A Look At The Recovery Phase Of Shoulder Replacement Surgery

Posted on: 6 May 2018

If you struggle with constant pain in your shoulder joint due to arthritis, your doctor may recommend a shoulder replacement. After this surgery, your arthritis pain is gone since the damaged joint is removed. However, since this is major surgery, you'll have pain due to the incision and operation until it heals. You'll want to be prepared for the long recovery period at home. Here's what to expect when you recover from shoulder replacement surgery.

You'll Need Help For A Few Weeks

You won't be able to do much with your arm for a few weeks, and it will be several weeks before you regain full use of your arm and shoulder. This makes daily activities difficult to do on your own at first. Simple things like preparing meals, changing clothes, and washing might be impossible for you to do, especially if you can't use your dominant hand. If you don't have a spouse or other family that can live with you to help, talk to your doctor about getting a home health aide or maybe even staying in a rehabilitation center for a couple of weeks until you regain enough strength in your arm to care for yourself.

Exercises Start Right Away

Even though you can't do much with your arm and shoulder, your doctor will probably advise starting exercising right away. The movements will be simple at first and include things like making a fist and straightening your elbow. These actions stimulate blood flow and are important to do. As your recovery progresses, you'll do more complex exercises. Exercising helps speed recovery and strengthens your shoulder muscles, which become weak after surgery. You need to progress with your exercises at the best pace because doing too much too soon is just as bad as not doing any exercise. Your doctor will probably send you to physical therapy for treatment, so your muscles will get strong and you'll gain full range of motion in the shoulder.

Activities Will Be Limited

You won't be able to drive for several weeks, and you may need to be off work for several weeks depending on the type of work you do. Even though you'll be exercising, the movements affect your shoulder differently than lifting objects. You won't be able to lift anything very heavy for some time, and you'll need to wear a sling most of the day. You'll need to avoid sports and strenuous exercise. You won't even be able to get your shoulder wet for a couple of weeks. After that, you'll need to avoid tub bathing or swimming until your shoulder has healed sufficiently. These precautions reduce the risk of getting an infection in the incision that spreads to your shoulder.

They also prevent damage that might affect your range of motion once you have recovered. The health and condition of your shoulder muscles and tendons before the surgery affects how quickly you recover and how quickly you can resume all your activities. You'll have several follow-up visits with your doctor to monitor your progress, and it could be several months until you've completely healed from the operation.

For more information, contact a company like christophercschmidtmd.com.

Share