Outpatient Total Shoulder Replacement

Shoulder joint structure

The shoulder joint is made up of the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone). Tissues and tendon attach to the joint that help stabilize and support the shoulder. The rotator cuff, a set of four muscles attaching to the scapula, gives the shoulder its extensive range of motion. The labrum, which sits within the shoulder socket, helps stabilize the joint and allows the humeral head to sit within the socket more securely.

The shoulder joint has one of the widest ranges of motion in the body. Because it has so much mobility, it is also prone to injury. When the shoulder joint is injured, a variety of problems can be at fault. If the components in the shoulder are damaged or inflamed, significant pain and dysfunction can occur. While conservative treatment methods are always preferred, surgery is often the best solution to alleviate pain and restore joint function. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery, a minimally invasive approach to treatment, is often the solution recommended by the orthopedic doctor. Shoulder arthroscopy provides numerous potential benefits beyond traditional open joint surgery, allowing the patient to return to previous levels of activity safely and quickly.

Should arthroscopic shoulder surgery not resolve your pain, a total shoulder replacement may be necessary. Although shoulder joint replacement is less common than knee or hip replacement, it is just as successful in relieving joint pain. Shoulder replacement surgery was first performed in the United States in the 1950s to treat severe shoulder fractures. Over the years, shoulder joint replacement has come to be used for many other painful conditions of the shoulder, such as different forms of arthritis.

Today, about 53,000 people in the U.S. have shoulder replacement surgery each year. This compares to more than 1 million Americans a year who have knee and hip replacement surgery. If nonsurgical treatments like medications, injections, and activity changes are no longer helpful for relieving pain, you may want to consider shoulder joint replacement surgery. Joint replacement surgery is a safe and effective procedure to relieve pain and help you resume everyday activities.

Outpatient shoulder surgeons  Steven S. Goldberg, M.D. and Brian Wallace, D.O. specialize in orthopedic surgery of the upper extremities and are fellowship trained in Sports Medicine.