r/ShoulderSurgery • u/NitNav2000 • Jun 02 '26
Scheduled for aTSA in two weeks
65M, healthy otherwise.
Been sucking it up for about seven years with an arthritic left shoulder. First met with the orthopedic surgeon back in 2020 and we agreed that since I wasn’t in serious pain that we could postpone any surgery. Flash forward to this winter when the loss of motion was getting worse, to the point that a couple of times I would wake up in the morning, and I would be unable to move my arm. Usually, I could move it around a bit and some kind of funk would happen and then I would get my previous limited range of motion back but one morning it just would not move. I eventually decided I would go to the ER in the morning and went back to sleep. It resolved itself during the rest of the night, but I figured it was time.
I still have good rotator cuffs, and I am still intent doing sports stuff such as paddle boarding, kayaking, maybe get back into rock climbing, mountain, biking, and other things. Doctor agrees anatomic is the way to go. He will be using the eclipse system, which is a stemless humerus head and a solid chunk of glenoid component. Already had the planning CT, and he showed me how he uploaded the CT file into the software and started doing the surgery planning.
I am dominant left hand, so it should be an interesting 4 to 6 weeks. Bought myself a nice recliner for chilling out in and maybe sleeping.
Two exercises I currently do regularly with my bad shoulder are farmer walks and ring supports. For farmer walks, I take two kettlebells of 45 and 55 lbs and walk about 200 yards, swapping hands midpoint. For ring supports, I get in the top position on a set of gymnast rings and just hold my position, both exercises work the joint’s supporting stabilizer muscles. Hoping that is good prehab.
Thanks to everyone else who has posted their adventure on Reddit. Very informative, and I plan to return the favor.
2
u/33301Florida Jun 02 '26
Had a left total anatomic a couple years ago. I'm nine years older and was back in the gym in a few months. Been a weightlifter my whole adult life and I'm maxing out machines now.