with someone "my age", I am glad that I had my shoulder fixed so I can still be out there in the mix.

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