Shoulder injuries or arthritis can inhibit many activities. A person that was once able to push, pull, and throw may no longer be able to perform these movements due to a slight or severe shoulder injury or increasing arthritis. There are a few different ways to treat a shoulder injury, and shoulder surgery is a great option for many people. Once it’s been determined that your injury justifies surgery, it’s time to consider the variety of surgical options. The two common procedures that we’ll focus on today are conventional total shoulder replacement and arthroscopic total shoulder resurfacing.
Traditional shoulder replacement surgery is reserved for older patients, generally with arthritis. People that injured their shoulder earlier in life and pushed off treatment until an older age may also be good candidates for conventional TSR. This surgery includes opening up the shoulder, releasing the rotator cuff tendon to expose the joint, removing all damaged tissue from the shoulder’s humeral head, replacing the humeral head with a metal ball, removing arthritis from the glenoid, replacing the space with a plastic socket, stitching everything back up, and then the procedure is over.
The arthroscopic procedure is less invasive which makes it a good option for people younger than 50 years who are still physically active. These patients find more fluid results and are able to return to a previous lifestyle quicker. The procedure is done through a scope that’s inserted into the shoulder through an incision that is only 1cm in size. The scope passes by the rotator cuff tendon to get to the humeral head. The damaged tissue is removed, and new shoulder tissue is placed as a graft. The graft tissue is received from a tissue donor that matches the patient’s anatomy. It is held in place by a decomposable screw. The minimally invasive procedure combined with the use of natural body tissue allows the patient to live their active lifestyle as there are no false parts to hold you back.
Click here to schedule an appointment with Dr. Thomas Kovack for arthroscopic shoulder surgery in Columbus, Ohio today!
