Diving with rotator cuff injury?

[Paula Grey]

Yes you can do it with the right. But I often carry a camera in my right so I use my left. It also has the advantage that if you are horizontal you can add a bit of air or release a bit of air without leaving trim and with very little arm movement. On my BCD I can do a complete dumb if I wanted to while horizontal. On some rental BCDs I need to adjust my trim up a bit to fully dump. Depends on where the releif valve is when you are in trim.

Thank you!

 

[Paula Grey]

Not sure where you are going, or what equipment you will be using, but I have a wrecked shoulder as well. As noted above, quick releases on your BCD/harness are nice. For boat diving, your operator makes a difference as well. In Cozumel, "valet" diving is the standard. Your equipment is set up for your, they help you gear up, most boats are backroll entry so you never have the weight of your gear on your shoulder, and most exits after taking your gear off in the water and they lift it into the boat for you.

When I shore dive, (oklahoma muck style)my harness does a good job of distributing the weight for a walk. I worry about my knee more than my shoulder if I have to walk a "path of doom"

I've never been on a dive boat...ever...that any help that was needed was readily offered by either other divers or crew. I think the key will be to recognize your limitation, work that into your evaluation of any dive, and communicate with those around you and any op in advance that you might need some help. Advil is your friend....

Isnt getting old fun???

Good luck,
Jay

Thanks fir sharing your experience. We are going to Bonaire and will be doing all shore diving. My husband and I have been several times and we dive together (no group). I know he will help me as much as possible. I don’t want to be a liability though. Getting old is way more fun than I was hoping fir

 

[claymore]

I think the real question is how bad is the tear, what else needs to be repaired (arthritis repair, tendon repair, cartilage clean up) and what you can do for range of motion with out finding the hot knife going into your shoulder.
If you take the dive trip is best decided between you and your doctor.
Rotator cuff/shoulder surgery is one of the longest recovery time for surgery. Full recovery is usually 8 to 12 months with LOTS of PT.
I was out of work for almost 5 months after my right shoulder but diving in about 6 months.

As tursiops said it is a long recovery with lots of rehab work.

 

[Brian Smith]

My husband and I have a dive trip planned in February, but I have torn my rotator cuff and have very limited ROM in my left shoulder. I am very concerned that we will get there and I won’t be able to get my wetsuit or gear on, or maybe have some other problem I haven’t thought about. I do think I will be able to manage underwater just fine because we only shore dive and we will choose calmer dives, but I am a bit worried about currents, swimming out, swimming in, etc. Have any of you tried diving with a torn rotator cuff? Am I crazy for even considering it? Should we cancel the trip and do a non-diving vacation instead?

Get the shoulder fixed and then dive. I had rotator cuff surgery a couple of years ago, was diligent about doing ALL the rehabilitation, which took about one year, and my repaired shoulder is better that my other shoulder. NEVER dive with limited physical ability unless you are permanently disabled and there are programs for that type of diving.

 

[RenaBear]

On one hand, if you are aware of the injury and it's limitations and are comfortable to take care and act accordingly you should be okay as long as you are careful...on the other hand, there could be some event that takes place to cause you to possibly do more damage and have to suffer more pain. Only you can say whether or not you could/should take the chance/risk. Maybe before the trip and closer to it {allowing some time to heal a little more} you can go to a local pool and try a few pool dives prior to making the final decision to drop it or go. You might be surprised.
I once had a rotater injury and while I am in no hurry to get another one, about the only thing it really limited was drawing a bow. If I moved wrong it would let me know, but I had to do a little more than just move wrong to get it thumping.
One thing to try if you don't already, and this is simple and stupid...when getting into and out of your bc unhook your injury side shoulder strap so you don't have to lift your arm way back and up to do it. The quick snaps are there just for this, but nobody much uses them. My shoulder has long been repaired and I am fine now, but I fell in love with doing it this way when I first saw it done. One of those "why didn't I think of that on dive one???" things. Good luck.

 

[mcohen1021]

Hard to answer your question, not knowing the extent of your injury. I had rotator cuff surgery January 2020 and was functioning at 85% by mid June. I could waterski, scuba, and workout

Prior to surgery, i could have easily dived with a little bit of discomfort.

 

[FishWatcher747]

I think the question one has to face in this situation is am I going to get surgery for this in the future? The surgeon would have the best chance of a good outcome early on in a patient before your shoulder freezes up and the muscles around the shoulder that aren't torn have not atrophied.

Kind of like the painful molar I had for several years, sensitive to hot and cold, tried replacing fillings, finally said screw it please do a root canal. I wish I did the root canal 3 years earlier.

 

[VikingDives]

The OP asked this question in 2017. Just saying...

 

[60plus]

In 2013 I broke my left shoulder / rotator cuff and the majority of the medical / physiotherapy (over 6 months) concentrated on putting this right. In the same accident I suffered what seemed to be a minor but still quite painful muscle tear in my upper arm. This contained to trouble me and calcification in the torn muscle was confirmed by x ray. Last year it was so painful it was preventing me sleeping so back to doctors. diagnosis by Dr and physiotherapist was that in addition to upper arm muscle damage prime cause of pain was rotator cuff scar tissue. It is healing well with physio which I still have to do. I am able to dive perfectly well but do need extra help getting my work overalls off or getting a wet or drysuit off, vey difficult to reach behind my head to correctly fold in drysuit collar/ seal. Generally diving / swimming is good for injuries as it exercises them without the strain of weight.

 

[J-Vo]

I've come back from shoulder reconstruction. My advice is listen to your DR and go to a good physical therapists. DO ALL THE EXERCiSES they prescribe. They will get you back to ~100%.