Total Shoulder Replacement Surgery – Home Exercise Program (0 to 6 weeks post-op)
A home exercise program, or HEP, is a list of exercises your therapist will assign for you to do on your own at home. Think of your healing process as an interstate, and you’re driving a car from point A (the day of your initial evaluation) to point B (fully healed).
Total Shoulder Replacement Surgery – in clinic modalities (0 to 6 weeks post-op)
After shoulder replacement surgery, it is very important to let your shoulder heal in the first six weeks. Most protocols call for passive motion only, meaning your shoulder muscles are not supposed to be used to move your arm.
“Best Program around”
Sheree Hester was very anxious about her first visit for physical therapy after shoulder replacement. Sheree works in healthcare and over the years due to heavy lifting and pulling, she was in need of shoulder replacement.
Ms. Hester’s plan of care started with pain control and maintaining the motion at her wrist and elbow.
Total shoulder replacement (TSR) is an option for persons who have severe arthritis of the shoulder joint. Severe shoulder arthritis is often painful, and can cause restriction of shoulder motion and reduces the ability to perform normal activities of daily living. Arthritis causes the normal smooth cartilage lining of the joint to erode and the protective layer between the bones is removed.
Following a rotator cuff injury you will be given a home exercise program, or HEP, is a list of exercises your therapist will assign for you to do on your own at home. It’s a toolbox that you need to use to take responsibility for your healing process. The following is an example of an early HEP your PT might give you for a rotator cuff strain.
Rotator Cuff Strain – In-Clinic Modalities
Rotator cuff strains are often treated with physical therapy. PT may be beneficial to avoid a surgical interview, in preparation for a surgical intervention or following surgery. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that work together to hold the head of your humerus in the shallow socket of the shoulder.
Hindsight is 20/20. It’s easier to know the right thing to do after it has happened. Here is Kathy Perry’s story of a frozen shoulder. Last summer, she noticed her left shoulder pain and how it wanted to freeze up and continually got worse. She ignored it until October. Kathy’s doctor prescribed physical therapy 2 times a week,
Since you will only be in the physical therapy clinic for 2-3 hours per week for Frozen Shoulder or Adhesive Capsulitis, your therapist will give you exercises to complete at home (HEP—Home Exercise Program) once they know what you tolerate in your PT sessions. This will allow you to take some of your recovery into your own hands and regain your shoulder strength and range of motion more quickly.
At your first visit to physical therapy for frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis, you will undergo a full evaluation to assess your shoulder range of motion and strength. Your therapist will create a program of therapeutic exercises and stretching to address any areas of limitation and pain.
A normal physical therapy session may look like the following:
Adhesive capsulitis, commonly known as “frozen shoulder”, occurs secondary to inflammation and thickening of the fibrous joint capsule of the glenohumeral joint. The glenohumeral joint includes the head of the humerus and the concave glenoid fossa of the scapula and is where most of our shoulder motion comes from. The inflammation and thickening of the glenohumeral capsule causes it to adhere down to the humeral head,