OUCH! YOU’RE HAVING ROTATOR CUFF SURGERY - BLOG #12

Week Five. Wow, I can see the end of the sling phase approaching. I’m excited but also a little nervous. I know the PT is going to become harder and more work once I take the sling off. Well, I can’t worry about that right now, I guess, so let’s focus on week five.

I realized today that I forgot to tell you about a key piece for your dental hygiene. Flossers. These little devices string a piece of dental floss through a plastic holder, allowing you to floss with one hand. These are great little devices, and I might keep using them after I’ve got my motion back.

There are days when it’s tempting to slack off on your PT. I’ll say it’s not a good idea. I’ve been very diligent doing the exercises I received in my last PT three times a day. But one day this week, I only managed to do the exercises twice. The next morning, I noticed a slight setback in my mobility and discomfort during my exercises. It pushed me to work even harder on the three times that day, just to get my mobility back to where it was on the prior day.

Let’s talk about our sling. If you’re doing this in the summer, your sling is like wearing a coat on one arm. If you spend time outdoors in the heat, you will definitely sweat faster. Wearing a cotton shirt with long sleeves can help absorb the moisture and keep you more comfortable in your sling. However, having a long sleeve on the other arm would also make you hot. Solution. Use an old T-shirt and cut a little sleeve to go inside your sling and over that arm. Or better yet, stay in the air conditioning! If you’re doing this in winter, you might enjoy the extra layer of sling material to keep you warm.

My PT exercises have allowed me to get some functionality back to doing things on my own. I can now press my elbow to my body, bend at the waist, and get my earrings on and off again all by myself. And if the food is not too hot, I can stand at the edge of the table (I’m short) and cut the food. I’m not up to steaks yet. I’ve even managed to get back into a bra (shocking) and some of my favorite fitted shirts.

For my bra wearing friends, let’s talk about that bra. Putting it back on definitely impacts the feelings in my shoulder. The first few days, I couldn’t do it all day as the area of the surgery would get tired and start to complain. I also loosened the straps so they were not as tight. Is definitely something you need to ease back into and let your body have a little time to adjust.

Remember, stage one is nearly over, and stage two will get more difficult. Ice. Ice. Ice, and do your exercises!