Shoulder Post-Fracture Beginner Rehabilitation

Program Overview This is a beginner, 20-week shoulder rehabilitation guide following a shoulder fracture. It combines guided movement, gentle strengthening, and pain-management approaches over five short sessions each week.

Who This Program Is For and Its Goal This plan suits people recovering from a shoulder fracture who have been cleared to begin rehabilitation under clinician supervision. The goal is to safely restore shoulder movement, rebuild rotator cuff and scapular strength, and return to everyday function, progressing at a steady, comfortable pace.

Before You Start Please review this plan with your treating clinician or physical therapist before beginning, and again before each phase change.

Safety Notes and When to Stop Do not start if you have an unstable fracture fixation, severe osteoporosis, a known blood clot risk, or limited movement that has not yet been assessed by your clinician. Stop and call your clinician if you have sharp or worsening pain, new swelling, numbness, chest pain, or shortness of breath. Never push through pain.

Weekly Structure Each week includes five sessions of about 20 minutes.

How the 20-Week Plan Is Organized The 20 weeks move through four broad stages: an early protection phase, an early motion phase, a progressive strengthening phase, and an advanced strengthening phase. You will use a balance pad, dumbbells, a rower, and ankle weights, with optional clinician-provided treatments such as ultrasound, TENS, and aquatic therapy. Your clinician decides when you advance based on how your shoulder responds, not just the calendar.

What a Typical Session Looks Like Each session follows a warm-up, main work, and cool-down pattern, keeping your spine neutral throughout.

Warm-Up, Main Work, and Cool-Down Begin with gentle shoulder and scapular movements and light range-of-motion work. The main portion includes controlled strengthening such as band resistance for the rotator cuff, scapular stabilization drills, and graded use of light weights or the rower as your clinician allows. Finish with a calm cool-down of gentle stretching and relaxed breathing. Keep your spine neutral and never rush.

Tracking Progress Track your symptoms, movement, and function at each session and phase.

How Progression Criteria and Outcome Measures Are Used Your clinician uses defined checkpoints at roughly weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16 to decide when you move to the next phase. These checkpoints look at pain levels, movement range, strength, and scapular control. Outcome measures such as the SPADI, UCLA, ASES, goniometry, manual muscle testing, and SANE help show your overall progress over time.

Recovery and Self-Care Recovery happens between sessions as much as during them.

Pain Management, Rest, and Red Flags Keep pain manageable and rest when needed. Use pain-relief approaches only as directed by your clinician, and never adjust medications yourself. Seek urgent care for sudden severe pain, chest pain, breathing difficulty, calf swelling, or signs of infection. Cool down after each session.