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In many other forums, there are people asking about what to expect after major surgery. How long before they can start lifting again? Does an upper-body injury mean they can still run? Can I amp up my physical therapy to get in the gym faster?
I am 43, and had a SLAP tear repaired in my left shoulder about a year and a half ago, and had right-side lung surgery about a year ago. Both were completely debilitating for at least three full months. The SLAP repair included two screws to close the tear in the labrum (the injury was not caused by working out either), and the lung surgery included a shoulder to spine incision across my back and the ribs being dislocated so the doctor could cut out two chunks of tissue. My doctors both were suggesting I would likely not be able to go back to working out like I did before the surgeries.
Naturally, you should follow all of your doctor's instructions. If they say you shouldn't lift ANYTHING, then you shouldn't lift ANYTHING.
It was three months after the shoulder surgery before I could even use my army to wash my hair. The range of motion was severely restricted due to the atrophy after not using the arm for so long. 99% of the shoulder physical therapy (which lasted for three months) was to get the range of motion in my shoulder CLOSE to normal, and to be able to do do things in daily life without pain (wash hair, pick up stuff off of floor, lift small objects over head...). I started physical therapy 90 days after the shoulder surgery, and could not lift my arm higher than eye level - and only to the front. After one month of PT, I could raise my arm out like a Hitler salute to the front, and almost to shoulder-level to the side. I could still not bear any weight over five pounds with that arm. After two months, I was able to raise my arms almost all the way up to the front, and 75% up to the side. They had me doing resistance weights to improve the range of motion. It took about eight months before I could stretch my army up over my head without pain, and a year before I could hang on a bar with my full body weight, or lift a barbell straight over my head (limited weight). It has been 21 months since the shoulder surgery, and I am almost 100% back to normal. I still have pain when doing heavy squats, as the weight sits right on the shoulder, and the hand position twists the joint to the extreme range of motion. I am now able to do overhead lifts without pain.
The lung surgery was similar in that it completely hindered my use of one side of my body for a long time. Since I had just gone through successful PT for my shoulder, and still had all the equipment, I did the recovery on my own. The lung itself healed fairly quickly, especially since they start you breathing into a lung-exercising device less than a week after surgery. The combination of removing part of the lung, and cracking open the ribs caused severe pain for any breath for almost a month (my body would not even allow itself to sneeze or yawn, as the pain would shut down the reflex). I started walking a mile or so a week after surgery, and continued that for a month. It took about three months to be able to take more than a shallow breath without pain, and the PT included using the breathing exerciser several times a day. I started slow-jogging mixed with walking around three months after surgery, and it was horrible. I also started working on the muscles in my back that were cut around three months after the surgery. Fortunately, the shoulder joint was not affected, so I did not have to worry about the joint for anything but gaining my strength back. I was pacing my lung surgery PT with the shoulder surgery PT, and was able to gain range of motion and strength for both at about the same pace. The Latimus muscle group seemed to gain elasticity and strength faster than the ligaments and tendons in the shoulder area, which helped this. I still have some minor pain when taking a quick deep breath (like for a sneeze), but it is associated with the nerves they cut for the chest tube, and will be present forever (unless the nerve heals - which may or may not happen).
The bottom line is that it is possible to return to the gym after major surgeries, and do the same things you were doing before. Just make sure to progress carefully, and follow a physical therapy routine. If the doctors operate on the bones, ligaments, and tendons of a joint, it will take longer to heal than if they just cut skin and muscle tissue.
You definitely have to be careful with these kinds of surgeries. I had abdominal surgery 3 months ago but I am already back at the gym and it's been a little painful.
One of my coworkers had major shoulder surgery and it's been about a year and he is just now back to biking again.
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