[dsraven]

one of my shoulder surgeons explained it well. he said the physio is there to check progress and give new exercises as theythink you are able. they will usually watch you do the new exercises so they can help you get it right and explain it all to you so you understand how to do them. get you to do a full set while they attend others in the clinic, have their aids apply ice, heat or inter musclular electrical stimulation. they may come back and do needling or acupuncture if they are qualified or think it will help (really helped me) and then send you on your way with a schedule of new exercises to do several times a day. he said a lot of the patients he gets think the physio visits are really what it's all about and slack on the home program, thinking the physio is gonna get them through. thats the wrong attitude, he said. if you do that you will get better but likely wont have the range of motion or the strength to use the shoulder like you could have. you need to think about it like you do the hardest exercise you can within the guidlines of what the physio outlined for this session at home between visits. personally, I have an eliptical machine at home so I would do slow exercies on that with as much intensity on the legs as i could muster. i could keep my arm in the sling and hang on with the other hand while doing this. it got my heart rate up and used some of the larger muscles so that got the blood pumping pretty well. I think that is part of the healing process to help fresh blood get to the injury site and help heal up and flush out the bad stuff from your system. when doing the exercises I performed them to the best of my abilities at the time, as per the instructions. stretching, when the time comes for that, is also key to get the full range of motion. each surgery turned out well and I have great range of motion and the doc says its because I did what I did. don't over do it but don't slack off either. you'll get through it.keep moving in the meantime, safely of course.