Re: Good PT facility in Vegas?
Don, you are pretty much right on. I had shoulder surgery a few years back – torn rotator and clavical bone spur. My recovery took about a year because of the extent of the surgery. some I know who have had only rotator surgery have recoved in a month or two.
For me, I went through the PT (pain and torture) theropy but it was mostly to get my flexibility and range of motion back. There was some strength building while at PT, but it was mostly done on my own. My doctor and theropist gave me some rubber bands (they got stronger as I progressed), and a pully mechanism. I would hang the pulley over a door, sit on a chair, grab one handle from the pulley with my hand of my bad shoulder, grab the other handle with my good hand. Using my good arm, I would pull through the pulley to raise and lower my bad arm/shoulder. I done it sideways and fore and aft. This helped greatly to gain my range of motion. Using the pulley set up, you can control the amount of movement to pain relationship. I used the rubber bands while sitting at my desk at work. I had a knot tied in one end that I put in a desk drawer, holding the drawer closed with my foot and exercising my bad arm/shoulder by pulling and releasing the rubber band. As I got stronger, I switched to a stronger band.
I also used a short stick. Lying on my back on the floor, I would grasp the ends of the stick with both hands. Using my good arm, I would lift and move my bad arm up and down and side to side. This also helped my range of motion.
I only had about 6 weeks of physical theropy, after that I worked on my own using the methods above.
A couple years after I got full strentgh and use of my arm, I hurt my other shoulder doing some ground work in Krav. We were doing a forward roll with a partner rolling over him and putting him in an arm bar. Well, I didn’t tuck my head enough and landed on the top of my shoulder. I now have a type 2 AC seperation that I live with.
