Physical therapy has earned its rep

I started my third week of physical therapy today, and have been working on passive range of motion exercises per Dr. Latshaw's prescription.  PROM, as it's called, is a lot more grim than it sounds.

I was able to choose from a list of clinics that Dr. Latshaw refers to, and selected Banyan Tree Rehabilitation, because they have a location close to home.  The week after my surgery was pretty much pain-free, and I appreciated it then. I would have cherished it even more if I had realized that the pain-free-ness was going to be coming to an abrupt halt as soon as Paul, the clinic director and my personal brute, laid hands on me.  


I have been going twice a week, and spend roughly (sometimes rougher than others!) an hour at Paul's tender mercies.  I was really in pretty grim shape when I started, and was amazed at how little range of motion I had in my shoulder, and even more startlingly, my elbow, after only two weeks in a sling. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if I had waited to start PT.  


Paul gave me pendulum exercises first, and stretches where I put my forearm on a towel, and slide it away from my body as I lean towards it while it rests on a table.  The point is to stretch the shoulder while NOT using its muscles to move it or even support it.  At the end of each session I get a stretching on the rack from Paul, which usually ends up with at least a few tears.  I told him once last week that he was slacking because my eyelashes were barely wet!  Then comes ice pack, pain pills, recliner, and nap.


At each visit, I have been given new exercises to do at home.  Last week, I started doing biceps curls, to work on straightening, and strengthening, my poor elbow.  The 2-pound hand weight was too much for me (!), so I started with a 1-pound weight at the clinic, and used a chili can at home.  In addition to that, I started using a shoulder pulley that allows me to use the left arm to pull up the right one. I also do  shoulder blade pinches.  I do my whole set of exercises two or three times a day.


I like doing the pulleys and the stretches and the curls, because I can see improvement in each set. I start out tight, but as I ease into it, I can feel the shoulder loosening up and before long I'm fully extended. Yay, me! Feel the burn, see the success.


Not so much for the strap from hell.  Imagine a dog leash, about 1" wide and 6' long. Only there's two leashes, stitched together every 6" or so to make hand-holds. It's green, and nylon, and I hate it.  I use this strap at the clinic, and a dog leash at home, behind my back, to try to stretch the right arm back behind my back. I used to be able to put my hands together at the small of my back, but the right arm no longer does that. At all. Ever.


I can not stretch it, and it doesn't seem to be improving at all.  Today, not-Paul said that the behind the back motion can take the longest to come back.  I believe it.  I am under instructions to be GENTLE, in capital letters, to try to regain that range. 


I'm up to a 2-pound hand weight now, because the chili can is no longer a challenge. I wonder how long it will be before the strap from hell isn't a challenge?