Anybody ever have to have a bone shaved down?

[woodsprite]

I screwed up my arm (broken and dislocated shoulder) back in March. After 7 months of PT, a manipulation under anesthetic and an MRI that showed a full-through tear in the supraspinatus tendon, I am scheduled for surgery in January. The Dr. asked if I still had pain in a certain spot (and he pushed on it), so he said he would shave down my collar bone a bit. I'm wondering if anyone has ever had anything like that and wondering about the pain level. I know in healing from the shoulder surgery I'm going to have to baby my shoulder more and it will take longer than it did to heal from the original injury, but this collar bone thing is a new ball of wax and I'm not sure what to expect from that aspect.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Didn't damage my collar bone

but I did a pretty complete job on my rotator cuff and pulled a tendon completely off the bone requiring re-attachment. I had the surgery in July of '14, and then did six months of rehab. I was miserable the first week after the surgery, especially as I don't tolerate pain meds (nausea and itching). The first two months of PT were a bear, but I have to say that I regained around 90%+ strength and mobility in my shoulder. During the surgery they also "ground down" a few bone spurs they found that were likely to cause me more problems in the future.

With your collar bone involved, I am guessing you will have to be extra careful. One thing you will discover after shoulder surgery, you use the muscles in your back and shoulders a HELL of a lot more than you think you do. Be especially careful with your balance since your arm will be immobilized. Without that arm to move, you are less stable on your feet.

[Mika]

2. It'll be less painful than a broken clavicle.

I broke my collar bone in a cycling crash - that hurt like hell. About a year later I had some of the clavicle shaved off because it was sharp and painful at the break point. I only needed a couple of vicodin to sleep for the next 2 nights (1 per night). Minimal stitches.
It sure beats the permanent pain and discomfort that I had.

All the best to you on it.

[Autumn Colors]

3. I know two people who have

... not the collarbone, though.

My current boyfriend and my ex-husband each ended up with a herniated disk (different spine level) and had that kind of a procedure done ... by the same doctor, no less.

I can tell you that they both had a lot pain for a long time before the surgery. My ex-husband's was to the point where he couldn't stand up/walk.

I will tell you that they both had to take it easy for quite a few weeks. No lifting, no driving, etc.

The good part? They each had the surgery done in early afternoon and were released from the hospital that night. Both said the pre-surgery pain was gone completely the day after the surgery, but there was pain from the incision.

So, you may not be in pain, but DON'T THINK THAT'S A SIGN YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING YOU DID BEFORE. If the doctor says, "No lifting more than 5 lb for 4 weeks," you make sure you take that advice. Ditto for no driving, etc. Not doing what the doctor says you can't for the amount of time (s)he says you can't is what's going to be hardest, but follow the advice to the letter.

If this surgery is like theirs was, it shouldn't be too bad.

[Runningdawg]

4. I have had bone removed

but it was in my foot. Pain from the procedure was minimal, but it's hard to say what percentage of that pain was actually from the bone and what pain was from the soft tissue manipulation and incision.
Pain on 1-10 scale=6. I hope that helps.

[Old Codger]

5. I did

I had the end of my collar bone taken off a while back.... it is called a "mumford" procedure.... hasn't presented any problems at all. Basically the collar bone has one purpose and that is to act like a circuit breaker sort of, when you fall and stick your arm out to break the fall it will break before damage to the shoulder in most cases... So if that will relieve the pain down the line just having a little shaved off should not be any real problem at all.

Also had the shoulder socket shaved for what is referred to as "impingement relief" that also helped a lot and was pretty routine.. Realize that the 2 most complicated joints in the body are the shoulder and the ankle...

[winter is coming]

6. Yes. One thing that helped tremendously was that I had an aircast cryocuff for my shoulder.

If you're not already using one, I highly recommend it. It helped with swelling, and the cold/pressure feels good. I even slept in mine. As far as pain goes, early recovery would have been awful without pain meds, but Vicodin was enough to bring me into "no or minimal pain" territory. I did my PT religiously and don't have any trouble with that shoulder at all now.