I had SLAP surgery last week and am out of the sling, pain free unless shoulder is moved upward and off all pain meds. well let me correct that, before I went to PT today I was.


After PT today where they said do not do any thing we don't tell you to do other then normal life activities and then limited me to lifting 1/2 pound or less, pulley exercise, shoulder shrugs and passive motion rotaion sideways of arm with elbow locked to side my arm is moving in very jerky motions and hurts every move and I have 2 more sets of those exercises to do today still.

Does it always go backwards when you start PT but eventually get better?

Why no frontal nor sideways shoulder passive ROM? when I was doing rotator cuff rehab that was the first exercises they said to do. Why no shoulder blade squeezes neither?

You are right to question this protocol. What type of SLAP repair did you have? How many anchors? Any capsule tightening?
With a SLAP II repair 11:30-3:00 I was able to passive flexion, using a cane 5 times a day right after surgery. Elbow at side moving out was also allowed although I did not do this nearly as much. There are motions that are in the safe range which basically means there is no stress placed directly on the suture lines and generally that includes forward motion, all of course passive. You may just ask your PT whether the OS specified certain moves that he did not want you to do. Using the pully for forward flexion passively can be a bit difficult so ask them about a stick or cane. Also find out how many SLAP repairs your PT typically sees to get an idea of their experience. Again there is huge variability within the OS/ PT community as to conservative vs aggressive rehab. I was also doing basic scapular stabilization exercises very early on. So ask questions, there should always be a solid explanation for reasons to avoid certain movements. Sharon

You're out of the sling already? I had my SLAP tear repair almost 2 1/2 weeks ago and still have to wear mine. When I saw the OS a week post-op, he told me I could stop wearing the wedge except for when I'm sleeping and I'll be wearing the sling 24/7 until about 6 weeks post-op.

Hopefully someone else can answer your questions about the exercises. I'm pretty much just starting with PT myself.

yep I'm more pain free out of the sling then in it so the surgeon said take it off at the post op appointment.

I have 2 anchors and also a SAD but the rotator cuff was good.


thanks for the info I will ask. I didn't know there were types of SLAP repair. He just said he would fix it arthroscopically and I said great. O saw post op pics of the sutures and the anchors and the preop injured tendon.

well it has been 3 weeks now and I have full range frontal from 0 to 180 BUT I have pain at 90 lifting and lwoering the arm. Any idea why and what O could do to help that? I have about 135 degrees coming upward on the side and am just starting to do ROM for behind the back motion.

They have me using a towel doing the same motion as the ROM presurgical but told me to pull downward with the good arm till the injured arm feels pain wich is about 1/2 inch of movement. Then hold it there for 10 seconds and release back to fully straight on the injured shoulder arm and repeat 10 times.

the problem is once the pain starts it doesn't go away for several min for the next one to start.

Any suggestions on how to get 10 done in less then 30 mins? I really want this ROM so I can finally fasten my bra once again so if there is no trick to getting it pain free faster then I will spend 30 min 3 times a day doing that along with all the other ROM exercises.