Beginner Shoulder Rehabilitation Post-Fracture

Program Overview This is a 12-week, beginner-level rehabilitation guide for someone recovering from a shoulder fracture. It combines guided exercise with hands-on and modality-based care from your clinical team, and it is meant to be followed alongside, not instead of, professional supervision.

Who This Program Is For and Its Goal This program suits people early in recovery after a shoulder fracture who have been cleared by their clinician to begin guided rehabilitation. The goal is to gently restore shoulder movement, rebuild strength in the rotator cuff and surrounding muscles, and return to everyday activities safely. Progress is gradual and paced to your healing.

Before You Start Please review this plan with your treating clinician or physical therapist before beginning. Do not start if you have severe pain, severe osteoporosis, signs of compartment syndrome, or a recent fracture that has not been cleared for rehabilitation. Stop immediately and contact your clinician if you develop sudden sharp pain, swelling, numbness, weakness, chest pain, or any new deformity.

Safety Notes and When to Stop Your program should never push into severe pain. Keep your spine in a neutral, comfortable position, and avoid overloading the shoulder. Do not skip ahead of the phases. Call your clinician if pain at rest stays high, if swelling does not settle with elevation and ice, or if you notice numbness, tingling, or a change in shoulder shape.

Weekly Structure You will do four sessions per week, about 30 minutes each, across 12 weeks. Early weeks emphasize gentle protected motion and hands-on care; middle weeks add active movement; later weeks build light strength. Your clinician may adjust this based on how your shoulder responds.

How the 12-Week Plan Is Organized The plan moves through four broad phases: protection, early passive motion, active-assisted motion, and active motion, then continues to build over the remaining weeks. You will use a balance board, a light weight vest, and a hand exerciser as your therapist directs. Expect each session to include warm-up, guided work, and cool-down, with hands-on techniques and modalities provided by your clinician.

What a Typical Session Looks Like A session usually starts with heat and gentle warm-up, moves into your main exercises, and ends with cool-down and recovery. Your clinician may apply ultrasound, electrical stimulation, soft tissue work, and shoulder or shoulder-blade mobilizations. Your own work includes supported range-of-motion practice, light strengthening, and balance or posture drills using the balance board, weight vest, and hand exerciser as instructed.

Warm-Up, Main Work, and Cool-Down Pattern Warm up with heat therapy and easy, pain-free movement, keeping your spine neutral. Main work combines the hands-on techniques and modalities your clinician provides with your assigned exercises, using the hand exerciser for grip and forearm work, the weight vest only for light postural loading as cleared, and the balance board for gentle balance and stability. Cool down with slow stretches and rest.

Tracking Progress Your therapist will record your pain, movement ranges, and strength at set intervals and use these to guide your progression. Between visits, note how your shoulder feels during and after sessions, and share any changes. Keep a simple log of what you did and how it felt so your clinician can make informed adjustments.

How Progression Criteria Are Used You move to the next phase only when the criteria for your current phase are met, such as comfortable rest pain, controlled swelling, and safe movement ranges without shoulder-blade compensation. Your therapist uses outcome measures—including pain scales, shoulder function scores, range-of-motion measurements, and strength testing—to confirm readiness. Progression is based on meeting goals, not on the calendar alone.

Recovery and Self-Care Rest, sleep, and good nutrition support healing. Use elevation and ice as your clinician advises to manage swelling, and follow any activity restrictions. Keep your posture comfortable and avoid overloading the shoulder. Gentle, consistent practice usually works better than pushing hard on good days.

Pain Management Cautions and Red Flags Follow your clinician's guidance on pain relief rather than self-prescribing. Stop and seek urgent care for sudden severe pain, spreading swelling, numbness, weakness, fever, or a change in the shape of your shoulder. Do not push through sharp pain, and let your care team know if rest pain or swelling is not improving.