Shoulder Surgery, when did you ride?

[HMF]

I am going stir crazy and need some feedback from fellow equestrians. I am 3.5 weeks post op from shoulder surgery and longing to be back on a horse. I don’t feel that I could ride yet (even if I was cleared to) but I am would love to hear what kind of timeline others worked with while rehabbing a shoulder. How long post-op before you were on a horse, and was it with or without your surgeon’s blessing?

For a little clarification, as there are a lot of variables in shoulder surgery: I had a subacromial decompression with a distal clavical excision. In a nutshell I had several bone spurs removed, they cleaned up quite a bit of arthritis and shaved off the end of my clavical to open up the AC joint. They also removed the bursa and one of the ligaments in the joint. I was fortunate that there weren’t any repair-worthy tears, just some debridement of the tendon.

At my follow-up my surgeon was very impressed with my ROM. He gave me a few stretches and directed me to limit them to twice a day as he doesn’t want anything too repetitive. I am limited to lifting a cup of coffee and no reaching, pushing or pulling for 3 months!!! The kicker is that he doesn’t want me riding for 6 months!!! The concern is that I could fall on the shoulder and tear the tendons. I have been pretty compliant with the lifting, pushing, pulling but that is harder than you think with your dominant arm. I do still have pain so that helps to remind me, but I have been dealing with pain in the shoulder for a year so I have gotten to the point of tolerate it and continue on. Waiting 6 months to ride though, that just sounds crazy to me, I expect that I will be up to riding within the next month and am going to face the internal battle of following the rules or my heart. My next follow-up is a month out, that will be 2 months post-op. I plan to have another conversation about the timeline at that point, entries already went in for 2 weeks at Thermal right at my 3 month mark, I really want to be riding not watching my trainer ride

Tell me your experiences, has anyone else worked with such a conservative surgeon? What was your timeline?

[Bay_Toby]

@HMF

For a little clarification, as there are a lot of variables in shoulder surgery: I had a subacromial decompression with a distal clavical excision. In a nutshell I had several bone spurs removed, they cleaned up quite a bit of arthritis and shaved off the end of my clavical to open up the AC joint. They also removed the bursa and one of the ligaments in the joint. I was fortunate that there weren’t any repair-worthy tears, just some debridement of the tendon.

I had all that… and more, as I had an 80% rotator cuff tear and part of my shoulder blade removed last January. I was able to do barn work at about 6 months out. I could have ridden a little sooner, assuming I had a horse who didn’t pull on me (I ride western, so all legs, no hands). I did months of physical therapy but still have mobility that I will likely never get back that this point. Even almost a year out, if I’m leading a horse and he head dives into the grass, it’s painful. Shoulder surgery is no joke. I was completely unprepared for what I was getting into. Hang in there. In a year you’ll feel almost better…

[Kyrabee]

I had a similar surgery minus the excision of the clavicle. Basically…cleaning up a couple rotator cuff tears and relieving the impingement in the joint. Old age creeping in and I can’t remember exactly but I had nowhere near 6 months of downtime. I think I got released at 3 months. The PA charged me with home PT which I did religiously and at 3 months I was good to go.

The problem with horses probably isn’t riding but the chance your arm will get yanked on but yes, falling would be bad too. I have had a lot of surgeries and whether I have wanted to or not I have followed the surgeon’s instructions that were given to me…period. When I had my tailbone removed, after 6 months the surgeon told me to go by discomfort. I self imposed a year before trying to ride as the surgery was the result of a longstanding and painful bone spur…tried it and ended up waiting a whole ‘nother year! Other things (like being able to sit at all) are more important than riding my horse I discovered.

Hang in there and follow Dr’s orders.

Susan

[Foxglove]

As others said, it depends on how you ride and what you ride. I had a rather complete separation of the arm from the shoulder that involved rotator cuff repair and reattaching six tendons (as I recall --been awhile). Like you I was told not to ride for six months --but --my surgeon was a horseman himself and said, “unless you can ride without stress on that shoulder.” I fox hunt, true, but I fox hunt a reining horse who never touches the bit. The rest of what the surgeon told me, and was echoed by the orthopedic drs I hunt with is that shoulders are repaired, not new (like knees and hips where we get new ones --have those too). The more I used it (repetitive motion --like swimming the same stroke over and over --or lifting the same weights over and over --the quicker the shoulder will wear out. After 14 years, I’m showing frayed tendons in the MRI --just a warning, but if I abuse the shoulder, it’s going to give way sooner or later. Unlike you, falling was never mentioned —just repeated motion. Sigh --even so I wear a safety vest when I jump (and hunt) and have fallen without shoulder injury.

