Rotator cuff sling how long

It is common among weightlifters. A dislocated shoulder injury may also cause a torn rotator cuff. Rotator cuff tendonitis is the inflammation or irritation of the tendons and muscles in the shoulder joint. Symptoms of rotator cuff tendonitis typically get worse over time. These symptoms may include:.

When diagnosing a shoulder cuff injury, a doctor will also rule out conditions that can cause similar symptoms, such as a compressed nerve in the neck called a "pinched nerve" or shoulder arthritis. The treatment for rotator cuff tendonitis includes first reducing swelling and inflammation then strengthening muscles and improving range of motion.

Treatments may include:. All of the above treatments are usually followed by supervised physical therapy to regain shoulder motion and strength. However, for more severe tears or for active individuals who engage in sports or overhead work, surgery is often recommended. A partial or complete tear of the rotator cuff tendon is generally repaired by arthroscopic surgery.

Open surgery using a larger incision may be necessary for large, complicated full tears of the rotator cuff. The minimum recovery time for rotator cuff tendonitis is generally two to four weeks. Left untreated, rotator cuff tendonitis can worsen and may lead to a partial or complete rotator cuff tear.

Symptoms of a partial or complete rotator cuff tear can last from several weeks up to several months depending on the severity of the injury and the treatment plan. The goal of these exercises is to start strengthening your arm again.

Everyone has a slightly different timetable for recovery. To learn more or schedule an appointment, please call or visit our website. As a national leader in advanced orthopaedic care, UPMC treats a full range of musculoskeletal disorders, from the acute and chronic to the common and complex. Share this on: Every year in the United States, about 2 million people see a doctor for rotator cuff problems. Never Miss a Beat! Tap Click to Join! I understand that I may opt out of receiving such communications at any time.

I highly doubt that your scar lines are still open one month after the surgery. Having said that, I am not allowed to tell you to take off the strips because I am not your treating therapist.

I would bet a dollar though that your skin is fully healed. I had same problem,went to derm for cream ,but wrapping my arm in aTowel with ice packs really helps youll get used ti cold ,good luck. I will be 4 week post op on my shoulder surgery tomorrow. I had two tendons of the rortory cuff repaired. As I was leaving the surgeon office I tripped going up the steps and fell on my surgery shoulder.

I am unsure how much I landed on my surgery shoulder. It would be on my lower part as my arm was in the ultrasling! Pain level is as it was before. Nothing feels different nor hurting more when I do my excierces. Am I worrying for nothing or could I messed up my repair??? It was probably a very good thing that you were in the sling Ange. I would expect there to be an increase in pain and stiffness for a while. I had a labrum repair four weeks ago. I tried doing some movement exercises two weeks after the surgery.

I am in constant mild pain and my shoulder occasionally pops. Is there any chance I might have injured my surgical repair? If it was un-weighted gentle movement you probably just inflamed the shoulder a bit. Talk to your PT or doc about what you should be doing specifically in each phase of your rehab.

Our article on labral repair does outline a protocol, but some doctors use different protocols based on what work they did. I had an open capsular shift 5 weeks ago today, been in an immobiliser sling since surgery and was told in hosp no physio for 6 weeks, only hand wrist exercises. I do feel safe with my sling but my elbow and wrist is in agony, I take it out and support a cusion underneath a few times a day but as soon as I bend my elbow again I feel like my whole arm hurts.

Is this normal wearing an immobiliser or has something not went quite right? I see my constant for the first time since surgery I n Friday and I am going to ask if I can have the sling off and physio early, I also have an important event I am going to in 10 days, if I did get the all clear to come out the sling on Friday, would it be ok to go out in public without the sling or is there a longer period that you are supposed to weane yourself off it?

The elbow and wrist pain is an unfortunate consequence of wearing that sling. I would bother the doc about getting rid of the sling early. The total amount of time in the sling is really up to the doc and depends on what his or her protocol is.

I would also ween off the sling when you get the okay to do so maybe over several days. You can try walking short distances without the sling, but if the shoulder gets sore I would still wear it for longer bouts of walking. Had my first physiotherapy appointment today and not much to be said. Just to remind you I had a paralabral cyst removed and a anterior labrum repair 3 anchors. The 12 week arm overhead is more of a timeline of when you should be capable of doing that.

Shaving should not ruin your surgery. It takes about weeks for the anchors to heal into place. Keep that in mind. In terms of the hair thing, play it by ear.

If you can do it with only some stiffness and without sharp pain that is great. I would not push through anything sharp. Wait and see. You will survive. How long does PT last post op? When will I be able to just not worry about doing daily exercises? The exercises are typically very boring for the 1st month.

Pendulums, passive ranges and such. I also have them do some sliding of the hand on the table with the other arm on top guiding it. Pt can last anywhere from months post op, depending on how everything is going. You can stop worrying about exercises when you have no pain, normal motions, and you can do everything that you want to do. Even then I would still probably do some gym exercises from time to time to maintain.

