REVERSE SHOULDER REPLACEMENT

DESCRIPTION

The shoulder of the body has the ball/socket bone called Humerus, held with the help of tendons, ligaments, and the rotator cuff. They hold the shoulder and help in movement. Any damage to the rotator cuff may cause hindrance in a movement. With age, there may occur several problems with the cuff which are characterized by weak, painful, and restricted movement. Distortion in the shoulder cuff may cause damages to the shoulder joint. People, who are suffering from arthritis and other bone problems used to complain about partial or complete damage in their shoulder cuff. However, the most preferred treatment for the damaged cuff is “Reverse Shoulder Replacement”, this is also termed as “Reverse Arthroplasty”, arthro means joint and plasty means modification by a surgical process. In this type of surgery, the round head of the damaged upper shoulder bone is replaced by the plastic material to retrieve the smooth movement and the socket also gets removed by the stem made of metal on the end and the metal moves around the socket. The incision is made on the front side of the shoulder and then surgery is done with the help of clinical tools and screws. In case, if the rotator cuff is extremely damaged and terribly torn then it’s hard for the surgeon to retrieve complete functionality, the joint may not work properly then.

LENGTH OF SURGERY

Reverse shoulder replacement surgery doesn’t take much longer but a surgeon will complete it within 3-4 hours.

TYPE OF ANESTHESIA

A surgeon always provides “General Anesthesia” to the patient undergoing the surgery so that they could sleep during the process.

RISKS

If you’re undergoing “Reverse Shoulder Replacement”, there are some risks associated:

• It may cause infection on the shoulder for several days.
• May cause bleeding on the stitches.
• Artificial fitting of the plastic and metal can be dislocated if the patient doesn’t follow the precautions.
• Allergy from anesthesia.
• If a patient tries to lift the heavier thing, another bone of the same shoulder can get damaged.
• Surrounding nerves can also be damaged.
• Forceful muscle contraction can also damage an artificial fitting.

RECOVERY TIME

Patients may experience infection after the surgery, your surgeon will give you antibiotics and some medications to reduce the infection rate. Medicines soothe pain and also reduce inflammation. Patients are also able to eat solid food and usually not prescribed bed rest and can leave the operation ward after 2 days. Recovery is faster if the patient follows the activities prescribed. It takes 15-20 days for the patient to recover but lifting weight is prohibited for good.