Next we will be going through your stage 2 exercises which are the exercises that you
will be doing once all of your drains have been removed.
It is likely that your drains will be removed before your follow-up appointment with your
surgeon, so be sure to move yourself onto the next stages of exercises.
But when you are back in clinic, either the physiotherapist or occupational therapist
will review these exercises with you. Again, with these exercises, we want you to
perform them every day, 3 times a day. And again, it might be a good idea to take
pain medication about 20 to 30 minutes before you do them, just so that you are more comfortable
and get a greater benefit out of them.
The first exercise of stage 2 is called the wand exercise.
You can either use a broom handle, or a stick or a cane to be your wand at home.
To do this exercises, you will be lying down on either a bed or a couch with your knees
bent and holding the wand between your two hands.
Then you will be slowly lifting your arms up. Again, as high as you feel comfortable
until you feel a nice stretch but no pain. You will be holding this exercise for a little
bit longer than stage 1. The goal is 20 seconds at this stage. So remember to breathe and
take nice deep breaths while you are holding the stretch.
And then after 20 seconds, you will be bringing your arms back down to the start position
to reset before you do another repetition. If you bring your arms wider along the cane,
you will be able to feel it a little bit deeper. And it may be a more intense, you may not
be able to go as far, but that’s OK. Again, you will slowly bring your arms up
until you feel a nice stretch. No pain. And again, you’re going to hold it for 20 seconds.
Remember to breathe, taking nice deep breaths In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
The second exercise in stage 2 is called Winging it. This exercise you will also be doing it
lying down on your back. It may not be a bad idea to have a pillow close by just in case
you need the extra assistance for the stretch. The start position of this stretch is you
will lie with your hands clasped behind your neck or your head and your elbows facing up.
To bring upon the stretch, you’re slowly going to spread your elbows apart, kind of
like you’re lying on a beach. You might notice that as you try to relax
your elbows that it doesn’t quite get all the way to the surface of the bed. And that
can be uncomfortable in you’re holding the stretch.
So what we recommend in this situation is taking a pillow and bringing the bed surface
closer to your elbow so that you can comfortably hold the stretch for the full 20 seconds and
not be in pain. So again, you’re going to take nice deep
breaths. In through your nose. Out through your mouth for 20 seconds.
Then you will return your elbows to the start position. And repeat again 5 to 10 times.
The next exercises that you will be doing are your wall climbing exercises. The first
part of the wall climbing is facing the wall. So you will face the wall and stand about
arm’s length away from the wall. Next, you will be slowly walking your hands
up the wall and taking steps towards the walls as needed. And feel a nice stretch but no
pain in the areas of tightness. Once you find a nice comfortable stretch but
no pain, I want you to hold this position for again 20 seconds and remember to breathe.
If at any point during the 20 seconds, you find that you need to back off a little bit
to be able to hold the stretch for the full amount of time. That is encouraged.
We also want to minimize any movement in the low back to help get your arm higher on the
wall. And focus on the stretch and the movement
coming from your shoulder. Once you completed the 20 second hold, slowly
slide your hand down the wall to come out of the stretch. And do a circle to reset before
you do the next repetition. If you had surgery on both sides, you will
have to repeat this with the other side as well.
It’s encouraged to do this exercise one arm at a time since after surgery you may
have one arm that is moving a bit better than the other one.
Once you’ve done 5 to 10 repetition of your arm in the forward direction, you’re going
to turn your body so that you can work on the sideways motion as well.
Same thing, you’re going to make sure that you have good form by ensuring that your shoulders,
arms… sorry…your shoulders, your hips and your toes are all facing in the same direction.
And then again, you’re going to slowly walk your hands up the wall. And take steps towards
the wall as needed. Again until you feel a gentle stretch in the areas of tightness,
but no pain. When holding this stretch, you want to make
sure again that the movement is just coming from your shoulder joint. And that you’re
not twisting your hips towards the wall to make it easier.
If you feel the need to bring your hips towards the wall that means you’ve gone too far
and you need to back off a little bit so that the movement is just coming from the shoulder.
Again, you will be holding the stretch for 20 seconds and remember to breathe. Once you
come out of the stretch again slide your hand down the wall, and do a couple shoulder circles
to reset before going to your next repetition. If you had surgery on both sides of your body,
you will also have to do the other arm. With the same cues, making sure that you have good
form and that the movement is just coming from the shoulder joint. And that you’re
able to hold it comfortably for the full 20 seconds.
And once the 20 seconds are through, it’s always important to slide your hand down the
wall when coming out of the stretch.
The final exercise for stage 2 is the corner wall stretch. What you need to do is find
a corner in your house. If you don’t have a corner a door frame works as well.
With the arm on the side that you had surgery, we want you to stand with your hip and arm
pit against the corner. And your arm making a 90 degree angle against the wall like so.
This is the start position for the stretch. You may even feel a stretch in the armpit
area and chest wall just from this position. To add on a stretch or make a bit more intense,
what you will be doing is taking small steps with your feet away from the wall while keeping
your arm in the same position. In this position you’ll feel a nice opening
on the front of your chest wall. Again, we don’t want you to be in pain, but just a
nice gentle stretch. You will be holding this position for 20 seconds.
Remember to breathe nice deep breaths. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. After
the 20 seconds, walk your feet back to the start position, and then slowly slide your
hand down the wall to come out of the stretch. Before you start your next repetition, be
sure to do a few shoulder rolls to reset.