Steve Austin Details Shoulder Injury And Surgery, Rusev Angle Making It A Lot Worse, Recovery

On episode 322 of The Steve Austin Show, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin talked about his recent shoulder injury, the surgery to repair his damaged arm, and the daunting rehabilitation process.

Austin injured his right shoulder while training in preparation for his WrestleMania 32 appearance. 'The Bionic Redneck' was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, among other injuries.

"I f–ked up my shoulder trying to train too heavy and it was a bunch of wear and tear and some bulls–t. [I] end up tearing the infraspinatus and the supraspinatus, so the preoperative diagnosis when I went in to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache was rotator cuff tear, bicep tendinosis and instability, AC joint arthrosis, and degenerative labral tear. Okay? Turns out after all the MRIs, I had a rotator cuff tear, bicep tendinosis and instability, AC joint arthrosis, [and] degenerative labral tear."

On April 20, 2016, Austin underwent approximately two-and-a-half hours of surgery to repair his shoulder region.

"I had my entire rotator cuff repaired. I had my biceps tenodesis, what they call that procedure. My bicep was so frayed and ragged, it was barely hanging on by a thread. [The surgeon] had to reattach that. Then, he went in and did an arthroscopic distal clavicle resection, which is a Mumford procedure for all you f–king medical nuts out there. And then, he did an arthroscopic subacromial decompression, a resection of the CA ligament, subacromial bursa, and acromioplasty. And then, finally, last but not least, was an arthroscopic labral debridement of the glenohumeral joint, right shoulder. And so, this took about two-and-a-half hours."

As for the recovery process, Austin claimed that he would be in a sling for a month longer and will begin the grueling rehabilitation process in three weeks.

"Now, with the recovery process on my right shoulder, I just went to the doctor yesterday, so I'm in a sling for four more weeks. And then, in three weeks, I'll start range of motion exercises and those are a b—h because your shoulder hasn't moved in five weeks. And so, then, I'll start the rehabilitation process." Austin added, "I start range of motion exercises in three weeks and that's just basically picking my arm up and getting the mobility back."

According to Austin, his surgeon warned 'The Texas Rattlesnake' to go easy on his surgically repaired shoulder while it is healing.

"My bicep tendon was so frayed he reattached that and he's real proud of that. I'm paraphrasing him, because he [is] a world class doctor, but he says, 'don't f–k up my work'." Austin continued, "he said because that bicep was so frayed, he was so proud of the attachment and he tells me he never refers to it as my injury or my arm. He calls it, 'my work' or 'my repair'. He goes, 'I don't want you to be too aggressive and mess up my repair', so I'm on my way to recovery and that was all the bulls–t that was wrong with my shoulder. And had I not thrown those punches at motherf–king Rusev [at WrestleMania 32], then, it would have been a pretty simple procedure, but, indeed, it was pretty major."

Click here to listen to the show. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Source: The Steve Austin Show