Fell And Broke Your Shoulder? 2 Tips To Help Get You Through The First Few Weeks After Surgery

If you fell and broke your shoulder, you likely had shoulder replacement surgery. If so, it can be difficult for the first few weeks as you have only the use of one arm. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to make life easier for you, including the two things below.

Physical Therapy

The most important thing you can do is to go to a physical therapist. Your doctor has likely told you that you should do this. When you first start therapy, they will start out very slowly. One type of exercise they may start with is you leaning on a table with your good arm and slowly rotating your other arm around in clockwise and counterclockwise position. This is to get you started getting some of your rotation back.

After a short time, the physical therapist will add on more exercises. One type is by pulling on a pulley. Pull down with your good arm on one pulley as the other pulley pulls your bad arm up. Keep going until you start feeling a stretch and hold the position for a few seconds and start again. You can purchase a pulley online that you can use at home. They are generally easy to install and will be very useful for you.

The physical therapist will manipulate your shoulder by stretching it out, as well as massaging it. Your physical therapist can go over these and other exercises with you in detail. They will also give you some exercises that you need to do at home.

Dressing

You will find dressing very difficult for the first few weeks. Wear only button down shirts so you do not have to pull anything over your head. The shirts should be very large on you so you can easily hold out your arm and gently slide it into the sleeve. You can then use your good arm to grab the shirt to bring it around to you. With a shirt that is big and baggy this will not be difficult to do.

Wear only elastic pants as you will find it very difficult to pull up and button regular pants with one arm. The least bit of exertion on the shoulder will cause a lot of pain in the beginning.

Talk with your doctor and physical therapist about other tips to help you at home for the first few weeks after your surgery. If you live alone, try to get someone to stay with you during this time until you can start doing things on your own.

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