"Can headstand heal torn rotator cuff"? That was the title of the blog post I wrote a few weeks ago. In that post I had mentioned that based on an interview with Dr Loren Fishman that I heard on NPR, I was going to try the practice of headstand to deal with my torn rotator cuff. In today’s post, I would like to bring you up-to-date with the current status of my shoulder.
Based on the reports that I read on Dr Fishman’s blog and also some of the comments from the readers, I decided to cancel my appointment for surgery and try the headstand routine for some time. It was around the third week in August that I began practicing the headstand on a daily basis. Before I injured my shoulder, I used to stay in the headstand position for about six minutes. However, when I started practicing it with the injury, I noticed that after about three minutes my shoulder would begin to hurt a little. That is roughly the duration of the headstand practice that I have maintained since then.
Within about two weeks of practice I felt a slight improvement in my range of motion. For example, I was able to take my cup of tea and put it in the microwave oven which I couldn’t do earlier without some amount of pain. That obviously encouraged me to continue with the practice. Unfortunately, however, even after a few more weeks of practice, I did not see any further improvement in my situation. During my asana practice, any attempt to do a weight-bearing pose which involved bending the elbows (e.g., Cobra pose or Chaturanga-dandasana etc.) would still cause pain.
After about five weeks of practice with no improvement in sight, I decided to go in for surgery after all. At that point I wanted to get a second opinion from a local surgeon to see what would be best course of action for my situation. Based on strong recommendation from a friend of mine I saw an orthopedic surgeon in Raleigh. On examining the MRI he could do the surgery without the use of an external patch which was the recommended course of action by the doctor at UNC hospital.
This difference in the two approaches by two surgeons led me to do some more independent research online before deciding which doctor to choose for surgery. I studied all available reports on the use of the external patch for the rotator cuff repair. It turned out that this patch technology was relatively new (no more than 12-15 years old). There was no conclusive evidence to prove that this was a fool-proof technology. Moreover, I found that a wide array of materials for the patch derived both from human cadaver as well as from animals (mostly pig tissue) were being experimented with. There seemed to be no uniformity on opinion as to which of these materials had better results compared to the others.
Despite the uncertainly about the overall effectiveness of the patch, I still decided to go with the doctor from UNC for the following reasons:
I agree with the assessment of the UNC doctor that my rotator cuff muscles might already be weakened from the previous surgery that I had about ten years ago. Trying to pull the muscles back almost 3 cm is likely to weaken them even further increasing the chance of a future tear.
Even though the patch technology is not well proven, it is being used more and more for cases like mine which the doctor terms as "massive", "maximum length" tear of the cuff.
Psychologically, the use of the patch gives me a level of comfort that the cuff muscles will remain intact and eventually get stronger over a period of time.
A bizarre incident
While I was getting ready to visit the doctor for my pre-op appointment, a bizarre incident shook my shoulder and gave it an additional jolt! Just a few days ago I was on my evening walk in the neighborhood. Suddenly I heard a dog barking and then I saw it running toward me. In order to escape it, I tried to run away toward the middle of the road when I saw the dog jump toward me. Unable to hold my balance I fell on the road on the same side as my bad shoulder. In the meantime, the lady owner of the dog came running and took the dog inside the house. I gingerly got up and began walking toward my house. As soon as I started walking I felt pain in my right leg, just under the knee. When I looked at it, I noticed that a chunk of skin had been scraped off. In the meantime the lady and her husband came out, profusely apologizing for what had happened. When they saw the wound, they immediately helped me out with some antiseptic spray and band-aid strips. After I reached home I realized that the fall must have done further damage to my shoulder since I fell on the same side. I was barely able to lift or move my arm. I, if fact, put my arm in a sling for a few hours to keep it supported and immobile.
During my subsequent visit to the doctor for my pre-op appointment, he noticed the loss of mobility and increased pain in the shoulder. When I told him about my encounter with the dog, he felt that there was a possibility of a little more tear in another muscle in the cuff. In any case, he said, he will be able to take a closer look at it during surgery and fix it as needed.
So, now the surgery is set for Friday, Oct 25. I would need to start physical therapy within a week after the surgery. I would not be able to drive for almost six weeks. Based on my experience with my previous shoulder surgery, I know that the recovery is going to be slow. It can take up to eight to ten months for full recovery. In the meantime I hope to continue to practice and teach yoga as best as I can.
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