Special Needs Kids Lose Their Rights

I had shoulder surgery about three months ago, not the best experience that I have ever had but nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be.  This was the first time in my life that I had undergone surgery so obviously I had a few reservations.

My surgery was for a severe shoulder impingement.  One of the muscles in my rotator cuff was getting caught underneath the acromion at the end of my collar bone.  The surgery was to shave a piece of bone off of the collar bone to release a tendon that was getting trapped.  This would allow it to heal and hopefully stop the pain that I was suffering.

This was keyhole shoulder surgery.  Two small incisions, one each side of my shoulder allowed the surgeon to insert a small tube and have a look around inside my shoulder.  Once the diagnosis was confirmed they shaved a small piece of bone away and hey presto, job done.  Now, while they were in there they noticed that the cartilage had become damaged so they made a third incision and tidied that up for me at the same time.  I’m UK based so there was no charge for the whole procedure so it was easy enough for me to agree to them doing any extra work that was needed at the same time.

So about eight hours after I arrived I was on my way home with my left arm in a sling and instructions to take it easy for a few weeks.  2 days in the sling and then resting to let the shoulder recover from surgery.

What I didn’t find out until after the surgery is that the operation is considered successful if I regained eighty percent of my movement.  The aim is to get rid of the pain so that day to day activities are normal but there was a chance that I would still have some restriction on movement.  This worried me a bit so I started looking into things in a bit more detail.

For the first two or three weeks after surgery you have no choice but to take it easy.  Although they were small incisions there had been a lot going on inside my shoulder and it was bruised and sore.  Before you can start any kind of rehabilitation you need to get over the operation, so the emphasis for weeks one two and three was keep the shoulder moving but don’t put any strain in it.

On my fourth week I started gentle exercises aimed at improving the strength of my rotator cuff.  Over 50% of shoulder injuries involve damage to the rotator cuff so there are shoulder exercises that are specifically for the rotator cuff.  Low weights and small movements are the key to success with a rotator cuff exercise programme/

I gradually increased the exercises, building up the rotator cuff muscles on both shoulders over the next six to eight weeks.

I am now back to 100% fitness just three months after surgery, well my shoulders are 100% fit, the rest of me still needs some work but at least I can exercise now without worrying about shoulder pain.

So, if you’re booked for shoulder surgery, don’t panic.  It hardly hurts and is well worth it.

Technorati Tags: Acromion, Aim, Cartilage, Collar Bone, Diagnosis, Eight Hours, Incision, Incisions, Keyhole, Left Arm, Muscles, Restriction, Rotator Cuff, Shave, Shoulder Impingement, Shoulder Surgery, Sling, Tendon, Three Months, Time In My Life

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