Yeah, I know, Gary -- you're an animal! Obviously there is a benefit to keeping all those parts working hard.
The most important phase of post-surgery is, of course, the physical therapy side. Listen to your therapist. Do not overdo. Give time for your body to recover. Yes, we are old (me 52 but age ain't nothin' but a number). I don't recommend going out and doing the things I do, but if I can do it, so can you. It just takes a little bit of time.
I had some significant pain in my right shoulder. Years ago, it "killed" me to shake another person's hand, because my shoulder hurt so bad just to lift my right arm. I would wake up in the middle of the night and it felt like my whole right arm was paralyzed and I had to take my other hand just to move it in a more comfortable position. It hurt to play softball (I bat and throw left; very hard to raise my glove to shag flies and grounders). It hurt to do pullups.
I narrowed down my agony to deadlifting (one of the disciplines in powerlifting). What was I doing wrong? I wasn't stretching before lifting. Hmmm...
I read a medical article on deadhanging by grabbing an overhead bar with a pronated grip and just hang there.
Then I said "eff-it" and started doing deadhangs. My first time I was writhing in agony. Pain is weakness leaving the body...yeah, right. I "adapted, improvised, overcame" by using a step ladder to have me start with my chin above the bar and hold it there until I could no longer and allow gravity to pull me down to full extension. Ask any Women Marines about this...it is part of their physical fitness test...it is called the flexed arm hang.
Now before every deadlift, I will deadhang. I will not jump up and grab the bar, but I will ease myself up to the bar and lower myself gently until full extension.
The pain does not exist anymore. It mysteriously disappeared. No surgery, no drugs. It just went away.
I wouldn't recommend this for anyone.
