recovering from shoulder surgery

josiespcah6ojsh

josiespcah6ojsh

Cathlete
i had a torn labrum-very small tear,bone spur,and debrie. after a month of pt i can only lift 3 pds! i am anxious to do p90x again but this is taking forever! if you've had shoulder surgery, how long is this really going to take to start working out again?

laura
 
Hi Laura, I can give you is my sympathy and encouragement. I had surgery May of 09. Full tear supraspunatus, torn labrum, bone spur etc. I took too long to get into dr. and the tendon had retracted and I couldn't raise my arm at all so I had to have an open incision.
I did my PT religiously and when given the go ahead to workout on my own started with 1, to 5 lbs and a 10 lb bar (no bells on it :0) and did a modified STS rotation. It felt weird to use such small weight but I had to rebuild my strength from scratch. A year and a half later I'm not back to where I was but I'm better than my dr. expected. Full push ups on toes 10 months after surgery. The recovery was the hardest thing I ever did and I know I'll always have to be careful with my shoulder (no hauling rocks in the garden anymore ... it's just not worth the risk) but I'd say I'm back to 90% shoulder strength.
Good Luck and Good Wishes for a speedy recovery.
Colleen
 
OWIEEEE! Good luck to you ladies in your healing! My doctor is doing full xrays on my shoulder soon & I'm hoping to get a bunch of exercises to prevent what you're going thru! My left shoulder is significantly weaker than my right and I'm scared of the diagnosis! :eek:
 
I feel your pain!! I had shoulder surgery March 30 - he had to stabilize my shoulder w/ sutures and anchors (it was bone on bone), shave 1 cm. off my clavicle, remove debris etc. It took forever w/ PT until I could do much of anything. I think I was in PT until at least the end of June. I did two months of STS and it was almost funny how weak my right arm (surgery arm) was compared to my left. And I'm right handed so it's usually the other way around. You have to work so hard to get basic strength through all different ranges back in that shoulder before you can do much. And I'm definitely far from "back" at this point. However, it was worth it. I'd been dealing w/ so much pain since the end of September last year I was ready. Hang in there and stick w/ the PT religiously. Those exercises always seemed so tedious and BORING!!

Jen
 
Hang in there! You can come back from this with patience and a commitment to your PT exercises.

In '06, I suffered a total tear of the supraspinatus and had surgery to re-attach it. I spent about 6 weeks in a motorized chair that raised my arm up & down to improve my ROM. After about 9 months of PT, I was given the OK to begin lifting and started with a tuna can! It was painstaking slow and it took over a year to get back what I lost but after 2 rounds of STS & P90X, I am now lifting heavier than pre-injury, doing full pushups, pullups etc.. I still have some grinding and occasional pinching of scar tissue in that shoulder which I'll have to live with but I'm as close to 100% as I'll ever be.
 
Judy, I had to do the motorized chair for 6 weeks before PT started to! That was the most tedious & boring thing I ever did. It was like watching paint dry!
Colleen
 
cocob1 said:
Judy, I had to do the motorized chair for 6 weeks before PT started to! That was the most tedious & boring thing I ever did. It was like watching paint dry!
Colleen
Click to expand...

Hi Colleen-
LOL!! It was a PITA! I even had to bring it to our cabin since we had a family vacation planned. It was hilarious....I'd have my gin & tonic in one hand while the other arm was being exercised in the chair;) I must admit that it made a huge difference in getting my ROM back.

Glad to hear you are doing well too.
 
sts sounds like a great idea. did you still use a band? what about pushups? i tried doing a strait leg and it seemed like my body ways a ton,like i had a rock on my back.

laura
 
Laura-

I don't know the extent of your surgery but I wasn't allowed to lift anything until 9 months post surgery. It took a very long time to work back up but eventually regained the strength to do toe pushups again. I didn't attempt P90X until 2 years later and then STS when it came out last year. You really need to discuss this with your doctor and/or physical therapist because you don't want to jump back in too soon and risk re-injury.

Good luck!:)
 
mine wasn't that bad. by december my doc thinks i should be able to do pullups-which would only be my second month. i will ask my pt first. thanks

laura
 
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