Shouldering The Load Over the Long Term

This is the third installment of my blog on my recovery from my October 1st rotator cuff surgery. The good news is that my shoulder range of motion is coming along ahead of schedule. We are just at the point where strength improvement enters into the mix—more on that later.
So everything is great, right?
It’s me we’re talking about, so of course something has to get screwed up!
My knee is bad. It’s been bothering me for several weeks now. No, it’s not the left knee that I have had surgically repaired twice, thirty years apart. It’s the right knee this time. More on the knee later.
Physical Therapists Make the Shoulder Go ‘Round
I’ve said it a million times before and I’ll say it again: if you get a serious surgery and don’t love your physical therapist, you’re doing something wrong.
I consider myself very self-motivated and aware of how my body works. I consider myself an athlete. I also know a fair amount of anatomy and medical terminology. But I am not an expert on physical therapy and the modalities used for specific injuries or conditions.
My physical therapist has an answer for everything. If I mention my shoulder feels weird doing certain exercises, she explains why, comes up with several alternatives or modifications, and I continue making progress.
In fact, as of eight weeks post surgery, I am far ahead of most markers for range of motion and strength. I’m old and it was a serious surgery, but it appears that, so far, I’m doing everything right. And that means following the exact instructions from my therapist, doing exercises at home on days I don’t have PT, and attending PT three times a week.
What am I doing? Everything from biceps curls and triceps kickbacks with tiny weights to external rotations with a dowel rod. Add in the “cane swings,” wall slides, and now, the ever-exciting “pushing a towel into a doorframe five different ways.”
Why is that last one significant? Because it is engaging the rotator cuff muscles by getting them to fire. Isometrics don’t seem like much, but confirming that my arm still works functionally and has some strength is a breakthrough.
In Other News
I mentioned the right knee. As in the past, there is no single thing I “did to it” that would explain why it hurts. I haven’t fallen, twisted it, or done anything unusual in my workout routine. I might just be old with bad genetics, which is not quite as macho sounding as the proverbial “old football injury.”
Somewhere in the first week of November, I noticed it hurt a bit on the outside of the knee. For someone who has damaged the meniscus on the lateral side of my left knee twice before, it sure felt familiar. I did my best to ignore it and hope it was “just a nerve thing” or “just a little sore from so much dog walking.
But it kept getting worse, to the point that it affected my ability to walk without a hitch or limp and made standing on the pedals on the Peloton painful and nearly impossible.
Despite getting an injection to reduce inflammation, nothing got better. I am scheduled for an MRI in mid-December, which is the “earliest” I could get.
So my bicycle fitness is on hold now, as I can barely walk, let alone pedal without pain. My therapist has shown me some knee exercises that genuinely help. I hope they allow me to get along for a while.
As with life, nothing is ever linear or simple, and bumps in the road appear at times, often without warning.
My shoulder continues to improve while my new concern is my knee. Yet I’m so lucky compared to so many people. I have to focus on that. My injuries don’t make it impossible for me to work, for one thing. And as much as I dislike being in pain, discomfort is a constant reminder of what my clients are going through—and who I’m working for.
Takeaways
- My shoulder recovery is ahead of schedule after two-plus months
- Rehab entered a new phase involving isometric strengthening exercises
- My knee is now bothering me, because why make things easy
- Life and rehab is hardly ever a straight line; it’s a winding road. Just keep moving forward.
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