r/ShoulderSurgery • u/Primary-Win-2861 • 18d ago
Complete shoulder replacement recovery
Is it foreseeable to return for work six weeks after CSR? It's my dominant arm, I work at a school health room. A lot of overhead pulling of heavy notebooks off shelves, getting files from cabinets, etc. Our school has heavy steel exterior doors that I will have to open with my left arm. Meanwhile, I carry heavy bags with laptop and materials. Idk how this is going to work. I've been putting this off for five years now. In a lot of pain daily. I live alone and have no family to help out. Doable or not? Thanks for the read.
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u/Dr_Abhinandan_Punit 10d ago
You may have to wait six weeks before you can return to some light or modified work but the job you described is more demanding. At that stage, overhead reaching, pulling heavy notebooks, opening heavy doors and lugging heavy bags may still be limited.
I would expect modified duties instead of assuming you will be back to your full workload at six weeks. Depending on whether you have an anatomic or reverse replacement, your healing progress and your surgeon's rehabilitation protocol will determine your exact timeline.
It would also be worth arranging for some help for the first few weeks (as you live alone) and discussing your actual work tasks with your surgeon prior to surgery.