Health & Fitness Blog

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 Operation

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.

Here are some tips to follow that will speed up your rotator cuff surgery recovery right after the operation, which are imperative in the later stages, 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.

Stages of Recovery

You should know that the stages of rotator cuff surgery recovery would depend on the situation of each patient when it comes to getting from one stage to the other. That is why it is best to adhere to your personalized rehabilitation program.

The first part of your recovery will go on for about 6 weeks, where you will be asked to only do passive motions. What this means is that you must avoid any kind of work or stress on the rotator cuff tendons and muscles. For this part of the recovery, your physical therapist will do two things. He will move your injured shoulder for you and second he will give you instructions on the best way to move your shoulders with as little as possible muscle contractions.

The second stage of your recovery involves you moving your arm on your own however; you should not be moving it against any resistance at all. This is what is known as the active motion stage that can go on up to 12 weeks from the time of your operation.

The third stage is considered the strengthening part of your recovery where you will concentrate on performing isolation exercises to give strength to muscles that have become weak because of lack of activity. This is the most important stage in rotator cuff surgery recovery because full muscle function can come back once this stage is completed well.

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.

In the end, the effort you put into your recovery, the size and location of the rotator cuff tear and your overall health will decide how well and swiftly you will go through rotator cuff surgery recovery.

Tom Nicholson spends his time caring for sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. Please click here to find out more aboutrotator cuff surgery recovery.