week 3 · last reviewed 2026-06-05
Rotator cuff surgery recovery: week 3
Clinical procedure: Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.
Typical, evidence-anchored estimate only. It is not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.
what's typical at week 3
typical pain · week 3
Around week 3, the typical pain band sits at 3.6/10 (range 1.3–6). This is a soft, interpolated read: this exact week wasn't measured, so the band is bridged between the nearest measured points. Treat it as a rough guide, not a target to hit.
weeks 2–6
Weeks 2-6 · the sling phase
Pain through this window plateaus in the 3-4/10 range per the PMC4233217 cohort (mean VAS 4.04 at six weeks). The cause isn't tissue damage — by week three the surgical site has settled — it's the discomfort of immobilization and the small but constant background pain of a stiffening joint. Most people describe it as nagging rather than acute.
Sling discontinuation happens at six weeks in most protocols, though some extend to seven or eight weeks for large tears, tendon transfers, or revision surgery. Driving typically resumes around this point — the timing varies more than for other procedures because of the sling constraint.
Office and desk work usually resume around week two if the sling is tolerable for sitting; manual labor is much later.
documented at this week
This week
Sling life, with deskwork allowed
The sling stays on for six weeks, but the MOON protocol allows deskwork as soon as you're comfortable in it. Passive motion continues; the repaired tendon itself stays off duty.
milestones around now
- wk 2 ·Deskwork / sedentary work (When comfortable in the sling (protocol gives no fixed week; commonly ~1-2 weeks))
- wk 6 ·Sling discontinued (About 6 weeks; some protocols extend to 7-8 weeks)
- wk 6 ·Return to driving (Often around sling discontinuation; observed timing varies)
sources
What this page is built from
- Pain catastrophizing and early pain after rotator cuff repair (phone follow-up, n=32) prospective case series · reliability 6/10
- Postoperative pain after rotator cuff repair prospective cohort · reliability 7/10
- Return to activities after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair meta-analysis · reliability 8/10
Track your own week-by-week so a flare doesn't erase the months behind it.
Start a recovery logThis is a typical, evidence-anchored reading of rotator cuff surgery recovery at week 3 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.