This is a useful site. Thanks, Dan. I wanted to speak to the body image issue. I found the environment incredibly uplifting. There were some young sport folks, some with serious issues, some with less so, but all very keen and doing some of their exercises in the office.

There were some drastically injured people of every age, but again, they were trying. There were some very frail elderly people.

But, again, doing their best. Me again. Firstly, I usually only manage to do my exercises twice daily, just pendulums and external rotation to just past neutral, is only twice a day good enough as its all I can fit in? Third question, are popping and cracking sounds normal when doing pendulums? Does no pain mean everything is healing properly? Would I know if I damaged the repair?

Would it hurt a lot? Would it take a lot to damage a anterior labrum repair? It sounds like things are going well. It would be really difficult to damage the arm doing pendulum exercises at this stage. You should also run these questions by your doc and PT Ricky. I am happy to tell you what I think, but realize that I have never seen your shoulder.

I started some new exercises, one being crawling my arm up the wall as high as I can. I did it today and really pushed myself, I think a bit too much. Would pushing myself a bit too much and crawling too high cause damage or is it unlikely 6 weeks post op? Just crawling up the wall, highly unlikely that you tore something. You would have to do something requiring a lot more force. Is it highly likely the labrum is now healed in place and highly unlikely instructed PT exercises, even if pushed a bit too hard at times would re tear it?

I highly doubt that pushing the end range of the wall crawls re-tore the anchor. Will the anchor heal stronger than before, I am not so sure about that. Again, thank you for your response. Also, how would I know if I had injured something? And, what sort of things could re-injure a anterior labrum repair at this stage in recovery? I am moving my shoulder and arm fine and not a terrible amount of pain. I have noticed that walking causes an incredible amount of pain.

If I walk a few blocks I need to sit and rest, and my shoulder feels immediately better once I sit down. I was just wondering what the reason for this would be? I would use the sling for walks at least for another few weeks. Your shoulder muscles are so weak right now that they cannot control how the ball rests in the socket. The result can be a strained or sharp pain feeling.

Hi, I just dislocated my shoulder almost a week ago and i try to move my arm like up or to the side and it seems stiff. Should i be able to at least move my arm or should i leave it in the sling. It will likely be very sore and stiff for at least weeks. There are also certain motions that you should be really careful to avoid early on.

I would touch base with either your doc or a PT and make sure that you are doing the right exercises at the right time. I wore my sling 24 hours a day. He told me to wear the sling only in public and that later that week I could try driving a little with someone in the car. Janet in all likelihood you are going to have some pain associated with the gradual return to normal usage of the shoulder. I would wean off the sling gradually over the next several weeks. I for one think that wearing a sling for too long causes more problems that it is worth.

Right now your rotator cuff muscles are super weak, getting the arm out of the sling and in a normal postural position will begin to start to recruit those muscles. Some soreness is to be expected with this.

If the pain is too sharp you can always follow up with the doctor. I received an open shoulder stabalisation 25 days ago on my right shoulder and am experiencing popping and clicking sounds with certain movements. I have followed my directions thoroughly and i sleep with my sling on. Popping and clicking are normal. If you subluxed your shoulder while you slept it probably would have woken you up with extreme pain.

What you are describing sounds pretty normal to me given the surgery that you had. You can of course have the doctor evaluate it if that would ease your mind.

My shoulder was reset and the bones look like they are lining up for healing so I have been in a sling. Also I have a ton of elbow pain and small bruise. The area is still slightly numb as well.

I thought I would ask you before paging my Dr. Thank you! I would ask the doc to be safe. Realize that fractures ache and hurt a whole lot. Add the dislocation and the bruising and soft tissue injury, and it is not surprising that you are in a lot of pain.

I have seen many cases as well where the full brunt of the pain does not hit the patient for at least a week after the injury. I would back off a bit on the exercises for a day or two and see if that eases it a bit.

Hang in there. You will get through this, but it will definitely take time. I fell directly on my shoulder 3 weeks ago. I have a fracture of the proximal humerus that did not require surgery.

I was given a sling with an abduction pillow and told to wear it for 3 weeks except to shower. I did this for 2 full weeks and then only wore it with actvity And sleeping. I need to move my arm. I work as a dental hygienist and cannot rusk forearm stiffness. The abduction pillow makes my shoulder ache. I went to wearing a dhoulder wrap support and do not do any lifting, pushing, pulling etc. How essential is it to wear an abduction pillow, is it going to make a difference in my healing after 3 weeks?

I am to start PT now. Does the abduction pillow actually help move a minimally displaced bone into place???? I do not think that the abduction pillow helps to move the bone into place. It probably serves more to have the shoulder in a more ideal resting position for pain management, and perhaps for better blood perfusion to the shoulder for healing.

I fell 6 weeks ago and had to have surgery to fix a humorous avulsion fracture and torn tendons. Two screws were put in my shoulder. I had to wear a wedge type sling for the first 5 weeks at all times and was only allowed to make a fist with my hand for exercise.

