week 11 · last reviewed 2026-06-08
Shoulder replacement recovery: week 11
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 11
typical pain · week 11
Around week 11, the typical pain band sits at 1/10 (range 0–2.7). 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 6–12
Weeks 6-12 · out of the sling, building motion
Sling discontinuation typically happens at six weeks. Sleep without the sling, light household and desk-style activity, and the start of active range of motion all open in this window. The standard restriction is no lifting heavier than about 10 lb until strengthening begins around week 12.
Three-month pain was a median of 10/100 (1/10) in the PMC10871746 cohort and 1.8-2.6/10 in the smaller PMC11276123 cohort, depending on anatomic vs reverse subgroup. Both are encouraging.
Strengthening typically starts around week 12 per the Brigham and Women's rTSA protocol, gated on full passive ROM.
documented at this week
This week
Light activity, with a 10-pound rule
Weeks 9-12 open up light daily activity — with no lifting heavier than about 10 lb until the strengthening phase begins around week 12.
What's typical
Median pain ~1/10 from week 6
In a 755-patient cohort (77% reverse, 23% anatomic), median pain falls to about 1.1/10 at six weeks and 1.0 at three months — with a real spread (some still at 3/10), all on the published curve.
Back to work
Back to work: about 6 in 10, on a wide spread
Pooled across studies, 61.5% return to work after a shoulder replacement, at a mean of about 2.3 months — but the range is enormous (0.3 to 24 months), driven almost entirely by how physical the job is. A desk job comes back early; heavy work sits at the far end. Being still off at this point isn't behind.
milestones around now
- wk 12 ·Strengthening / overhead reach phase begins (Around 12 weeks; full ROM and strengthening expected by week 12)
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 11 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.