Sling and arm movement

Throw away the sling

by IAN MC - 2017-04-01 09:55:19

Hi Moshe      It is now accepted that wearing a sling after a PM implant is a bad idea . It can lead to frozen shoulder which can  i)  be very painful and  ii)  take ages to clear up.

My strong advice would be not to wear one at all despite what you may have been told.  You should be able to avoid lifting your elbow above shoulder level without resorting to a sling.

Slings hinder movement , can slow down your recovery and worst of all can instil a level of unnecessary fear.

Best of luck 

Ian

No slign

by Gotrhythm - 2017-04-01 13:08:53

Get rid of it! 

And don't try to restrict your arm movement. Use your arm naturally--just save vigorous activities like basketball and chopping wood for later.

If you've been in a sling for 5 days you might need to do some gentle stretching exercises to recover your range of motion in your shoulder. 

The key word is gentle, but get that shoulder moving.

Nope!

by Hamsquatch - 2017-04-01 14:29:37

As others have mentioned no sling! If you need to restrict your arm movement while sleeping (I always sleep with an arm under my pillow) wear a shirt to bed but keep your PM side arm tucked into the shirt. 

READ THIS REPORT

by Lurch - 2017-04-01 16:22:13

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626349/

After my ICD implantation, the doctor came into my hospital room and saw me wearing a sling the nurse had put on me.  He took it off and threw it across the room!

Never had a sling

by LondonAndy - 2017-04-01 23:08:50

Just to add to what everyone else has said: I was never given a sling when I had mine implanted a couple of years ago. 

Had a sling...

by CountingDown - 2017-04-01 23:32:00

...and my doctor said to use it only for the first 48 hours. I could then start using the arm (she gave me some gentle range-of-motion and flexibility exercises), and graduallyadded weight-bearing. Did not start cardiac rehab until a month post-op.

I found that if I slept in the recliner at night instead of in bed, I was much more comfortable. My shoulders were able to relax more in that position.

just had a replacement pacemaker

by jessie - 2017-04-02 16:02:49

just had a replacemnt pacemaker and another lead added . i never have worn a sling. i just focused on doing things that were not above my shoulder. i thus could tydy up a bit..other than that i focused on healing. i ate nutritious food. i stayed away form any water lotion etc at site. we ordered from local deli homemade food for the one main meal. e.g. chili rolls soup fruit veggies we ordered out once in awhile. we are blessed to have help with heavy work.we watched a lot of t.v. the six weeks passed . now i am back to cleanig washrooms..some cooking...healthy foods for 2   75 year olds..exercizing...daily...nice out to-day i walked across street to give my 18 year old neighbour an article on vimy ridge from toronto star. he got picked at his highschool to go friday to see the area and statues at vimy ridge.the sculptorurs are from canada. they are quite amazing. this was in 1918. the ist world war. hitler visited there in 1940 and left the area alone. raymond my neighbour is ist generation taiwanese. they  his parents moved in to his grandparents home across from us. he used to play with our grandchildren from alberta every summer when they came here for a month. the taiwanese look after there elderly the four elderly people who lived there before were his grandparents great grandparents...they were looked after there by the younger people till they died...