There are many stretches and exercises that can help when recovering from shoulder surgery. In this article, we are going to talk about two great post-op shoulder exercises –passive external rotation and passive supine forward elevation.
Passive External Rotation
- Adjust the patient’s elbow about a fist distance away from their side, paying particular attention that the patient does not help you.
- Place a towel roll under the patients involved arm for comfort.
- Use your other arm to help rotate the involved shoulder toward 10 o’clock for the right shoulder or toward 2 o’clock for the left shoulder.
- Hold the stretch gently for approximately 5-10 seconds.
- Perform 10 reps once a day unless otherwise directed by your physician.
Passive Supine Forward Elevation (PSFE)
- Have the patient lay on the floor, couch, bed, or table.
- Do not use a pillow under the head as this will limit range of motion. Make sure they are as close to the edge of the surface as possible. This will assist the person that is stretching the patient from poor body mechanics and from injuring themselves.
- A pillow should be used beside the body and under the arm so that the arm does not go past the plane of the body, as this will initially stress the repair.
- Slightly bend the elbow of the involved shoulder onto the patient’s abdomen. Gently grasp around the patient’s forearm and just above the humeral epicondyles as seen in the picture.
- It is very important that the patient is relaxing and not guarding or helping during this stretching exercise.
- Gently apply traction to the arm and slowly oscillate the shoulder into the internal and external rotation to relax the arm. Slowly and gently begin lifting the patient’s arm while maintaining the elbow position using the traction and oscillation techniques described earlier. Maintain the internal rotation of the arm such that the hand passes over the head.
- Slowly stretch them overhead as tolerated by the patient.
- Hold the end range for 10-20 seconds as tolerated by the patient and repeat the stretching technique 10 times once a day unless otherwise instructed by your physician.
- Encourage the patient to relax the arm when lowering the arm back down to the side as this is when the patient typically will begin to guard and protect the shoulder, increasing their pain complaints.
