Scapular Strengthing w/weights (Courtesy: http://grantpierce.wordpress.com/)

Last post I talked about how I was returning to a normal life. At 7 1/2 weeks away from Open Bankart Surgery on my right shoulder normality seems closer and closer. Shortly after my last blog post I had my follow up visit on 12/4 at physical therapy (PT) where I was able to reach an all time upward amount of 170 degrees. If you recall, 180 degrees is full rotation. It was very painful to go past 160 degrees, but I did it.

With that I continued my normal at home PT routine over the weekend and returned to work on 12/7. I was able to work both my PT in that day, as well as, my 3 at home (or work) PT sessions. Again, I was able to hit 170 degrees at PT and did so with less pain. We also continued external rotation (moving my arm away from my body) towards 30 degrees. Again, 180 degrees outward is your maximum, but for now this is the limit my orthopedic surgeon wants me working at.

I had to miss my 12/9 PT session because they closed their office for snow and to top it all off I came down with a cold that same day. This laid me up the whole week and stopped me from doing my at home PT work. When I returned to PT on 12/11 the effect was I reached upward to only 165 degrees, but was still able to go outward to 30 degrees. In short, my muscles though stronger overall from the rest are also tighter. We worked through a brutal upward stretching session that left my bicep feeling like chopped meat.

At that same PT visit the therapist added a scapular stretch, which is the motion you would do if you were standing straight up and pulled out a draw from a dresser while bending your elbows. Over the course of this coming week they will actually start me on scapular weight training to start building the strength back into my lower arms back up to normal, as well as, my shoulder blades and back.

The good news is that I’m noticing less and less daily pain. Sitting still there is normally little to no pain. Driving is minor discomfort when I get around 10 miles and I can finally sit through dinner while out to eat without having one of my arms pop out of the socket. This is all very good news. I also notice my upward reach in my protected zone (150 degrees or lower) is painless as well. I was able to get through four hours of mall shopping yesterday and over 50 hours of work this week. All with little to no discomfort. So there have been good gains overall. I plan now that my cold is letting up to get back to my at home PT starting today so I can catch up and restore any range of motion that I’ve lost over the last week or so.

As always, I let you know how it all goes by the end of this week.