Do you always need physical therapy after rotator cuff surgery?

Physical Therapy After Rotator Cuff Surgery

Most medical professionals would answer this question with a resounding yes. Surgery of any kind can take a toll on your body. Recovering from rotator cuff surgery is no different. 

If you’re considering having rotator cuff surgery, you aren’t alone. Research data reports that more than 460,000 Americans have a rotator cuff procedure every year. Working with a physical therapy specialist after your rotator cuff surgery can be very beneficial for you. In fact, post-rotator cuff surgery physical therapy can offer several important benefits as you recover. 

Three benefits that physical therapy can offer after rotator cuff surgery

Physical therapists are experts at treating the human musculoskeletal system, including the rotator cuff. Therapists have also worked with many patients after a rotator cuff surgery. This combination of anatomical knowledge and practical experience offers many benefits. 

For one thing, it helps physical therapy specialists tailor your rotator cuff surgery rehab plan to your needs. In turn, this tailor-made rehab plan can offer benefits like: 

  1. Reducing post-surgical pain — Even minimally invasive surgery can cause some damage to soft tissue in the shoulder. The healing of this damage can lead to shoulder pain. Physical therapists can use soft tissue mobilization and other techniques to decrease your post-operative pain. A study of soft tissue mobilization reports that it helped reduce shoulder pain scores by nearly 27 points in six sessions. 
  1. Improving shoulder range of motion (ROM) — It’s not uncommon for patients to have more difficulty moving their shoulder right after surgery. Often, ROM must be built back up during your recovery. Physical therapists can use soft tissue mobilization to help boost your post-surgical ROM. One study found that this technique helped improve: 
  • Shoulder abduction by an average of 42.2 degrees
  • Shoulder flexion by 22.6 degrees on average 
  1. Increasing post-surgical shoulder function — One major goal of a rotator cuff surgery is to increase your ability to do normal daily tasks. Your therapy specialist can help you meet this goal by working to improve your post-surgical shoulder function. They often use therapeutic exercises for this purpose. Medical research reports that therapeutic exercise programs successfully increased shoulder function in almost 60% of patients. 

Find beneficial physical therapy after rotator cuff surgery at Whatcom PT

Looking for physical therapy after rotator cuff surgery that can offer the benefits discussed above? Our Whatcom Physical Therapy team is ready to help you find the beneficial post-surgical rehab you need. 

Our physical therapists can evaluate your shoulder after surgery to determine what issues you have. Then, they can build you a personalized rehab plan that can include therapy methods like: 

We can also collaborate with your surgeon and primary care physician to help you get comprehensive post-surgical care. However, we don’t require a doctor’s referral to provide you with therapeutic care. 

Contact our team today for more information about our post-surgical rehab services or to schedule an initial appointment.Â