week 0 · last reviewed 2026-06-08
Shoulder replacement recovery: week 0
Clinical procedure: Total shoulder replacement.
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 0
typical pain · week 0
Around week 0, the typical pain band sits at 6/10 (range 4–7.6). This week was measured directly in the cited cohort.
weeks 0–2
Weeks 0-2 · acute and slung
Most patients leave the operating room with a nerve block running. Pain through the first two days is moderate — a median of about 3/10 once the block wears off — and well-controlled with multimodal analgesia.
By two weeks the PMC10871746 cohort had median VAS of 20/100 (2/10) with an interquartile range of 10-41/100. So pain has already dropped substantially. The sling is worn continuously, including for sleep.
Elbow, wrist, and hand exercises start from day one. Some protocols (Mass General Brigham) also start passive shoulder ROM in this window; others (Brigham and Women's for rTSA) wait several weeks.
documented at this week
This week
Sling weeks — hand and elbow stay free
The sling is worn continuously for the first 4-6 weeks (generally 4 with an isolated reverse replacement, up to 6 with a tendon transfer or subscapularis repair). Elbow, wrist, and hand keep moving.
milestones around now
- wk 0 ·Sling worn continuously (elbow/wrist/hand movement allowed) (First 4-6 weeks; up to 6+ weeks for reverse TSA or with a tendon transfer / subscapularis repair)
- wk 5 ·Active-assisted range of motion / sling weaning starts (About 4-6 weeks; sling weaned during the day over ~2 weeks)
- wk 6 ·Sling discontinued / sleep without sling (About 6 weeks; reverse TSA may extend with poor tissue quality or tendon transfer)
sources
What this page is built from
- Variations in 1-year trajectories of pain and capability after shoulder arthroplasty (n=755) prospective cohort · reliability 8.5/10
- Trajectory of recovery after the Big 3 shoulder surgeries (anatomic vs reverse VAS 3/6/12mo) prospective cohort · reliability 7.5/10
- MGH rehabilitation protocol for total shoulder arthroplasty and hemiarthroplasty clinical protocol · reliability 7/10
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 shoulder replacement recovery at week 0 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.