My distal clavicle resection surgery.

Back in January of this year I had surgery on my left shoulder to repair a small tear in the rotator cuff and remove bone spurs from my collarbone. I first noticed symptoms of  the bone spurs in November of 2011. It was sharp, quick, random pain. I could go a day or two without any problem and then the next day get it 6 or 8 times. Dr. Johan Penninck here in El Paso tried treating  the problem with a cortisone shot at first. I gave that a couple weeks but it didn't take. So rather than wait and let it get worse I opted for surgery. The procedure is called "distal clavicle resection".  Dr. Penninck explained it to me but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted it fixed. Thirty years earlier I'd had the right shoulder operated on for a glenoid labrum tear which I had let go for 10 years before getting it repaired. Luckily that surgery was a success.

Back to the distal clavicle resection, I got lucky on this one too. I read the report. It was pretty brief and nothing unusual was mentioned. I was in a sling for about three days. After that I only used the sling at night just to keep the shoulder stable while I slept. That lasted about a week. I took all the pain pills prescribed (about 40 Hydrocodone/Acet 7.5-3.25mg Tablets) and did not need a refill. A week after the surgery I started some physical therapy. Just simple stretches I did at home. In the second week I started using the resistance bands for exercises the therapist prescribed. These were pretty easy exercises but one thing did bother me. Soon after starting these resistance band exercises I began to feel a bone on bone rubbing. Not painful but noticeable. Felt weird and scared the crap out of me. About the same time I started hiking in the mountains again. I didn't carry my backpack or use the hiking poles. Just went out for some high heart rate activity. The bone on bone feeling went away after about the third week and I had full range of motion and no pain within two months.

My next appointment was at the three month mark. At that time Dr. Penninck and I were both satisfied with the outcome. Today the only reminder of the operation is the scar and some painless clicking at the location of the surgery. I think the medical term for that clicking is "crepitus". I was told by Dr. Penninck this crepitus is normal because the bone that was removed is now being replaced by soft tissue. I got a second opinion on that and the answer was the same. I don't know how long this crepitus will be with me. The main thing is it's painless. For a while I had a little pain at night when I would sleep on that shoulder. I'd wake up and roll over. That seemed to last about a month. Other than that my shoulder is back to normal.

I believe the successful outcome of my surgery was mainly due to the fact that I didn't waste any time having it done. I could have gone on for a few years without the surgery but eventually the small rotator cuff tear would have turned into a full thickness tear. In this case the fewer stitches the better. I also believe that the high heart rate activity was good for the healing process. It's amazing how much better I felt after a couple hours of good heart pumping exercise. Getting good blood circulation after the surgery is vital for recovery.

I hope you found this information helpful. After my surgery I spent hours on the web trying to find information about my post operative symptoms. It was depressing. So I wrote this to offer you some hope. Don't give up. And if the Dr. says you need the operation - get it done. ASAP!

Godspeed.

Dave

UPDATE 7/9/12: Crepitus is gone. No more clicking.