How to prepare for shoulder surgery

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
How to prepare for shoulder surgery]

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[Text on screen: Julie Bishop, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Julie Bishop, MD:
I think there are a lot of things that you can do to help yourself get ready for shoulder surgery. First, I think it's making sure that you have someone to give you rides. A lot of people do not feel comfortable driving with a sling on, and we definitely don't recommend that the first two weeks. So you want to have someone to help you with transport. There are a lot of patients that are not comfortable in bed and they sleep in a recliner after shoulder surgery. So a lot of people make sure they have a good situation, either a bed that the back comes up, or they have a recliner so they're ready for that. For some people, they'll get a chair for their shower so they can just sit and not have to worry about standing. You might have one of the little hoses that you can use while you're sitting in a chair to make it easier to bathe.

Some people will have a raised toilet seat. We don't want you to use your arms to push yourself up after shoulder replacement surgery. And that is often something you're tempted to do if you have a toilet seat that's low. So you might want to have a raised toilet seat. A lot of people go online and they look for different clothing. There are some shoulder shirts that people wear with little buttons, and so they just pop the buttons and they can easily dress. And that really helps with getting dressed afterwards. You want to have some easy to put on shoes. You don't want to be reaching down and putting on difficult socks or putting on difficult shoes. And so you want to have things to wear that are really easy.

You want to proof your home so there are no fall risks. We don't want you to trip and fall after a shoulder replacement. So you want to go through the home and look for rugs and things where you think that might be something that could trip you up. You want to have food ready for yourself, especially the first two weeks that's easy to just pop in and out of the microwave or someone to prepare food for you and help. You don't want to be carrying laundry baskets. You don't want to be going to the grocery store and carrying heavy bags of groceries. So you want to have those things thought out ahead of time. And if you need extra help at home, talk to your family, talk to your friends so you have somebody that can get things for you and help you with small trips to the store and things along those lines. But I think being prepared makes you feel more comfortable and at peace going into the surgery.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
For more information, visit: go.osu.edu/orthopedics]

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