Shoulder surgery recovery - 2026

[Exxonvaldeeznuts]

Thanks for following up. Progress is not going as well as I had hoped. A lot of pain in my collar bone and AC joint area where they cut and grinded bones. I did graduate from my sling a few days ago so that's a win.

I'm 7 weeks post-op and staying diligent with PT. I'm going to my therapist 2x per week and doing home exercises. PT says I'm a little behind. Still no active movement and working on passive range of motion with either him moving it, me using a broom stick, or climbing up the finger ladder.

We are seeing improvements but I'm waiting for a big breakthrough to be honest. My shoulder is really tight and jumpy if that makes any sense... it trembles, shakes, and fights him during passive stretching.

I'm going to continue to stay diligent with PT and try to keep a positive mindset!

7 weeks is still relatively soon. 3-6 months I a pretty realistic timeline and what I’ve seen a lot of the Ortho DR tell their patients. Keep up with therapy and it’ll get better!

 

[huntineveryday]

The aching and soreness from the acromioplasty and arthroplasty can stick around and fluctuate for up to 10-12 weeks post-op. Feels great one day, next day changes in activity or weather has it aching all day. It can be pretty frustrating for patients because structurally those proceedures are quick and easy, but they take a while to really heal.

At 7 weeks you're still waiting a little longer on that rotator cuff repair to finish scarring down. In a few weeks you will be able to start moving it and actually strengthening, then recovery starts to go by a lot faster. Right now you are in that dangerous window where you want to use it and you don't have soft tissue pain telling you to stop, but things aren't quite ready for the stress yet. This is the time to stay disciplined and hold course!

Hang in there, you're almost through the worst of it!

 

[huntineveryday]

15 years ago it seemed Ike rehab protocols for rotator cuff repairs were in a race to see how soon we could get those shoulders moving and start strengthening. Things have relaxed since then and the pace has slowed, with more emphasis on really letting the repair heal before moving into AROM and strengthening.

I've worked with patients when the surgeon wanted active flexion above head level by 8 weeks, and also surgeons that didn't want any active motion until after 10 weeks. The latter group was caught up by the 16 week mark and long term there wasn't a difference. There is no need to get in a hurry at this point. All it will do is risk inflammation (or worse), which will slow down healing.