How Soon Can You Use Your Arm After Reverse Shoulder Replacement?

How soon can you use your arm after reverse shoulder replacement surgery? I’ll tell you, that depends on the surgeon you go to.

All surgeons differ regarding their rehab protocols and what they feel comfortable with. In general, surgeons who perform a higher volume tend to be a little more comfortable letting you do more because they’ve seen more shoulder replacements and know what is safe and what is not.

Surgeons who don’t do as many tend to be slightly more conservative. But I’ll just tell you that in our practice, we are the former. We let people do whatever they want right away. We let them lift their arm immediately. They can do all activities of daily living immediately after the surgery.

We give you a sling but don’t force you to wear it, so you’re not taking a ton of huge steps backward in terms of motion and arm use with us. After the reversal of replacement in our practice, you can get through the day and get through your life without a lot of bumps in the road.