Visit The Shoulder Consultant Again
My biceps bulged as if I was Popeye
I had an operation to repair the rotator cuff in my left shoulder in August 2014. There is still an occasional twinge in my left shoulder. Shortly after the operation, the consultant said he could do a hip replacement in less time than it took to repair my shoulder. Only then did I realise it had been a bigger operation than I had ever realised. It was time to visit the shoulder consultant again.
Visit the Shoulder Consultant Again
About eight weeks after the operation The Wife and I went to a concert at The Roundhouse in London. Getting the bus back to Euston I lifted up the back of my Travelscoot with my left hand and I felt a ping in my left arm. At the time it hurt I did not think much more about it. Is this ‘cos I’m a bloke?
I did as I was told
Every day I did all the remedial exercises, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. Slowly I was getting strength back into the shoulder. The only problem was lifting anything with my left arm in one specific way. Imagine the arm hanging down and moving it up to the horizontal as if reaching out to the left. There was almost no strength. I could not lift anything like a book or bottle of wine using that action.
I continued to do all the exercises, my shoulder got stronger but this problem would not go away. Eighteen months after the operation I felt brave enough to find out about the problem. I asked my GP to refer me back to the consultant who did the operation.
The Wife took me
The appointment to visit the shoulder consultant was arranged. We exchanged pleasantries then he asked me to take my shirt off and flex my left bicep. The left bicep popped up, just like Popeye when he flexes his arms.
Good news and bad news
“Umm I’m not surprised” he said, “there is now a complete tear in the tendon from the shoulder to the biceps muscle. That is why you have a popeye muscle”. He went on to add that he saw the problem when doing the operation but it would have been too complex to repair given the circumstances.
“None the less you have made an excellent recovery. Quite a few of my patients do not regain anything like the flexibility you have.”
The consultant would have been a very good salesman.
rotator cuff, remedial exercises, torn ligament, biceps muscle, popeye muscle
Keep on eating the spinach Patrick!