How Long Will It Take For My Shoulder Injury to Heal?
One of the most common questions a patient wonders is, “how long will it take for my shoulder injury to heal” or “how long until I am healed?” Fortunately, there are some general guidelines for how long your tissues need to heal depending on the type and severity of your condition(s), injuries, and/or surgical procedures.
Our therapists are up-to-date on the most advanced programs at Libra OT PLLC to help you resolve any shoulder injury and get you back to doing what you love!
The tissues of our bodies are categorized into muscle, tendon, ligament, and cartilage. Each tissue is made up of different materials. The type and amount of each substance affect strength, ability to stretch, ability to recoil after being stretched, and overall structure of each tissue.
These differences in our body tissues lead to different healing times. Understanding the healing times can help you understand why it is so important to get help if you have a condition that persists for more than a couple of weeks.
Fortunately, our team of physical therapists can help you get to the root of your problem and provide solutions to help you find lasting relief. Call today to request an appointment with one of our specialists!
How to tell if your condition is healing or getting worse
The length of time it takes to heal depends on the tissues involved and the severity of the shoulder injury. In addition, the general guidelines for the stages of healing are based on acute conditions and do not include the action or inaction of the individual. There are other factors such as age, nutritional state, obesity, separate medical issues, and previous injuries that influence the healing process.
Although the time frames above are not for specific injuries, they are meant to give a starting point for understanding the timeline of tissue healing. It is also essential to know how to identify if things need to be progressing as they should. Generally speaking, most people experience a roller coaster, an up-and-down process. Although some people follow a straight path, many people don’t.
Understanding the rules of pain can help. For example, the pain will likely go up and down during the healing process. Pain that comes and goes is rarely something to be overly concerned with, whereas pain that goes up and stays up is essential and should be dealt with as soon as possible.
It is more important to understand that the “duration” of pain is often more reliable than the intensity of pain. Pain is a tricky thing influenced by emotion and psychological states, whereas the duration of pain is based on physiology and is typically reliable.
If you do something and your pain intensifies and stays elevated for more than 48-72 hours, you have likely aggravated the condition. Whatever caused this increase needs to be modified and/or avoided. Pain that goes up and stays elevated for 7-10 days often means you injured/delayed the healing process, and whatever caused it needs to be avoided for now.
Getting proper guidance is critical to help clarify what is acceptable and what needs to be modified or avoided altogether. If you ignore or don’t understand the clues, you can interfere with the healing process and delay your recovery.
Some telltale signs you are regressing include:
- Increased or new swelling
- Regression of function (loss or difficulty with activity and/or mobility previously performed)
- Increased or new loss of motion
- Increased or recent loss of strength
- Lasting pain
- Larger area and/or more referred pain
- Increased or new limping (unable to bear weight)
- New or persistent sleep disturbance related to injury/condition
Our physical therapists at Libra OT PLLC are highly skilled at guiding people through the ups and downs of rehab! Understanding when to add more activity or remove obstacles is as much an art as a science. Using the stages of healing help to provide boundaries for the recovery process, and knowing how to interpret the clues your body sends is essential for complete recovery.
What to expect at your physical therapy sessions
Physical therapy should start immediately following most injuries to ensure the fastest recovery possible. Understanding the typical healing time frames is essential to ensure optimal recovery. Our physical therapists at Libra OT PLLC will help your recovery in various ways.
We will start with an injury evaluation and a biomechanical assessment to identify all the factors contributing to your pain/injury. This will consist of a thorough history to understand the demands a typical day has on your body, your previous history of injury, and your overall health status.
We will use this information to develop a comprehensive program that includes targeted manual techniques, mobility work, strengthening, and appropriate pain relief techniques for the fastest possible recovery.
Our goal is to guide you through the complete healing process. We can help interpret the clues your body is giving you and provide clearly defined instructions on dealing with the ups and downs of healing. Your physical therapist will then incorporate tissue-specific treatments with a return-to-function progression to assist you in a safe return to doing what you love pain-free and injury-free.
Request an appointment at Libra OT PLLC today!
At Libra OT PLLC, our physical therapists are experts at treating all musculoskeletal-related injuries. We have proven success with treating mild and severe injuries.
Call today to schedule an appointment with one of our specialists!
Sources:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532964/
- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-36790-9_10
- https://www.physio-pedia.com/Cartilage?utm_source=physiopedia&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=ongoing_internal
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cartilage-damage/
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13770-019-00204-z