My recent (yet another!) shoulder surgery

It’s “déjà vu” all over again! It was around the beginning of this year (2022) that I started feeling pain in my left shoulder. Every now and then, the pain would get aggravated, even during some of the common activities like washing the dishes or doing a simple yoga pose. Over time, gradually I continued to lose strength and flexibility in my left shoulder. Since my right shoulder was already weak, I began to have trouble performing my daily activities. It became obvious that I need to see the doctor to find out what was going on. Because of my previous experience, I was already suspecting yet another tear in my left shoulder. The MRI confirmed the suspicion, and it was labeled as “full thickness tear”. Because of my previous surgery on this shoulder and the size of the current tear, the doctor felt that the traditional treatment of “repairing” the tear would not work. It was declared as a “massive irreparable tear”.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I had surgery in January 2017 on my right shoulder to repair a tear in the rotator cuff. As per the surgeon, the surgery went well. Unfortunately, though, the shoulder was re-torn during one of the post-surgery physical therapy sessions. As mentioned earlier, that was the second unsuccessful attempt to fix the tear on the right shoulder. After the previous surgery also, done in 2013, the shoulder was re-torn during a PT session. As such, I was left with no option but to live with the tear in my right shoulder.

Fortunately, at that time, my left shoulder was strong and fully functional. Even though the right shoulder was limited in strength and range of motion, it was giving me no pain. With the help of the left shoulder, I was able to manage quite well in my day-to-day activities and all my yoga movements.

Shoulder balloon implant

Now that the left shoulder rotator cuff was also torn, I had no choice but to seek some solution to the problem. For my situation, given the history of previous tears and unsuccessful attempts to repair the tear, the doctor proposed a “brand new” procedure which had been approved by the FDA just about a year ago. It is known as the InSpace Balloon implant. As per the description on one of the websites, “The InSpace™ implant is a first-of-its-kind biodegradable subacromial balloon spacer designed for the arthroscopic treatment of massive irreparable rotator cuff tears (MIRCTs).” The doctor admitted that he had never done this procedure before and that if I agreed to go for it, I would be his first such patient. Given that the other available options were known not be very effective, I decided to “go for it”.

I had the surgical procedure done on Thursday, April 7 at the Duke hospital in Durham. After the procedure, the doctor’s PA conveyed the message that in addition to the balloon implant, the doctor also did a minor repair of the torn ligament. Before the surgery, as a part of the anesthesia procedure, they also gave me a “nerve block” injection for pain management. It effectively blocks all nerve communication from the shoulder to the brain; as a result, no pain is felt. The effect of this nerve block lasted a little over 48 hours. For pain management after the 48 hours, I was prescribed a strong pain medicine, Oxycodone. I am pleasantly surprised that since the surgery (it’s been 8 days as of this writing) I have had occasional, very mild, totally bearable pain and I haven’t had a need to take any pain medication, not even a Tylenol.

Based on my experience with previous surgeries, I know that the recovery after shoulder surgery is quite slow. I have to keep my arm in a sling for another 4-6 weeks. That’s also how long it may take before I can start to drive. In the meantime, I will be starting physical therapy (PT) in about ten days. Since the pain is quite manageable, I have already resumed teaching my weekly schedule of classes. Obviously, with the arm in a sling, I am not able to do any asana demonstrations. But I am comfortable giving instructions while one of the students, who is in front of the camera, is able to do the demonstration. For my own personal practice, since I am unable to do any weight-bearing asanas, I am able to spend a little more time on my pranayama and meditation practices. As my energy level gets back to normal, I plan to spend a little more time working to strengthen my core and the lower body.

It is hard for me to put in words the sense of gratitude that I have for my immediate family, friends and, of course, my extended yoga family for an outpouring of support that they have extended me. Despite the handicap, with all the love and support, I feel fully energized, motivated and functional and hope to continue to share the wisdom and benefits of yoga.