Wow - almost a month since my last PT blog. Things are going faster than I had ever expected...
My PT guy has been really great. he's a nice guy, and a pleasure to work with. Answers all my questions and deals with me when I try to get out of things. :)
The first few weeks were more about stretching (previous blog post). We slowly moved to arm raises, where I started raising my arm on my own. It was nice to be able to start doing a real activity again. And then the fun wore off when I had to do to arm raises at home as part of regular exercise. There's one tendon in my shoulder that's still stiff, and while I could do arm raises, I couldn't do too many in a row.
The more I go to PT, the more fascinating the shoulder joint becomes. There are a lot of different muscles working together to move this ball joint around. Only part of what we've been doing has to do with the repaired muscle. A lot has to do with all the other muscles that haven't been raising my arm since January, and have suffered some atrophy.
A lot of the PT sessions are 'training' the other muscles how to do their work. For example he would ask me to do some movement and it would be almost impossible. Then he would hold my arm immobile while I tried to move it back and forth. This would 'teach' the muscles how they're suppose to work. After that little exercise I would be able to do do the movement with no problem.
Last week came the big news. Permission to start using the arm. cool. I'm almost normal. :) Still stiff though. I can reach up and get a glass or open the shades, but it still feels tight when the arm is fully extended. Actually holding onto the subway bars with my left hand (a little erratic exercise).
So this past week we moved forward again. Some stretching and progress check. Then progressing even further - he puts a 3lb weight in my hands. I of course ask 'what do you expect me to do with this". Well, I couldn't lift it, so we went back down to 2lb. After a number of arm lifts, we tried with 3lbs again and I got a few raises in.
While I can use the arm for almost everything, the shoulder is still 'learning' how to work right. If I pick up a glass and take a drink with my left hand, the arm is still shaking a bit; a symptom of the arm remembering what to do, and learning how to maintain control. that should clear up over time...
I bought up some hand weights and am doing some weighted lifts at home now to try to build shoulder strength. I continue to use the arm daily... I hope this week to get some more strength, and to try to stretch a little more and regain some more range in the arm. I've gotten so much done in the last month, but still waiting for raising my left arm to be as simple and effortless as raising my right is. (OK, how many of you are now lifting your arm.. :-)
