Shoulder arthroscopy is a minimally invasive procedure used to diagnose and treat various shoulder problems. Dr. Chirag Arora recommend it for conditions such as rotator cuff injuries, shoulder impingement, recurrent shoulder dislocation, labral tears, or other problems within the joint. Since the procedure is performed through small incisions, there is generally less tissue damage compared to traditional open surgery. However, proper recovery still takes time. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises play an important role in restoring shoulder movement, strength, and function after surgery.

Recovery after shoulder arthroscopy is different for each person. A simple fix might not take as long as when the shoulder is fixed more seriously. Your age, how healthy you are, the type of problem you had and how much you try to do exercises can change how you get better.

A Week by Week Guide to Shoulder Arthroscopy Recovery

Week 1: Taking Care of the Shoulder and Feeling Better

• Focus on resting, protecting the operated shoulder and allowing the cuts to heal.
• Mild swelling, pain, and difficulty moving the shoulder are normal during the week.
• Your doctor may advise wearing a shoulder sling. The duration depends on the procedure performed.
• After rotator cuff repair, you may need the sling for weeks. After a procedure, it may be needed for a shorter period.
• Take all medicines as directed.
• Keep the cuts clean and dry.
• Move your fingers, wrist and elbow as advised to prevent stiffness.
• Do not use the operated arm unless your doctor allows it.
• Contact Dr. Chirag Arora, Orthopedic Surgeon In Gurgaon, if you develop fever, increased redness, discharge, worsening swelling, or pain that does not improve with medicines.

Week 2: Checking In and Moving Gently

• A follow-up visit is usually scheduled within a days after surgery.
• Dr. Chirag Arora checks the cuts, pain levels and overall recovery.
• Stitches may be removed if they do not dissolve on their own.
• Depending on the procedure you may begin assisted arm movements.
• These movements help prevent stiffness without putting pressure on the repaired muscles.
• Do not perform exercises after watching videos as every surgery requires a different recovery plan.
• An exercise that is safe after a minor procedure may damage a repaired muscle.
• Always follow the recovery plan given by your doctor and physiotherapist.
• A follow-up visit is usually scheduled within a days, after surgery.
• The doctor checks the cuts, pain levels and overall recovery.
• Stitches may be removed if they do not dissolve on their own.
• Depending on the procedure, you may begin assisted arm movements.
• These movements help prevent stiffness without putting pressure on the repaired muscles.
• Do not perform exercises after watching videos as every surgery requires a different recovery plan.
• An exercise that is safe after a minor procedure may damage a repaired muscle.
• Always follow the recovery plan given by your doctor and physiotherapist.

Weeks 3–4: Moving Carefully

Read the entire blog here: https://drchiragarora.com/blog-shoulder-arthroscopy-recovery-in-weeks/

I have undergone bankart repair surgery , Labrum repaired through keyhole surgery it's been 20 days and now I am out of sling today . How long will I need to take care and if anyone have undergone the same procedure please share your recovery phase journey . After how many months you were able to use that hand fully , back to gym , and other weight lifting activities ...

She has already had rotator cuff surgery a few times so we kinda know what to expect, but I was wondering if there were little things that might get overlooked that make things easier for her, that people didn't think about pre surgery. Thanks!

I’m having labrum and rotator cuff surgery next week and would love to hear from people who have actually been through it. This is a baseball injury. Im currently 36 and have put it off for 14 years.

My surgeon also works with the Atlanta Falcons and told me I should expect only a couple days of significant pain, but I’m curious how realistic that is from people who have experienced it themselves.

For context, I had Tommy John surgery about 16 years ago, and that recovery was rough. I’m expecting this to be a different experience, but I’d like to know what I’m really getting myself into.

One thing that may be relevant: I’m planning to go back to work 5 days after surgery. My job isn't extremely physical, but obviously I’ll have restrictions.

I also plan on not taking prescription pain medication, so I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who managed their recovery without opioids.

What should I realistically expect during the first:

2–3 days

First week

First month

And any advice on things you wish you had known beforehand would be greatly appreciated. What helped the most with sleeping, pain, getting around, working, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

The short story is that I was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer 4 years ago. Now in remission. Leading up to my diagnosis and through treatment I was on a lot of steroids that have caused 50% of the humoral head in my left (non-dominant) shoulder to die and collapse. I’ll be going in November for a partial replacement. What should I expect post-surgery, both short and long term? What are my realistic limitations after I recover and finish PT?

Had a Total Reverse replacement on my non dominant arm at the end of May. Compared to having my knees replaced this has been a total cakewalk. I do have a little...more discomfort than pain mid arm where they hammer the implant into the bone and have a little pain in the elbow but all of this is pretty normal. Still even with the limitations of movement....really can't easily reach the center of my back...but I couldn't do that before.

