Standard Shoulder Replacement Finally after 5 years - a new shoulder

[Jamie]

Oops.....I have joined the ODIC. I was done in by Joint Replacement Awareness Day. It was a combination of issues. First, I got so busy with preparation work that I had to cancel one of my therapy sessions (last Thursday). Then I was so busy on Friday, I didn't really do much in the way of exercises. Saturday (JRAD Day), I ended up sitting upright at my computer for pretty much 7 hours straight. Only very short breaks. And no slumping as a fair amount of the time I was "on screen" and visible to the world.

By the evening ALL my muscles in my arm, shoulder and neck had tightened up from the stress of that long in basically one position. I hurt so bad I finally took some pain meds at bedtime. It was some better Sunday, but still hurt too much to do a lot of my exercises. So I just held out until I saw the therapist today. She agreed everything was tight. She did almost a full hour of massage and working my arm. The range of movement came back when she worked the muscles. But all that sure made my arm sore again. At least it's that "good" soreness of muscles working out and not the pain from tense, tight muscles. She promised that I'd be back in good shape by the end of the week. Good thing, because a report goes to my surgeon very soon and I don't want it to be that I did things I shouldn't have done. I'd get a big lecture.

I went out after therapy and bought three great big ceramic pots for my front steps and porch. They'll be in the back of my car until I can find a guy or two to unload them for me and put them in place. They are WAY too heavy for me and I don't plan to risk it.

 

[Mojo333]

Hope you take a well deserved break this week....and that all gets back on track very soon.

 

[Jockette]

You did the best you could to minimize your discomfort with JRAD. You did the day from home rather than making the trip to be there in person. Good decision there.

I hope things will settle down well this week.

Good idea, also, to leave those ceramic pots in the car until you can get help. I’m sure it’s frustrating though.

Im glad you’re coming along so well. I was happy to read your post on another thread that there’s been less pain in this recovery than you expected.

 

[Jamie]

My therapist, Sarah, worked her magic and my achy shoulder was much better today. It feels almost like it did last week before JRAD - definitely looser and more motion than on Sunday and Monday.

You're right, Jockette. Getting that much pain from sitting at the computer for so long on Saturday tells me that my surgeon was right to tell me not to take the trip. I'm sure it would have been easy to overwork the shoulder. I know I could get help at the airport and checking into a hotel. But there are other times that I would have been on my own with a heavy suitcase....like packing, unpacking, hanging clothes, ironing them when unpacking. There are so many things you do in life that you just don't think about when your body is normal. When it's not, some of those things become a real problem. Even getting meals would have been more difficult as I would have been going to restaurants and not just walking into the kitchen.

 

[Jamie]

More good news. In Wednesday's session, I was measured for progress to report to the surgeon. Even after my Saturday setback I had enough progress that Sarah felt the surgeon would be very happy. I see him in about 10 days. She did a lot more tissue massage and by Friday I had started to make improvements in range of motion again. Strength still continues to be quite challenging as I still cannot lift my arm more than 90 degrees on my own when standing. I can move it to 150 degrees when lying down, but the old muscles just won't do it when I'm standing up. I hate it! I'm trying to be patient, but I'm not so good at that.

So, my question goes out to @SportHog and @PJK65, my surgery buddies....how is your range of motion at this point?

 

[Jockette]

I had to google shoulder range of motion so I could see a picture. Is there plus and minus like the knee? I figure there is, with the same number degrees on each side of zero.

 

[Jamie]

Sarah didn't measure any negative numbers that I know of. She was measuring mostly how much lift I could do unassisted with my arm in various positions. She measured these and a few other movements. Since the shoulder rotates in so many ways depending on how you hold your hand and elbow, there are more measurements than with a knee or hip. It took about 20 minutes for her to do all all the measurements.

 

[Jamie]

One thing both of us noticed Friday was that the super tight subscapularis muscle has now released a little. That's the muscle the surgeon was worried about. She gave it a good massage that I could have never tolerated a couple of weeks ago. Sarah is young ... in her early 20's and I think she's surprised to see an old body like mine make improvements. She's talked about how a lot of people just don't want to do any of the exercises or feel any discomfort at all when moving. They won't relax their arm and trust her to make gentle movements. They stay tense and "fight" her when she works the arm. That's sad because people sell their bodies short if they don't move and work to stretch those out-of-shape muscles in the arm. The body is such a miraculous healing machine if a person targets specific muscles and goes slow. I am in awe of how this is working out. The key to this manipulation by the therapist is for you to relax completely. That enables her to gently stretch the tight muscles and get them engaged again. In my case, some of the muscles hadn't worked properly in years.

