Although most rotator cuff injuries can be remedied with non-surgical options, your doctor may recommend rotator cuff surgery to repair the tears present in the shoulder. Of course, the type of surgery will depend on many factors. No matter the surgery performed, however, the phases of rotator cuff surgery recovery will be similar.
Day of the Surgery
In most instances, you will not be required to stay in hospital overnight because this is an outpatient operation. You will only have to remain in the hospital until you can manage the pain with home medication. To protect your arm, it will be wrapped in a special protective sling. This will allow your shoulder and arm muscles to relax and help the healing along.
Some tips to speed up rotator cuff surgery recovery during the first few days after the operation, which are very important in the later phases, include:
-Ease your pain by taking your pain medications as soon as you feel pain in your shoulder.
-Ask your doctor for guidance and find the right combination of pain and anti inflammation medicines.
* Place an ice bag over your shoulder so as to lessen the pain and speed up healing.
* When sleeping, sleep in a semi-seated position with your elbows pointing down.
Phases of Recovery
It must be emphasized that the phases of rotator cuff surgery recovery will vary from one person to the next in terms of the time taken to progress from one phase to another. As such, it is best to comply with your personalized rehabilitation protocol.
The first stage of recovery can go on for nearly 6 weeks, where you will be asked to only do passive motions. What this mean is not to work or stress out the rotator cuff tendons and muscles. During this stage, your physical therapist will do two things. He will firstly move your recovering shoulder for you and secondly, he will give you guidance on how to move your shoulders with as little muscle contractions as possible.
In the second part, you will be asked to move your arm on your own though you must not move it against any resistance at all. This is named the active motion phase and can go on up to 12 weeks from the time you have surgery.
For the third phase, also called the strengthening period, you will focus on doing isolation exercises to provide strength to muscles that have been rendered weak due to inactivity. This is the most important phase in rotator cuff surgery recovery since full muscle function can be returned once this step is successfully done.
Throughout stage four, you can go back to using your shoulders as you always would. Certainly many things affect this stage that can go on up to 6 months after the operation and you will still have to follow the advice of your physician about going back to your old physical activities.
Lastly, your devotion to rehabilitation, the extent and location of the rotator cuff tear and your physical condition will determine how quickly you will recover from rotator cuff surgery.
Tom Nicholson spends his time caring for sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. Please follow this link to find out more regardingrotator cuff surgery recovery.