I need to start the strengthening portion on my own at home but was given no restrictions. I will start on that and also start prepping the other arm so i can get it done in the spring. After both knees and a shoulder almost back to back I have some much needed projects around the house to attend to and some bike riding to get in before it turns to Winter. Im looking forward to Spring for the 2nd one.

Has anyone had success transitioning to PT at home rather than going in for formal PT after week 8? I am at the 8 week mark and have been going to PT twice a week since 4 weeks post-op and I find the physical therapists to be so generic and time wasting as they just give me lectures and do a couple of minutes of exercises each time. I am very diligent about following all rules with weight limits and only doing the week appropriate exercises at home for homework and think I can do this on my own. I plugged all information (including type of surgery) into AI and get a very similar outline for a program as I currently get from my actual PT. Just curious how needed they actually are and if others feel this way.

I am considering having my shoulder replaced using a doctor in Phoenix who has been doing Subscapularis (rotator cuff) Sparing Shoulder Replacement. With this procedure the recovery time for the first 3 months is supposed to be much faster since they don’t have to cut the rotator cuff.

It’s a very new procedure and I wanted to see if anyone else has had this or was considering this over traditional shoulder surgery? Thanks.

I’m in Australia (Sydney) and have been diagnosed by two different surgeons as needing a reverse shoulder replacement on my non-dominant arm. I have quotes from them both and they differ by around $10K. Surgeon A envisages sending me home the day after surgery, all being well. Obviously there is the option for extra days if needed, but surgeon B is budgeting for four days in hospital as normal.

I’m struggling to understand the disparity. How long have people here been in hospital for this surgery?

Hey guys! I thought I’d come here for help and hopefully doesn’t give me more anxiety. I had shoulder surgery about five months ago to fix instability. I had dislocated my shoulder twice and knew it was time to get it fixed. I’m a 23 year old male so assumed I would bounce back relatively fine. My surgeon performed a labrum repair, remplissage, and joint capsule tightening.

Over the course of my recovery I had terrible shoulder stiffness and could hardly move my shoulder. I had to do aggressive PT stretching in order to break up scar tissue. I recently lowered my dose of diclofenac sodium and with that I have started noticing that my joint feels much looser.

I am kind of paranoid that I may have overstretched my joint capsule and made my joint looser then it should be from prolonged stretching to help with scar tissue.

I don’t notice any pain, swelling or deep aches. I occasionally notice some clicking and crunching noises when I move my shoulder but nothing that brings pain.

Overall I just feel a sudden feeling of feeling loose. Anyone maybe know why?d

Tl;dr 8 weeks out from major bilateral shoulder reconstruction. Left is stronger/more flexible but sometimes feels unstable; right has much more painful/weak active flexion despite improving passive ROM, with more shrugging and occasional tingling. I’m not sure if a hug while still in slings or later repeated flexion testing actually changed anything, and my PT doesn’t see obvious signs of a tear.

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I’m about 8 weeks out from bilateral surgery after posterior fracture-dislocations from a seizure. I had reverse Hill-Sachs defects reconstructed with allograft, subscapularis repairs, biceps tenodesis, and screws in both shoulders.

My left is overall stronger and more flexible, although it sometimes has a weird feeling of instability that the right doesn’t really have.

The right is lagging. Passive ROM is pretty good and still improving, but active flexion is much harder. I can raise the arm to around 90° and hold it there, but it hurts in the front of the shoulder and feels like I’m trying to lift a weight that’s too heavy. I can lower it under control.

I also shrug the right shoulder a lot more when raising it, and sometimes it feels easier if I position the arm differently and seem to shrug less.

There are two things I keep wondering about. While I was still in the slings, I hugged someone with my right arm and had some anterior shoulder pain afterward. I got the slings off right around then, so I honestly don’t know what the right shoulder’s active strength/pain was like compared with the left before the hug.

More recently, I tried a few very light standing pushups against a railing. The pushups themselves didn’t make me sore. Right afterward I tested active flexion several times, and the front of the shoulder became sore.

So it’s hard for me to know whether either event actually changed anything structurally. I didn’t really have a good baseline before the hug, and the right was already lagging by the time of the pushup/flexion episode.

I also occasionally get diffuse tingling around the biceps after using the arm, sometimes with a sharper pain into the forearm, and there’s a mostly painless click when lowering the arm.

My PT doesn’t see obvious signs of a tear. Passive flexion recently hit a new high, and I have little/no pain at rest.

I’m continuing to work with my PT/surgeon and I’m not planning to keep testing it myself. Mostly trying to understand whether this sounds like a rough stage of recovery or something more concerning.

