Reverse Shoulder Replacement: Recovery process

Good evening @tfarizona. I read your post before my walk this evening and then spent some time thinking about it while swinging in a swing along the Mississippi. My shoulder surgery was a reverse meaning that what I call the "ball and socket" are switched. It was also my third surgery on that shoulder which means that I had been in considerable pain and discomfort for quite some time.

Here is what Mayo Clinic states about PT prior to shoulder replacement......"Mayo Clinic provides dedicated, individualized physical therapy sessions for all patients prior to surgery." I can attest to the purported individualization as I am currently in a patient unique PT program to prevent falling by increasing my strength and balance.

Is your surgery scheduled at Mayo Clinic?

May you be safe, protected, and free from inner and outer harm.
Chris

Thanks for your response. I will look into PT prior to surgery.

I would go with what your surgeon recommends. I asked mine about any special exercises before my reverse TSR last year, and he said no.

If your arm is painful enough to be thinking of shoulder replacement, it's probably bone on bone along with arthritis and very restricted movement of that arm. Chances are you have already gone through PT for a simpler solution and it has not given much relief. In order to build or improve muscle fiber you have to work it to past a point of discomfort so the muscle has a reason to thicken. The problem is that your point of severe pain from your bone on bone will prevent you from even getting your muscle up to it's point of discomfort, so all you'll have is pain without any gain.
Shoulder replacement has a very different schedule from knee replacement. With knees, they want you up and walking and moving as much as you can immediately. With shoulders, you wear an immobilizer sling day and night for up to 6 weeks. You do not start PT at once, when and what depends on whether you had a regular or a reverse procedure. You may do two or more daily sessions of various arm pendulum swinging exercises which only keep the rotational channel of your new joint working well, but don't involve any muscle activity. So any new muscle which you thought to build in the weeks before surgery will probably fade away due to enforced inactivity of that arm for the next month.
Again, I suggest checking with your doctor or surgeon.

Yes my surgery is scheduled at Mayo Clinic Arizona.

I would go with what your surgeon recommends. I asked mine about any special exercises before my reverse TSR last year, and he said no.

If your arm is painful enough to be thinking of shoulder replacement, it's probably bone on bone along with arthritis and very restricted movement of that arm. Chances are you have already gone through PT for a simpler solution and it has not given much relief. In order to build or improve muscle fiber you have to work it to past a point of discomfort so the muscle has a reason to thicken. The problem is that your point of severe pain from your bone on bone will prevent you from even getting your muscle up to it's point of discomfort, so all you'll have is pain without any gain.
Shoulder replacement has a very different schedule from knee replacement. With knees, they want you up and walking and moving as much as you can immediately. With shoulders, you wear an immobilizer sling day and night for up to 6 weeks. You do not start PT at once, when and what depends on whether you had a regular or a reverse procedure. You may do two or more daily sessions of various arm pendulum swinging exercises which only keep the rotational channel of your new joint working well, but don't involve any muscle activity. So any new muscle which you thought to build in the weeks before surgery will probably fade away due to enforced inactivity of that arm for the next month.
Again, I suggest checking with your doctor or surgeon.

Good evening @tfarizona. I read your post before my walk this evening and then spent some time thinking about it while swinging in a swing along the Mississippi. My shoulder surgery was a reverse meaning that what I call the "ball and socket" are switched. It was also my third surgery on that shoulder which means that I had been in considerable pain and discomfort for quite some time.

Here is what Mayo Clinic states about PT prior to shoulder replacement......"Mayo Clinic provides dedicated, individualized physical therapy sessions for all patients prior to surgery." I can attest to the purported individualization as I am currently in a patient unique PT program to prevent falling by increasing my strength and balance.

Is your surgery scheduled at Mayo Clinic?

May you be safe, protected, and free from inner and outer harm.
Chris

Good for you Chris. Great information. Question - under what conditions is a reverse shoulder replacement done?

All the best,

Joe

Good for you Chris. Great information. Question - under what conditions is a reverse shoulder replacement done?

All the best,

Joe