Monday, August 11, 2025

Ream and run - outstanding rehabilitation using swimming

The ream and run procedure is considered for strongly motivated resilient patients who wish to avoid the risks and limitations associated with a plastic glenoid component.

Maintaining flexibility is the key to success after a ream and run procedure. In addition to the basic rehabilitation program, swimming has been a valuable complement to the recovery for many patients. 

Here are the preoperative and post operative x-rays of a patient who had her bilateral ream and run procedures 6 months apart.










From the start, she dedicated to the ream and run rehabilitation program, 



By six months after her second side ream and run, she was back swimming in the lake




When lake gets bit chilly for swimming, she's developed some "dry land" swimming simulations, which she has kindly permitted us to show here




Comment: The value of swimming is that it is a gentle, repetitive exercise that requiring pulling with the shoulder, Pulling provides distraction of the joint surfaces, which is valuable especially in the early phases of recovery (in contrast to pushing exercises, such as bench press, military press and pushups which compress the healing joint surfaces against each other).

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Here are some videos that are of shoulder interest
Shoulder arthritis - what you need to know (see this link).
How to x-ray the shoulder (see this link).
The ream and run procedure (see this link).
The total shoulder arthroplasty (see this link).
The cuff tear arthropathy arthroplasty (see this link).
The reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (see this link).
The smooth and move procedure for irreparable rotator cuff tears (see this link)
Shoulder rehabilitation exercises (see this link).