Shoulder replacement

A snowHead

Anyone skiing/boarding after shoulder replacement?

I had reverse shoulder replacement 10 months ago , have been advised to give up skiing!

Thinking of using shoulder brace and a D 30 shirt, D30 is impact absorbing.

Any thoughts would be welcome!
thanks

A snowHead

I can't answer your query, sorry.

However I've been skiing for over a decade with a heavily reconstructed shoulder following a fracture/ dislocation. I have limited upward movement and slightly restricted rotation of my lower arm. The main problem I have is that if I fall on my affected side I sometimes need to roll over to the other side to be able to get back up.

The way my musculature works now is quite similar to what I have read about reverse shoulder replacement, with the main upward movement coming from my deltoid, but movement is so restricted here that the deltoid is only really making a small contribution, although it still gets tight after a day of skiing.

I've never felt the need for body armour but perhaps the dislocation risk is higher in your case. My glenoid is not fully located so my shoulder is permanently part-dislocated.

Hopefully you'll be back skiing soon and perhaps my experience might reassure you that a dodgy shoulder is no major impediment to continuing.

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@whakapapa, interesting. I've had 3 shoulder reconstructions but neither a normal nor reverse replacement but it could be to come! I do have a lot of experience/knowledge of the way the shoulder functions though, learnt the hard way through 34 full dislocations.

Reading up on reverse shoulder, I would think the likelihood of dislocation in a fall with the arm abducted and/or externally rotated is much higher than a normal person. I'm not surprised you've been told to give up but ultimately it's a risk factor.

I had a consultation with a world class New York specialist before my last reconstruction and told him I wanted to be skiing in 12 weeks time after a potential arthroscopic repair. His answer was very realistic, "If you don't fall over, skiing is no more risk than going for a walk in the park. Problem with skiing though, is that you can't control what other people do and if they're going to ski into you. I can't recommend it but I understand if you want to take the risk." I thought it was a fair assessment and I think you are in the same position. If you're a good skier, unlikely to fall over, it's more about minimizing the risk through how and where you ski rather than not doing it at all.

As such, a brace that restricts external abduction would be a very sensible precaution. Don't think the D30 vest will make much difference - any impact dislocation will likely be with your arms outstretched in front of you and the D30 won't stop that - it's the force being transmitted up your arm through your wrist to the weak shoulder joint that is the issue. The sully brace http://www.djoglobal.com/products/donjoy/sully-shoulder-stabilizer is the only one I know that will restrict abduction/external rotation so would be my choice.

The last issue, of course, is mental. I carried on working as a ski guide with a recently dislocated, completely torn rotator cuff for 7 weeks until the end of the season one year and I seemed to be magnetically drawn to over balancing in easy situations as I subconsciously tried to protect it. My confidence came back with perseverance, though.

Ultimately it's your life, your choice. Doctors will never recommend it because they don't want to be sued but I don't see it as a fatal risk - worst case scenario is probably a further dislocation or dislodged/broken implant/upper arm with more surgery. If that happens, it probably is time to give up but until then...

Good luck with it.

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Thanks for your input, my injury was originally done in a fall back in 2004, I declined surgery which was a mistake in hindsight as I had 95 % use after exercise and physio. Then in August 2016 fell on shoulder after losing balance , I was standing still, turning to looking uphill !! Fell straight on to shoulder , I knew I had a major problem ! Dislocated shoulder........ Ski patrol had 3 attempts and finally success at Queenstown hospital after 2 attempts to reduce it.
Not even skiing fast or out of control or taken out by someone else! Since surgery I tripped over the coffee table , scrambled on a river bank to stop a salmon going back in the river after landing it........never gave my shoulder a thought it all went out of the window !!! So why not ski carefully?
Have gone with the Flawless Motion Brace here in NZ similar to the Sully. The D 30 is for the occasion when one just falls over to protect the joint.
Have had 2 bluebird days with few people on the field as you say its all about reducing risk . Looking forward to next year now and maybe a trip to the Northern Hemisphere again.
Your thoughts are in line with my thinking, one has to keep on doing what one enjoys.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Too late now but I'm amazed you've needed a reverse shoulder replacement after just a couple of dislocations. Shocked

Thought they were only for people with chronic osteoarthritis/bone loss and/or complete rotator cuff atrophy, which doesn't sound like your situation.