Oddly (at least I thought it was odd) my surgeon did ok Mounted Archery about three years ago when I was looking for a new horse related activity (kids/grandkids were no longer showing). He said, “you pull with your back,not your shoulder.” So I do that --pretty dedicated archer now —fun activity that horses and I can do together alone on the farm. Set up targets, shoot arrows, ride, then look for lost arrows.

As always follow drs advice and get as much PT as you can —

[Bluey]

As others mention, it is not the riding itself that will stop you, but all else we do with horses that shoulder surgery needs to heal from or you can do damage to the repair.

Grooming will be ok, saddling if done carefully, getting on and off gets tricky when trying to avoid shoulder being overstretched and repair possibly damaged.

A friend horse trainer had to have repeat surgery when in PT he overdid it and tore some or other again.
Those repairs are tricky and you don’t really want to take chances.

I had a tear repaired, big spur removed, tendon attachment and tendon itself repaired.
I did all therapy at home, Dr said he didn’t trust most patients, they had to go to PT, but he knew I would do it and I did.
I had to do those exercises ten times a day, a real job just to do that, but I regained practically 100%, against surgeon’s expectations and was able to get back on nice, quiet horses at 6 months.
I still had a bit of trouble getting on and off, so waited until winter was over, more like 9 months to really ride again.

Great idea to bring this up again at your next check-up.
The Dr may think you can do more sooner, or not, but best do what the Dr tells you, especially when it comes to shoulders.
As my Dr said, shoulders evolved as we started walking upright and nature didn’t do a very good job of it.
Shoulders are a bad solution to all we need them to do when it comes to not get injured.
We have to take good care of them.

[541hunter]

I had a MUCH less complicated surgery (labrum repair, 2 tears and 10 anchors) last November. My surgeon is a h/j competitor I know from the circuit who’d also had the same surgery so I felt like her advice was about as spot-on as you can get.

I managed to get on and futz around at 8 weeks out, but I needed help tacking up and I had to be cautious getting on/off. Spent a month hacking, then started flat lessons and at 3 months my surgeon cleared me to jump on my horse. Before that the main concern was me trying to catch myself with an outstretched arm before the area around the tears had healed, i.e., when it would be easiest to dislocate my shoulder. I showed for the first time in June but I felt ready to do so much earlier, closer to month 4/5. I think she was a bit more aggressive with allowing me to ride than a non-horse person might be, mostly because she has a better idea of what each activity actually entails but also because my PT progress was great. I was a HIGHLY motivated patient lol.

[Prime_Time_Rider]

Reading these posts is sobering. In October I dislocated my shoulder falling from my horse, and last week I had a MRI which indicated a small (1 centimeter) tear. My orthopedic surgeon has recommended surgery to repair the tear but was OK with a wait and see approach; another month of PT and come back for a revaluation. I have regained quite a bit of mobility but not 100% and my muscle strength is still weak compared to my other shoulder. It is frequently, if not constantly uncomfortable but not what I would call painful. I have been back riding (just hacking) the past 2 or 3 weeks.

My concern is that if I have surgery to repair a small tear that the recovery will be long (3 to 6 months). I would like to hear others’ experiences, both those who had surgery and those who opted to wait or not have it at all.

[katiekb]

@541hunter how did you get on and off the horse? I have fractured my clavicle on the right–no surgery, 4 weeks out and I just want to get on. Don’t even know about my rotator cuff yet… I’m not afraid of riding, just walking, etc, could just neck rein I guess, but worried about inadvertently pulling/hitting my right clavicle/shoulder. This just stinks…

[541hunter]

@katiekb

@541hunter how did you get on and off the horse? I have fractured my clavicle on the right–no surgery, 4 weeks out and I just want to get on. Don’t even know about my rotator cuff yet… I’m not afraid of riding, just walking, etc, could just neck rein I guess, but worried about inadvertently pulling/hitting my right clavicle/shoulder. This just stinks…

Honestly, super tall mounting block, used my “good” arm for support on my horse’s neck, and kept from putting more than a little weight on my affected (right) arm (at first I just kept it across my belly as if it were in a sling). And when I got off, I found keeping my right arm by my side so I wasn’t tempted to use it, leaning really far forward on my horse’s neck, and kinda flinging myself away from my horse’s barrel was best. Between months 2 and 3 I mostly had to worry about lack of mobility (not being able to bring my arm too high mostly) and bearing a ton of weight with an outstretched arm. Like I said though, I only had the labrum to worry about, no broken bones or ligament issues. My horse is an old hand and very good at the mounting block but I asked a friend to hold his head just in case as well.

[HMF]

Thanks for all of the input. I really am intending to follow my surgeon’s direction, I am just hopeful that he will be open minded to discussion at the follow-up visits. I fear that I am being a little too hopeful.

