slayer_54

my dad had rotator cuff surgery and wants to git back out there with his bow. there was some miscommunication between surgeon and the PT's and they dint git him pt right away and now its been like 9 months and hes on his own with the excercises they gave him and now he's lookin for more stuff to do cuz he do all of them but still cant pull his bow. any help would be great. cuz hes stubborn as hell and dont want a crossbow...lol

kyner

Try to google resistant band exercise for shoulders. It should give you options to help strengthen the shouder with resistant bands.

pjhunts

I had surgery on my shoulder the year before last, 2 days before archery season opens! I went into pt a few days later which lasted about 10 weeks. I tprimarily consisted of slow stretching over and over again. to the side, across the body and straight up. the therapist did all the stretching for me. she would go as far as she could each time without inflicting a lot of pain. we then progressed to very light weights (like 3 pound bar bells) repetition is the key, definitely don't try a lot of wieght. By tghe end of December I was shooting my bow again,cranked down a little of course. That happens when you get old. I can't believe his dr dropped the ball on him like that! I'd be pretty upset if they did that to me

kevin1

Tai Chi will do wonders for his overall flexibility and it doesn't require equipment. You can get a dvd for it cheap nearly anywhere.

Western MA Hunter

Resisant bands are your best bet...

BlackFive782

Stretch ! Slowly, controlled and carefullly.

Post op of any joint surgery, control/satbilization of the joint and range of motionis crucial.

Hand gripping excersizes, neck & elbow activerange of motion movements, wrist flexion, extension motions and pendulum stretchesare the usual theprescribed excersizes for the first phase of Physical Therapy.

9 months post op, the concern will be range of motion(or the lack there of). Following any joint surgery, open or arthroscopic, motion is a major concern. If the joint is kept stiff, or sedentary, the future range of motion may become limited, and often times, it is irreversable.

Resistance bands seem to be popular in the replies, however, resistance is resistance and stretching is stretching. For building the muscles that support the joint, I will agree.

However, I would stress the opening/motion/stretching of the joint WAY before you begin to put extreme emphasis on rapidly building the muscles. During the healing process, scar tissue connects the tendons to the bone(tendon connects muscle to bone. Ligament connects bone to bone). The scar tissue is what will limit the motion.

So, first, Google, some shoulder stretching routines. Do so under NO resistance, at first. Work on regaining as much range of motion as possible. After the range of motion is sufficient and uterly painless, than, you can begin to focus on building the muscles that support the joint.

Lateral shoulder raises, upright rows, laying wrist lifts and so on.

Google what you can. If you need more advice, PM me and I'll further elaborate.

P.S.- never stretch a cold body. Try and do some form of painless warm up prior to stretching, like walking, or slowly jogging in place for a few minutes.

Buckeye Tom

If you live near a major university with good athletic programs, try to get in with their PT program. I am currently going to OSU's PT facility in Columbusand the results have been great. The focus definitely has been on improving the range of motion and strengthening the muscle groups around the rotator cuff. I was able to avoid surgery for a cuff tear and my range of motion is slowly returning to normal after 8 weeks of treatment. The people that treat athletes definitely know their stuff. I was lucky my insurance covered 20 sessions. I feel for him and hope the best. I was ready to put the compound down and pick up a crossbow if it did not work out. I love deer hunting too much to be stubborn.

WOBhunter

Lay on your left-side with elbow supporting body. Get a 2.5 weight, hold yourright elbow tight to your side.At 90 degrees,moveyourright arm back and forth making sure you elbow is against your body.You should be touching your belly with the weightand then up. I am in great shape and this exercise kills me. Do several reps. Let me know how it goes.