Tuesday 8 November 2011

Week 11 - Hard to gauge progress

Had a quick count up of the weeks since surgery; we're now in week 11, so we're 10 and a bit weeks in. This means I've been doing active exercises for nearly four weeks - feels a lot longer.

I'm certainly not free of pain. The shoulder gets stronger week by week, but I still have moments of paranoia that I might of damaged the repair. This is because at times, it feels like it did before the surgery!

In the last week or so the pain has subsided in the front of the shoulder (around the tenodesis) and left me with more pain in the rear of the shoulder (cuff repair), so I frequently worry that I've damaged the cuff repair.

In truth, it still feels stronger and I haven't experienced any sudden pain or loss of strength that would indicate damage - just paranoia!

I went to see an NHS physio for one session and I'm sad to say I won't be going back. The work I'd put in to my own recovery was ignored (I had 90% range at this point). I was given a set of rudimentary isometric exercises to do. The fact that I'd been doing these since week 5 and it was now week 7 was lost on her! I've since sought physio guidance privately.

The rehab physio that I'm doing involves small weights of between 1 and 2 KGs. I'm waiting until I'm beyond 12 weeks before I can start to crank up the weights (I have read that at 3 months the healing is advanced enough to permit a gradual weight increase).

Back to see the surgeon in another 6 weeks - I really do hope by then that the pain is subsiding.

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