Although most rotator cuff injuries can be remedied with non-surgical options, your doctor may recommend rotator cuff surgery to repair the tears present in the shoulder. Of course, the type of surgery will depend on many factors. No matter the surgery performed, however, the phases of rotator cuff surgery recovery will be similar.

Day of the Surgery

With the majority of these procedures, you will not have to stay in hospital overnight, as this is an outpatient surgery. Nevertheless, you must stay in the hospital until your shoulder pain can be handled with home medications. You will also wear a protective sling so your shoulder and arm muscles can rest and therefore speed the healing along faster.

Here are some tips to follow that will speed up your rotator cuff surgery recovery right after the operation, which are imperative in the later stages, include:

-Control your pain by taking pain medications right when you feel pain in your shoulder.

-Ask your doctor for guidance and find the right combination of pain and anti inflammation medicines.

-Apply an ice bag over your shoulder to lessen pain and help healing.

* When sleeping, sleep in a semi-seated position with your elbows pointing down.

Phases of Recovery

You should know that the stages of rotator cuff surgery recovery would depend on the situation of each patient when it comes to getting from one stage to the other. That is why it is best to adhere to your personalized rehabilitation program.

The first part of your recovery will go on for about 6 weeks, where you will be asked to only do passive motions. What this means is that you must avoid any kind of work or stress on the rotator cuff tendons and muscles. For this part of the recovery, your physical therapist will do two things. He will move your injured shoulder for you and second he will give you instructions on the best way to move your shoulders with as little as possible muscle contractions.

The second stage of your recovery involves you moving your arm on your own however; you should not be moving it against any resistance at all. This is what is known as the active motion stage that can go on up to 12 weeks from the time of your operation.

For the third phase, also called the strengthening period, you will focus on doing isolation exercises to provide strength to muscles that have been rendered weak due to inactivity. This is the most important phase in rotator cuff surgery recovery since full muscle function can be returned once this step is successfully done.

Throughout stage four, you can go back to using your shoulders as you always would. Certainly many things affect this stage that can go on up to 6 months after the operation and you will still have to follow the advice of your physician about going back to your old physical activities.

Lastly, your devotion to rehabilitation, the extent and location of the rotator cuff tear and your physical condition will determine how quickly you will recover from rotator cuff surgery.

Tom Nicholson has spent years caring for sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. You can follow this link to find out more regardingrotator cuff surgery recovery.

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