I saw the shoulder surgeon last week. Given that my range of motion is improved and that the pain is both less frequent and less extreme, he recommends that I give my shoulder a few more months to settle down. He says that usually in a situation such as mine the shoulder either continues to get better or it relapses. Should it relapse, surgery would most likely fix the problem. Should it continue to get better, then probably nothing needs to be done, as the tear is not severe (but, being an excellent doctor, he told me repeatedly that only I can judge how much the injury is affecting my life).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though I had resolved beforehand to get the surgery, I see the wisdom of his advice. Certainly my shoulder has been improving. Just the other day I realized that I’d gotten back the ability to raise my arm to the side. It hurts to move it that way, but at least I can<\/em>. So, I’ll see how things go and revisit the surgery option in September\/October. In the meantime, I feel like I ought to start exercising the shoulder again, and he says that’s fine to do, but that I should keep all exercises at chest level or below, because it’s the overhead motions that are most likely to aggravate the injury. Good to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I saw the shoulder surgeon last week. Given that my range of motion is improved and that the pain is both less frequent and less extreme, he recommends that I give my shoulder a few more months to settle down. … Continue reading