Best way to retain muscle without re-injuring my shoulder.

[Titanictimmah]

I'm looking for some advice from some of the personal trainers that I know are lurking in here.

Long story short, my left shoulder briefly dislocated (don't know if i'd even go that far, it made two clunks in rapid succession, I could feel it pop partway out and then immediately back in) while arm wrestling laying prone on the ground. (I know, should have sat at a table to do it.)

The next day, the ligaments inside my shoulder were very very sore, and it's been about a week.

I've been prescribed 4 exercises by my chiropractor to strengthen all areas of the rotator cuff that I'm supposed to do every second day.

I guess my question is, Can any of you give me some idea if there's anything I can do to minimize how much muscle mass I lose during the next 6 weeks of rehabilitation? I've been keeping my protein intake high, and been doing 30 minutes of light cardio a few times a week just to keep my heart in shape, and keep fat off, but I'm 6 feet tall and already have shrunk down from 184 lbs to 173 in the span of only 2 weeks!

Is it possible to do exercises for my arms, shoulders back, etc during rehab, but with say 1/4 the weight?

Edit: I have continued to work out my legs as I normally would btw.

[Vapor]

You're dropping 5.5 lbs a week??? Barring something weird with hydration, this has nothing to do with exercise. You need to eat a ton more food.

[ballin21]

Eating lots of protein and high quality carbs (whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, potatoes, vegetables, etc) will help you retain muscle while injured. However, if you have a hurt shoulder i would not trust advice given to me on a forum. Do what the doctor tells you to do. You don't want to make a minor/moderate injury into a permanent injury.