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Patient Information ·28 August 2022

Filming day

Filming patient education videos at the Shoulder Clinic
Filming patient education videos at the Shoulder Clinic

Filming for the website

A day spent filming patient education videos for the website.

Filming patient education videos at the Shoulder Clinic

Much of what patients need to know after shoulder surgery is easier to demonstrate than to describe, which is why these are filmed rather than written.

With thanks to Faith, Tristan and Pia for taking part.

Why exercises are shown rather than written down

A shoulder exercise is a position and a movement, and both are easy to misread from a drawing or a paragraph of text. The difference between an exercise that is doing what it is meant to do and one that is not is often a matter of how the shoulder blade is held, whether the elbow stays tucked in, how far the movement goes before it is allowed to stop, and whether the opposite arm is doing some of the work. Those details are visible in a few seconds of video and difficult to put into words.

Video also means the instruction does not change between the clinic and home. A patient can watch the same demonstration again at the point they are actually doing the exercise, weeks after the appointment at which it was explained, and a family member helping them can watch it too.

What shoulder rehabilitation involves

Rehabilitation is the structured programme of movement and strengthening that follows a shoulder injury or an operation, and for most shoulder problems it carries as much weight as anything done in theatre. A repaired tendon or a reconstructed ligament has to heal while the joint is protected from the loads that would disrupt it, and then has to be gradually loaded again so that movement and strength return.

Programmes are therefore staged. An early period may involve a sling and movement performed by someone else or by the other arm, followed by active movement under the patient's own power, and later by progressive strengthening. The timing and the content depend on what was done, what was found during the procedure and how the individual is progressing, and they are set by the treating surgeon and physiotherapist rather than by a general rule. Individual results vary.

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