PT Shoulder Journal Tuesday, June 9

Seton Health Physical Rehabilitation   Assessment
  For the third consecutive year, I'm engaged in physical therapy.  In 2013 and 2104, the therapy sessions were post-surgery so there was a definite protocol, endorsed by the surgeon, it would seem, aimed at bringing the operated site back to some semblance of normalcy.
   The present prescription from the orthopedist is geared toward retaining or maintaining mobility in the shoulder with the torn rotator cuff, and also keeping the unaffected shoulder from becoming strained.  Or that's my understanding anyway.  I've been told a torn tendon is like a broken rubber band; it can not heal itself because the ends are not together--the only way that can happen is through surgery, which would sew the ends together I guess.  It's said  that the tendon, once torn, retracts the way a snapped rubber band does.  In my mind, though, I don't see it quite like that.  Yes, if a new rubber band is snapped, it shortens back up.  But if the rubber band is old and stretched out, the ends don't retract; they just lay there, flaccid and limp.  I can imagine a stretched-out broken tendon just hanging listlessly in my shoulder, ready to twist around some other piece of nearby mechanism.  Actually, that's what it feel like sometimes, that something is there, and needs to move away.
    The therapist assigned to assess my shoulder is named Maureen; I remember seeing her from before.  I had asked if the therapist I'd had before was available, but the woman at the desk is not detail-oriented and pushes ahead at her own pace. Who is available all depends on what time frame you want and how each therapist is scheduled.  I wanted to schedule morning sessions, to be done with it; I chose  8:a.m. for most.
    The assessment, about an hour long, consists of taking a history and then moving the affected arm into a number of positions, almost exactly the same routine the orthopedist uses.  Maureen has a copy of my MRI report which details the injuries, and she comments that I seem to be doing better than the report would indicate.   That sounded familiar as they said the same about my knees.  They suggest I may have a  high threshold of pain, but I'm certain I do not.  I just want to get any unpleasantness over with as soon as possible.  I can make myself do everything that is presented, even when pain is present. She does not ask me to put a dish on a high shelf, push the vacuum cleaner with my right hand, hook my bra, or throw a ball overhand, all things which are hard to do.