My surgeon performed an elbow osteocapsular arthroplasty today. Was looking for a large loose body but never found it (I was experiencing random elbow lockups which were quite painful). He’s given me a sling and wants me to wear it for 3 weeks. Also says not to bear any weight, but wants me to practice range of motion ASAP, 3-4 times per day (ie remove sling).
He says he debrided the joint and cleaned up some old scar tissue. I feel 100% at the moment, no pain at all, seven hours post surgery, and have not taken any narcotics/pain kilers/meds of any kind. My guess is that I should get back to the gym tomorrow and start lifting weights at 50% of normal loading and modifying whatevwr activities that could cause discomfort (ie ssb squat instead of low bar, db bench instead of bb bench, db single ohp instead of bb ohp, etc).
I did not ask my surgeon why he advised non-load bearing (he was in and out in 2 mins). I had the same surgery two years ago and consulted with Derek Miles, and at that time the same surgeon had said “full weight bearing” so Im not sure what to do here as both procedures were similar yet recommendations are quite different.
Thank you!
-Alex F