Dad's Rehab - Part I

Physical therapy isn’t going too bad. My first appointment was last Friday. My next appointment is this Tuesday, the 5th. I’ve been doing my home rehabilitation exercises; one in the morning and one at night. It is a bit frustrating that I don’t have full range of motion. It is a little surreal since I was just doing much better before the surgery. But there again, I had intermittent crippling pain that was ramping up more and more as time went on. The most frustrating exercise is where I lay flat on my back and just raise my hands up over my shoulders and back behind my head. I can’t even get my arm all the way to the floor. It is wild. The other hand I can just rest on the floor just fine. I use a golf club for both hands as I do this exercise. My left arm just quibbles when I try to reach the floor, which I can’t. It feels like my arm was never meant to reach that far back. It isn’t like the club is heavy. I just can’t stretch that far. The other exercise is to take my arm at a 30 degree angle, thumb up, and raise it shoulder high starting at the thigh. This one isn’t so bad, but it is the repetitions the get you; 3 sets of 10 with a 10 count hold. It must take around 30 minutes to finish the entire session and it hurts. In the long run, this will be worth it. My shoulder is sore when I’m through and there is a part that feels like a hot poker on the front, inside of my shoulder. I equate it to a really good calf work out, feels like the whole ball is on fire. Well, this is the same, but very pinpointed.