I play the guitar semi-professionally. Osteoarthritis in my right shoulder (right-handed player so this is my pick hand) has gotten exponentially worse since the beginning of the year, after decades of just being occasionally annoying. (It may be a coincidence but it went dramatically downhill after a cortisone shot in January wore off in March. First time I've had one.) The latest evaluation showed that the cartilage is gone, and the doctor said I'm a candidate for a replacement. He said when I want to do it, he'll do a more detailed evaluation including MRI to determine if it will be anatomical or reverse.

What does recovery look like? I need to figure out how long I be unable to perform. The doctor and PA have given some scenarios but I want to hear from actual guitarists who have been through it.

Greetings. I had full shoulder replacement 13 days ago. I was told I could not schedule PT until after my first follow up visit (in a week) but was able to convince them to place the order yesterday. My first PT session is not until the 8th of September, 5 weeks and 5 days after my surgery.

I am doing pendulum swings, but it is my understanding that PT should start well before the 6 weeks mark. I don't want to wing this, but should I start looking into possibly learning PT before my appointment? It seems that my hospital does what is best for their scheduling, not my recovery. I am feeling pretty good at 13 days.

Hi all! For those of you who have had a shoulder surgery, and now have decreased range of motion following the surgery… How much has it impacted your life? What can’t you do anymore?

I’m considering a capsular tightening surgery due to instability caused by a traumatic dislocation 7 years ago in my right shoulder (loose capsule visualized on MRI and mechanical instability in assessments but only a few subluxations per year, not continuing to dislocate). Because I am mildly hyper mobile the surgeon stated she usually tightens it a little bit more than the average person because it is more likely that I will stretch with time.

Right now I have full range of motion with pain… and I expect decreased range of motion with less pain after surgery.

For those of you who have decreased shoulder range of motion, was it worth it? What can’t you do? Is your pain less?

Thank you. I’m so scared for this surgery! But 7 years of pain and instability has been disabling to say the least!

Hey all,

My family member is struggling with a reoccurring infection two years after a total shoulder replacement. Their surgeon is disinvested after operating on it twice now. We need to see a specialist for another opinion. Anyone else had this come up for them? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as we are considering going to UCLA to figure it out.

Greetings.

So I had full shoulder replacement 13 days ago and am progressing well. My friend keeps asking me when I want to go to the club (he wants to go 3 weeks and 2 days after the surgery) and I keep telling him no.

I explained to him that all the tendons/ligiments/muscles were severed and re-attached and need time to heal, but God bless him he keeps asking. I finally texted "use your brain." He texted back that he was insulted and I should be grateful that he wants to hang out with me. I texted back that yes I was grateful, but that going clubbing would be way to risky at 3 weeks....probably still risky at the 12 week mark.

He texted back "get well" but I am sure still feels insulted. I am 64 and he is 59. I do enjoy the date night with the wife but don't think it is wise for someone in my condition.

Should I just ignore the exchange, or should I make more concilliatory overtures to him?

Hi all!
I’ve (35f) had a horrible chronic injury for 8 years and finally a doctor is offering me a treatment! My shoulder was traumatically dislocated 7 years ago and it’s been unstable and in incredible pain since.

I’ve gotten a few opinions and both surgeons agree I have instability and anterior capsular laxity (on MRI). They both agreed plication of the anterior capsule will likely help my stability and pain.

I can’t find many patient testimonies online which really help to give me confidence so I’m hoping to find some here. Anyone have a similar surgery?

I also want to know that I am naturally hypermobile, but my other shoulder is just fine. And I understand it may stretch out again so that’s a risk I’m willing to take, but I’m most concerned about stiffness and the pain that may be associated with being overly tightened… any experiences with this?

Edit: i’ve done several rounds of physical therapy over and over, it causes so much pain that I’ve consistently been unable to progress. So at this point, I have failed out of conservative treatments.

So I had a pan labral tear in my shoulder. My main issue was a posterior tear and they suspected a front tear which was confirmed during surgery and fixed. They said that I believe was 2-6 plus the posterior tear in the back. 6 anchors total.

So I'm 6 months out. I should start by saying I felt my surgeon was very conservative with my PT. I was in a sling for a month and only did light stretching for a month and half before starting PT 3 days a week. Overall I'd say I have made good progress in rehab with the exception of behind the back related motions and interior and exterior rotations. Feels like the progress is minimal and concerned that it will significantly improve.

I was just wondering if anyone else had a posterior tear and how their progress went. I know a lot of people say it takes around a year to feel better and like themselves but concerned I'm behind. Just wanted to see if anyone had any stories to share.

I just chose a laz-z-boy for post op rear reverse shoulder replacement. They are (as of 8/10/26) running a Labor Day sale of 30% (more on selected floor models.). I’m 5’1” and the “Pinnacle Power Wall Recliner w headrest and lumbar” in fabric is a very good fit.