When the pain first started a year ago my range of motion was terrible, I couldn’t raise my arm. PT and cortisone shots improved that to the point where I had almost full ROM but with pain. I could have put this off but it was inevitable and being laid up in the winter/spring is far preferable over summer for both my riding and work schedule. In addition to my day job I am a braider, the shoulder was pretty painful while braiding.

I went to PT for 2 weeks post-op and at my follow-up my surgeon said to hold off on PT as I was already way ahead of the curve with my ROM, he was confident that I could achieve full ROM on my own by my next visit at 8 weeks. He doesn’t want me doing any resistive exercises until 12 weeks. I guess I just wanted him to say, “you are ahead of the curve, let’s just keep pushing on” instead of holding me back. I knew the timeline going into the procedure but I didn’t expect to be so impatient and stir crazy. It still hurts and if I over do things I pay for it the next day, but not to the point that I couldn’t push through if I wanted to. I just know in a few weeks as the pain lessons it will be harder and harder to restrict myself.

I do ride hunters and both of my horses are quite tall so I expect I will need some help tacking up for a while, I did before the surgery as well. My younger horse is currently in full training so when I am ready to hop back on she will be completely tuned up and ready to take care of me to the best of her ability. My older guy is a total saint with a very soft mouth. I have no concerns about riding him but at the same time I get it, he is a 1400 lb (yes he is 18hh) animal that has a mind of his own and things do happen. My trainer is well aware of my situation and the plan is to play it by ear for showing at Thermal. I am remaining hopeful that I will get some saddle time when I am there, I need to start working on my argument before my next appointment in January

[HMF]

@541hunter It sounds like you actually had a much more complicated procedure! I don’t have any anchors or repairs to protect, just need to allow time for the scar tissue to develop in place of the ligament. According to my PT there is a risk of severing the tendon if I injure the joint before things are healed. I would be thrilled to death with riding at 8 weeks! I have lost so much strength in my arm in the last 4 weeks that I don’t think I will be ready at that point without being able to do any strength training between now and then. Did you have any pain at that point or were you just pushing through it? I already had to protect the shoulder when I dismounted before the surgery so I am prepared to do the same after. I will say it messes with my balances jumping off with one arm at my belly, I will have to try your method of leaning forward, or utilize a mounting block.

[541hunter]

@HMF I was pretty pain-free in my day-to-day life at that point as long as I stayed within my ROM. Labrum repair is a stabilizing procedure so it took until about month 4-ish until I was really able to get to a normal range, and honestly I’m still not as flexible on that side as I am on the left (particularly reaching behind my back). At the time I first got on though it wasn’t necessarily the injured cartilage/anchor points that were the limiting factor in my range, so my doc/PT weren’t concerned about me overextending it and like tearing anything. It was more like “Yeah, if you try to go beyond a certain point it’s gonna be really uncomfortable because you haven’t done that for a long time.” So I see why they’d be more careful with your issue, since you actually still have a higher risk of injury. Shoulders are a real bear for recovery—I kept feeling like I was going one step forward, two steps back, but in retrospect the time off wasn’t nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be.

[HMF]

Thanks @541hunter for sharing. I can totally relate to the “one step forward two steps back” analogy. Unfortunately at this point two steps back can be triggered by simple things like forgetting the rules opening a door with my bad arm, or using it on the steering wheel while driving. I know I just need to give it time, if I have to be laid up winter is the best time for it.

[ElementFarm]

I had the decompression along with a SLAP tear repair and biceps tenodesis (where they cut the tendon and reattach it a little lower with a bone screw.) Recovery was a lot longer, slower, and more painful than I’d expected. I think I was handgrazing a quiet horse about 3-4 weeks later, flatting a week or two after that, and did a schooling show about 8 weeks post-op, but only did the 2’6 division.

It’s about a year post-op before you’ll really know the end result of the surgery. I did all the PT religiously, and don’t feel that riding influenced my recovery. I will say I still suffer from shoulder issues which now also have been joined by neck and upper back issues.

[HMF]

Thanks @ElementFarm for the feedback. That sounds like a much more progressive timeline than I am being given with more work being done! Was riding that early with your doctor’s consent?

[ElementFarm]

@HMF

Thanks @ElementFarm for the feedback. That sounds like a much more progressive timeline than I am being given with more work being done! Was riding that early with your doctor’s consent?

well… it’s possible that I didn’t expressly ask the Dr about a timeline for riding…

that being said, I’m active duty military, and the military did my surgery. They expect people to be active and out ‘doing things’ as quickly as possible. So his guidance was pretty much to be conservative but to do what I felt comfortable with after the first month or so, as long as I avoided lifting anything heavy. I definitely protected it, but my ROM was pretty good quite quickly. And I had a very un-spooky horse to handle and ride. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing all that with my green bean.