There are a lot of ways. One is therapy, but a very nice combination is a combination of cortisone injections and therapy. Let’s say someone has a frozen shoulder. Many times, those are idiopathic, meaning they just happen, or they can be post-operative. Sometimes, people have a lot of scarring and tightening after surgery. We’ve…
Obviously, this is a relative question. I guess in terms of all shoulder surgeries that I do, it’s the least painful. It’s the one where patients have the least amount of pain immediately after surgery. When establishing a modern post-operative pain-management protocol, our focus is on rapid comfort and early, safe mobility. For patients recovering…
This is a variable question. I think that you’ll probably stay about the same weight. Some patients worry they’ll gain weight because they can’t exercise. I don’t think you’ll lose much. I encourage patients to work their other arms to keep that muscle and work their legs so they don’t lose much muscle mass. When…
It varies from patient to patient, but most time, I recommend working with a therapist for about four months after surgery. For the first couple of months, you’re just working on gentle motion stretching and things like that. After a couple of months, we start to do gentle strengthening. After three months, we remove all…
A huge red flag for me is you can’t sleep at night. If the shoulder stops you from being able to sleep at night or interrupts your sleep frequently because of the pain in your shoulder, that’s typically a pretty significant problem. You should have it checked out. If you have pain at rest, you’re…
It may surprise you that I don’t think formal therapy is necessary. However, I do believe that it helps patients get better faster and have less pain after surgery because of the guidance that the therapist gives them as they’re recovering. Every human being is unique in terms of how they recover from surgery. There’s…
I typically recommend about four months, after shoulder replacement surgery. That gets you all through the strengthening phases. Some people go for six months or a little longer, but we typically recommend around four months. We’ve got some cool stuff where we can do virtual therapy—you’re doing everything from home. So, just like I’m talking…
It’s not nearly as difficult as most patients who have had it done thought it would be. After about a week or two, most people have less pain than before surgery and can move their arms very quickly. We don’t force people to wear slings. We allow early active motion after shoulder replacement surgery. So…
It depends on what you consider a major. In most people’s minds, staying in the hospital is a major operation. Our patients don’t stay in the hospital anymore. They go home as an outpatient. If surgeries take hours and hours, that’s a major operation. In my practice, we are hyper-specialized and we’re very efficient. We…
This is an interesting question. Most of the time, when your shoulder is tight and you’re not moving, it’s because of a scar in the glenohumeral joint. People can have scapulothoracic bursitis and some scar tissue there. The best way to start is just with therapy and working on stretching and strengthening. Occasionally, a cortisone…
