A dad-of-three watched as medics performed surgery on him after he heard a "pop" at the gym while lifting weights.
Barry Rowlands, 38, told how he was going through his normal routine when he felt a pain in his left shoulder, unaware how serious his injury was.
Doctors later found that the tendons had come off his shoulder bone and Barry, from Wirral , would need surgery to reconnect them.
He told the Liverpool Echo: "I heard like a popping sound but thought nothing of it at the time.
"The next day I couldn't move my arm it was absolutely killing me with pain."
But being knocked out for the operation did not sit well with Barry, dad to Ethan, 11, Lukas, eight and Archie, six, so his surgeon, Simon Robbinson at Clatterbridge Hospital, agreed to his unusual request to be awake.
Barry said: "The thought of being put to sleep, I don't know, it just scared me, so I asked if I could be awake for the operation.
"My surgeon said he had never done that before, but he agreed, so I was awake for the whole five hour surgery."
Barry had taken his iPad in with him to occupy himself while the medical team reattached his tendons and added anchors to his shoulder, but he didn't use it.
He said: "I just watched the full surgery - it was fascinating, I loved it - I would recommend it.
"The team was great, the anaesthetist kept me calm through the procedure and I chatted to my surgeon about what he was doing."
Barry admitted he is not the type to hide behind the cushions when a medical scene comes on TV and said if his arm doesn't improve by January, he is fully prepared to go through the operation awake again.
He said: "My kids think I am a bit mad going through it awake, but I was not phased by it at all.
"I can use my arm now, there is a little bit of pain still and I am still having physio, but, as my doctors keep telling me, it will take time to heal.
"There was no warning this was going to happen and it is not very common.
"But my girlfriend, Emma McCromick and my mum and dad have been amazing helping my recovery."
Dr Nikki Stevenson, executive medical director and deputy chief executive at Wirral University Teaching Hospital, said: "Wirral University Teaching Hospital is not just the acute Trust treating patients in Wirral for emergency and planned care, it is also a teaching hospital and research centre.
"We’re pioneering new treatments and surgical techniques to keep up with advances in medicine, such as this example of shoulder surgery, so we can offer the best outcomes for our patients."