Since I started do the pendelum exercise I ache all the time under my collar bone and up my neck on my injured side. Sometimes I ache under my shoulder blade on the same side also. I am to start physical therapy next week and remove my sling. Why do you think I am aching in the areas? From being in my sling so long I have very limited mobility of my arm. It feels like I have an inch wide metal band around my upper bicep when I try to move my arm at all. Do you think I will be able to get full use of my shoulder and arm back?

I am worried about it. I am excited but also scared to start physical therapy. Thank you for your time. You are probably aching in those areas because of the fixed position of the shoulder and the shoulder blade. Immobilization is a necessary evil: you need it to allow healing, but it does a number on the structures around it. All of those pains should slowly abate once your arm is allowed to move more normally. It may take a while to get the mobility back. Stick with the program that the PT gives you once you get started.

In terms of sleeping, I would slowly decrease the angle of inclination on the recliner and see what you can tolerate. I had Rotator Cuff surgery 4 weeks ago and have worn my sling with abduction pillow since day one. Is 4 weeks long enough when I had 4 cm retraction of the tendon and no screws were used to anchor the tendon?

And could wearing a sling so long be causing me to have pain in the sternum area? I do think that going from the abduction pillow to no pillow before getting rid of the sling is logical. As to your second question, wearing a sling is a necessary evil: it does very often cause some other problems in terms of postural pain.

It is entirely possible that the sternal pain is related to the shoulder posture because of the sling. Bring it up to the doc next time you see him or her, particularly if the pain does not subside once you are done with the sling. Man, Reading all these questions makes me wonder.

Iam right handed and had surgery on my right shoulder for a large rotator cuff tear. They did a shoulder block that was supposed to wear off later that evening so I took 1 pain pill thinking I was going to be in major pain. Will I know it if I do anything to screw up my anchor or anything else. Is it possible to heal to fast and injure something or is my Dr. I would say that you are in the minority. Be glad. If the anchor becomes damaged I would say that most of the time it is painful.

The biggest thing that you need to be aware of is that it takes a good weeks for those anchors to heal into place. Do not push past your protocol, even if you are feeling great.

You are probably not healing faster. Cold turkey might be too much. Start with small amounts of time out of the sling and slowly work your way up. Hi, I had a fall about 5 weeks ago where I landed into a door frame with my arm up because I had tripped.

I have a fracture of the humerus head at the greater tuberosity. I saw the dr. I go back to see him on June 15th. And after that he believes I should be able to start physical therapy. I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old and I broke the shoulder in my right arm, and I am right handed.

So sometimes going through the day I have to use the arm some. I try to make sure I only use from the elbow down, in an attempt to not put strain on the muscles in my shoulder.

Is it safe to pick up a certain amount of weight or support a certain amount of weight with my lower arm without hurting my shoulder? Your concern is valid.

I would not lift any weight with that arm at least until 6 weeks after the fracture. Definitely do not try to lift one of your children. At the same time i had a bone spur removed, some arthritis and some frozen shoulder.

As a result I had pt starting third day after surgery to avoid re-occurrence frozen shoulder and have been faithful with pt twice a week and instructed home exercises. I have just started active phase of pt. My pt has been performing passive stretching every session. My range of motion he says is where i should be. Permission was given to completely ditch the sling a week ago although i had all along had permission to not wear when watching tv..

My pt agreed with the assessment of no blood clot. What you are describing is not very common Gail. If I were to venture a guess I would say that this may be the frozen shoulder in the inflammatory phase. If you had a frozen shoulder, and then you had surgery on top of that, you will most likely have a shoulder that is inflamed and frozen. If it is a frozen shoulder, it will probably take many months to gradually calm down.

I would also not be very aggressive about doing range of motion, because in the inflammatory phase of a frozen shoulder aggressive range of motion can actually make things worse. Keep everything on the gentle side for the time being. The frozen shoulder was taken care of during surgery and i started pt three days later to avoid a reoccurence. They both think this is due to increased movement after sling removal with no mention of frozen shoulder.

The PT has been doing the passive stretching on me. Anyway just wondering if you agreed with the assessment. Thanks for your input and Ii will check back with you in for weeks when i see the surgeon for 3 month check. Hoping no frozen shoulder as I have already suffered much including three months of pt before surgery was done..

Hello: I ended up having tests for possible blood clot — but none. Saw the surgeon this past week at my request. I have been using my hand more although painful and some reduction of swelling on top of hand but not on fingers. Still have swelling under my arm which seems to come and go. Remember though, that there is a difference between rotator cuff repair and debridement. Repair is a more involved procedure that necessitates some immobilization of the shoulder after the surgery.

You typically do NOT have to wear a sling for as long a period of time as for rotator cuff repair if you just have a debridement, acromioplasty, distal clavicle excision or bicep tenotomy procedure. The study likely did not have enough patients to draw a meaningful conclusion.