Intermediate Shoulder Tendon Repair Rehab

Program Overview This 15-week intermediate rehabilitation program is designed for people recovering from shoulder tendon repair involving the rotator cuff, labrum, AC joint, and biceps tendon. It blends guided exercise with supportive therapies to help you regain motion, strength, and confidence in your shoulder.

Who This Program Is For and Its Goal This program is for people who have had shoulder tendon repair surgery and are past the earliest healing stage, ready to build movement and strength gradually. The goal is to restore comfortable range of motion, rebuild rotator cuff and biceps strength, and return you toward everyday function safely over 15 weeks, always under your clinician's supervision.

Before You Start Please review these safety points with your care team before beginning. This guide supports, but does not replace, professional supervision.

Safety Notes and When to Stop Do not start if you have a recent fracture, severe pain, an unstable surgical fixation, or range of motion that has not yet been assessed. Stop and call your clinician if you feel sharp or worsening pain, new weakness, numbness, swelling, or a sudden change in how your shoulder looks or feels. These are signs to pause and get checked before continuing.

Weekly Structure The plan runs 15 weeks with five short sessions per week, about 20 minutes each.

How the 15-Week Plan Is Organized Sessions use a cable machine, wrist splint, therapy putty, and knee brace as needed. The program moves through four plain-language phases: protection, early passive motion, active motion, and strengthening. Progress is gradual and guided by how your shoulder responds, not by the calendar alone, so your clinician may adjust the pace.

What a Typical Session Looks Like Each session follows a warm-up, main work, and cool-down pattern to keep your shoulder safe and comfortable.

Warm-Up, Main Work, and Cool-Down Begin with gentle warm-up movement to prepare the shoulder. Move into your main exercises using the cable machine, putty, or brace as directed by your clinician, keeping effort controlled and avoiding overload. Finish with a calm cool-down of light motion and easy stretching. Supportive therapies such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, taping, cupping, or pulsed electromagnetic field therapy may be included when your clinician recommends them.

Tracking Progress Your clinician uses clear checkpoints and outcome measures to guide each phase change.

How Progression and Outcome Measures Work You move between phases when you meet specific movement, strength, and comfort criteria set by your clinician. Standard measures like the ASES, Simple Shoulder Test, Constant-Murley Score, pain scales, goniometer range-of-motion readings, and manual muscle testing help track your progress objectively. These guide decisions, so never rush ahead on your own.

Recovery and Self-Care Rest, pacing, and good communication with your care team support your recovery between sessions.

Pain Management Cautions Keep discomfort manageable and avoid pushing through severe pain. Follow your clinician's advice on activity and rest. Watch for red flags such as sudden severe pain, new deformity, marked weakness, or numbness, and report them promptly rather than waiting.