At-Home Shoulder Exercises

For many patients who undergo shoulder surgery in our practice, Physical Therapy (PT) is initiated approximately 14 days after surgery. Before beginning PT, we encourage patients to perform some gentle home exercises to maintain mobility of the elbow, wrist, and hand, as well as minimize arm swelling. As these exercises may not apply for all patients, please follow the instructions of Dr. Brusalis and his team for specific post-operative home exercises.

Hand Stretching

This exercise promotes circulation in the upper extremity and minimizes hand swelling, which can sometimes occur following shoulder surgery.

Wrist Flexion-Extension

This exercise helps maintain mobility of the forearm and aids in circulating blood throughout the arm.

Forearm Pronation/Supination

This exercise aids in maintaining mobility of the forearm, which may experience stiffness while resting in a sling.

Elbow Range of Motion

This exercise helps minimize elbow stiffness, which can occur after prolonged periods of sling wear.

Codman’s Pendulums

This exercise is designed to maintain the mobility of the shoulder joint while not actively using the rotator cuff muscles, which may be recovering from surgical repair. The accompanying video is helpful, but we recommend bending over at the waist even more than demonstrated (to 90 degrees) to ensure that the rotator cuff muscles are not used during the exercise.