Age alone doesn't disqualify you from shoulder surgery. Patients in their 70s, 80s, and 90s recover well when they're otherwise healthy. What matters most is your overall health, nutrition, and the size of the tear.
Here's a myth I hear all the time. I'm too old to have shoulder surgery. It's really not about age. It really comes down to somebody's health. When it comes to rotator cuff repair, yes, your healing potential may get lower as you get older, but it's really a much smaller factor than other factors like nutritional status and your tear size. And data now shows that people who are 70, 75, 80, and above can actually do quite well with a rotator cuff repair. The same thing goes with a shoulder replacement. Many people who are having a shoulder replacement in their 70s, 80s, sometimes in their 90s in the right healthy individual. So it comes down to a personal decision, but age alone is not a barrier to shoulder surgery.