 

[SportHog]

Great progress Jamie. I wish my physiotherapist was as good as yours. However, she did do a bit of massage last time.

 

[PJK65]

Jamie, I'm glad your setback has settled down and your feeling good again. As for range of motion I'm right with you, I'm at about 150 degrees and standing I can only get to about 100 degree's, I understand the frustration part. My therapist keeps telling me I"m right where I should be and that it will come with time, I just wish I had more strength in my shoulder, but I suppose it will come. Good luck as you continue your journey.

 

[Jamie]

That's comforting to hear, PJK65. We've had so few shoulder recoveries here on the forum, it's hard for me to judge what's normal or not.

SportHog....so glad to hear you received some soft tissue massage. I'm truly a believer that it is helpful.

 

[Jamie]

Oops....another little setback. A couple of days ago on the way into the house after running an errand, it was such a beautiful spring day, I pulled a few weeds in one of the beds. Then I went over and pulled a couple of maple tree saplings about 2 feet tall from another (very mulched) bed. Bad move. It's the old story....didn't hurt at the time but I was sore the next day and today after therapy. Sarah asked me if I did anything special, but I completely forgot about the "tree pull." I think the shoulder is NOT ready for pulling motions even though I tried to be gentle and pulled mostly with my other arm. I am such a doofus sometimes!

Tomorrow in therapy I'll have to fess up to Sarah and take my penance.

 

[Jockette]

 

[Celle]

I hope that Sarah can work her magic again, Jamie, and make your shoulder more comfortable.

 

[Jamie]

At therapy today my arm and shoulder muscles were more painful than normal. The workout was kept light with lots of massage. It is some better, but I think it's going to take a while. Sarah agreed that the pulling motion from those two saplings was likely the culprit. She explained that my muscles are still weak (I know that) and, even though I tried to pull mostly with my right arm, by body would naturally try to engage the muscles in my left arm in an equal way while I was holding onto the sapling. This action will overtax the weakened muscles and cause a strain or even a bit of a spasm. I could feel the muscles at the top of my arm were hard this morning, so that would seem like it might be in a a spasm. It's much more relaxed now after her massage. She indicated we needed to give it at least a week! Boy, I'm my own worst enemy. She taught me several weeks ago how to roll sore muscles with either a tennis ball (softer) or a lacrosse ball (harder) to mimick a massage. I bought both balls and think I'll probably use them to see if it helps.

 

[djklaugh]

((( @Jamie ))) Oh we are definitely our own worst enemies!! I have often thought that BoneSmart needs a theme song ... like Simon and Garfunkel's 59th St Bridge song .. "Slow down, you move too fast. Gotta make the morning last"....

 

[Jamie]

That's the perfect song for us, isn't it!

 

[Jamie]

I took things VERY easy yesterday and the soreness in my shoulder muscles seems to be a bit better. Putting a heating pad on my arm at night while I slept helped. I have therapy again today and I'm sure Sarah will massage those poor old muscles again. I'm going to request that the exercises still remain light, though. I can do movements to keep the shoulder mobile, but not a good time to push the discomfort when I hit that "magic" point. I'm hoping that by next Monday maybe I'll be back to where I was a week ago. Sigh......slow down, Jamie. slow down.....

 

[Jamie]

Whoo hooo!!! Glowing report from the surgeon today. I'm obviously not "healed," but he was very satisfied with the look of the implant, my scar and my range of motion. He said it's all muscle strength now. I don't have to go back for 3 months. During that time he will approve as much therapy as I want. My restrictions for lifting are lifted completely but he warned just to go easy and be careful. So basically, I'm a FREE woman! I am so happy.

But.....(there's always a "but")......I do still have a ton of strength to gain back. I still can only lift my arm to a little above my waist height unassisted. Muscles wobble and catch when I do some movements. Some muscles are still sore and tight. So dear Sarah has her work cut out for her. Bless her heart, she told me today it was all good news but she intended to take the strength-building exercises very slow. She's my kind of gal.

At least if I overdo things a bit and hurt, I won't worry anymore about tearing something loose in my arm or shoulder. Short of doing something really radical, torn muscles aren't going to happen with just over exercising the arm. Of course, I'm going to try my best NOT to do that, but I sort of have a history now......

 

[Jockette]

That is great news, Jamie!