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I am 73 year old woman who skis between 50 and 70 days a year. I started skiing late and was always a very cautious skier. Every year I had a goal set on opening day. This year it was to get off groomers and learn to ski in low light with new prescription yellow goggles. I ski groomed black diamonds alright have skied one double black a few times and mostly fairly difficult blues at Crested Butte Sk resort in Colorado (mostly) So this year I started moguls. I did okay. I was getting better in low light conditions and on strange textures and in trees. Then on Christmas I fell . I was in the terrain park so my daughter later yelled at me, but I didn't fall on terrain. They had made a very narrow exit , constricted by b netting. It was 4 pm , darkish and I didn't notice the one foot wide exit was a sheet of ice. So when I hit it (not that fast) I just kept going straight into the netting. I wrapped up like a burrito and fell smack on my shoulder. I demolished my rotator cuff with multiple complete thickness tears and a fraying of biceps tendon and it jumped out of groove. I could not move my arm at all. Nothing. > did get up and ski down to Mountain Care and got an X ray. Nothing dislocated or broken. BUT K literally could not move my arm at all. None. So I waited three days and read that even in a healthy 25 year old atrophy of muscle that is no longer nerve connected and tendons with complete tears started to atrophy and retract within 2 weeks. I knew I wasn't 25 so I wanted an MRI. Nope. The orthopedic doc all said the same thing. I was old and it probably was ready to snap. NO. I had zero problems before that for 2 years since I started working out with lots of weight . I had a high impact sports accident. That is what happened. I was totally blown off for three months of excruciating pain. I started online on my own and was able to get back to full range of motion . The doctors were blown away by this but it hurt like HELL and I wanted an MRI so I would know if the PT was helping or hurting. They said with my range of motion and strength there was no way I had a full layer tear. Well after 3 months---way too late for normal repair due to natural atrophy --I demanded an MRI. The MRI was a total disaster. Only biceps tendon was left intact, but frayed, fraying more and out of groove. The others, supraspinitis and infraspinirs etc had full thickness large tears and the accompanying muscles were all atrophied due to no nerve or tendon connection at all. The docs were stunned. I went up to Steadman at Vail . The shoulder doc there was also blown away. By then I had found another MRI from two years prior after another accident. I did NOT have tons of arthritis or wasting from age (71 at the time) and the muscles had zero atrophy. So they were so wrong. I have arthritis almost everywhere else but not much in either shoulder. So now I am stuck. I can't sleep, sex is a drag, I was skiing okay but very scared, I fell a few times and got used to falling in the bad side since it was already toast (even doc laughingly agreed fall on the destroyed one0 and nothing came of that. Now they don't want to do a RS replacement because I would lose strength and ROM (I have full ROM now from force of will ) I want to keep skiing. I have horrible pain. I am exhausted from not being able to sleep. So I don't know what to do. I would love to hear from another elderly active person who has a RSR and see how it works in real life? I also found out I haven't had an MCL in my RT knee for decades and that my meniscus in my left knee (I just tore that MCL completely bc my dins were set way to high so I could do moguls) but the meniscus, has a total thickness full length cut all layers horizontally across the cartilage with an oblique tear in one of the pieces. I can't kneel, and sit on my feet, but that has been for decades, and doesn't impact my skiing. So now what. I am not ready to sit in a rocker and wait to die? I am a writer, and I find sitting makes it worse. I ride an exercise bike and to some isometrics and PT for knees and shoulder. HELP

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Once certain injuries get to a certain stage there is only so much medics can do. Sounds like it's now the choice of ski and take the risk, or not ski.
You can mitigate risk - skiing with my 2 sons and their friends last week they all decided to ski down the Face de Bellvarde at 3 pm to finish. I downloaded.
Pre accident I'd have given it a bash.

After all it is free

@Wildjane10, that's a vey sad story. I think your best hope is for someone (slightly unlikely on this predominantly UK forum) to recommend specialist shoulder and knee surgeons (that'll be two separate people, there almost certainly won't be someone who operates on both shoulders and knees) somewhere in reach of where you live. Good luck!

@Frosty the Snowman, do you not think that, even at this stage, full replacements might at least mitigate the pain, which sounds like the chief issue at the moment? I think I'd want at least to investigate the possibility.

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[url=][/url]@Wildjane10, that sounds awful. As above, shoulder specialist would be my only suggestion.
Well done on still getting some at 73 btw wink

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Frosty the Snowman,

snow reports

@Hurtle, for @Wildjane10, ?

Sounds like tendon and muscle , rather than bone. Often the bones are easier to repair.
I was very lucky, no ligament or tendon damage ( apart from one pulled off with a bit of bone, but surgery fixed that when the put all the metalwork in)
It is often better to have something that needs surgery as they can have a go at it all at once.
Awful when older.people are ignored and left to rot. I consider myself very lucky.

@Hurtle,

me too.
You do very well

You know it makes sense.

@Frosty the Snowman,

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I do know of a very good shoulder surgeon up here in Newcastle. He fixed my Mam's shoulder despite her advancing age about 5 years ago. She couldn't have cared for my Dad in the following years without it. It isn't just the person needing the surgery it affects when it isn't done.

Help!!

Shoulder replacement

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