Beginner Shoulder Rehabilitation Post-Fracture

Program Overview This is a 13-week, beginner-level rehabilitation guide for people recovering from a shoulder fracture. It is built around four sessions per week of about 60 minutes each, using resistance bands, a pull-up bar, and a suspension trainer. The program targets the rotator cuff, labrum, AC joint, and biceps tendon. It is based on moderate-level evidence and is meant to be followed alongside supervision from your clinician, who will confirm each phase before you advance.

Who This Program Is For and Its Goal This program is for adults who have had a shoulder fracture and are cleared by their clinician to begin gentle rehabilitation. The goal is to restore comfortable movement, rebuild shoulder and shoulder-blade strength, and return you to everyday activities step by step. It does not replace hands-on assessment. Your clinician will check your range of motion, strength, and symptoms to decide when each phase begins.

Before You Start Please review this guide with your clinician before your first session. Several precautions apply: do not begin if you have limited range of motion that has not yet been assessed, signs of compartment syndrome (such as severe swelling, tightness, or numbness), severe pain, or marked muscle wasting. If any of these are present, your clinician will guide you differently. Always avoid overloading the shoulder, and keep your spine in a neutral position during exercises.

Safety Notes and When to Stop Stop an exercise and contact your clinician if you feel sharp or worsening pain, new numbness, tingling, or weakness, unusual swelling or tightness in the arm, or if pain stays high after resting. These could be warning signs. Mild discomfort that settles with rest is common early on, but severe or lasting pain is not something to push through. When in doubt, pause and check in with your care team before continuing.

Weekly Structure Plan for four sessions each week, roughly 60 minutes per session, across 13 weeks. The plan moves through four phases: a protection phase, an early mobility phase, an early strengthening phase, and a progressive strengthening phase. Early weeks emphasize gentle movement and pain control. Middle weeks add active assisted motion and light resistance. Later weeks build strength and shoulder-blade control. Your clinician confirms each phase change.

How the 13-Week Plan Is Organized Sessions use simple equipment: resistance bands for rotator cuff and shoulder-blade strengthening, a pull-up bar for gentle hanging or assisted movements once cleared, and a suspension trainer for supported, controlled patterns. Your clinician may also use therapeutic ultrasound for soft tissue healing, TENS for pain relief, and hands-on mobilization techniques. Progression is based on meeting movement, strength, and pain goals, not on the calendar alone, so some weeks may repeat.

What a Typical Session Looks Like Each session follows a warm-up, main work, and cool-down pattern. The warm-up uses gentle pendulum and assisted range-of-motion movements. The main work includes mobility drills, shoulder-blade setting with proprioceptive feedback, and progressive resistance-band exercises, with suspension-trainer support as needed. The cool-down uses slow stretching and relaxed breathing. Your clinician may add ultrasound or TENS around the session as part of your care.

Warm-Up, Main Work, and Cool-Down in Detail Start with several minutes of gentle movement to loosen the shoulder. Move into the main work: mobility and mobilization-with-movement drills, shoulder-blade stabilization with feedback, and band-based rotator cuff strengthening, using the suspension trainer for support and the pull-up bar only when cleared. Finish with a cool-down of easy stretching and calm breathing. Keep your spine neutral throughout and stop any movement that sharply increases pain.

Tracking Progress Keep a simple log of pain, movement, and strength after each session. Your clinician will use standardized measures, including the Constant-Murley Shoulder Score, the ASES Score, the Visual Analog Scale for pain, goniometric range-of-motion, manual muscle testing, and the Simple Shoulder Test. These track your recovery over time. Honest tracking helps your clinician decide when you are ready for the next phase and when to slow down.

How Progression Criteria Are Used You move to the next phase only when your clinician confirms you meet the specific goals for that phase, such as reaching certain pain-free range-of-motion and strength levels. These are clinical checkpoints, not targets to force. The outcome measures above give an objective picture of your progress. If a goal is not yet met, the plan continues safely rather than rushing ahead, protecting your healing shoulder from overload.

Recovery and Self-Care Rest and recovery matter as much as exercise. Get enough sleep, pace your daily activities, and avoid heavy lifting or repetitive overhead work until your clinician clears it. Use ice or heat only as your clinician advises. Keep appointments for reassessment, and let your team know about any changes in pain, swelling, or function. Small, steady steps tend to serve healing shoulders better than pushing hard on good days.

Pain Management Cautions and Red Flags Follow your clinician's guidance on pain relief, including any use of TENS or other modalities, and never adjust medications on your own. Some soreness after activity can be normal, but severe pain, sudden swelling, tightness, numbness, or weakness should prompt you to stop and seek advice. These red flags may need urgent attention. Do not push through them, and contact your care team promptly if they appear.