New procedure may prove effective for some shoulder injuries
October 26th, 2009 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Jim Smith could barely move his right arm following a motorcycle accident. A traditional shoulder replacement surgery left him in pain and unable to even do small household chores. “I was down to practically doing nothing,” Smith said to WNDU-TV. “I couldn’t even trim bushes in the yard because I didn’t have control of my right arm.”
But Smith’s doctor, Bryan Wall, an orthopedic surgeon at the Core Institute of Phoenix, Ariz., wasn’t giving up. He suggested Smith have a new procedure, a reverse shoulder replacement. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004, the procedure offers relief to some patients who suffer long-term rotator cuff tears with arthritis. During the procedure, surgeons place an implant in the shoulder that is designed so that the ball portion of the shoulder is attached directly to the shoulder blade. The socket is then placed at the upper end of the arm bone. The procedure essentially reverses the anatomy of the shoulder.
“What it does is it allows us to not only replace the joint that has become arthritic, but it puts the shoulder in a better mechanical position and changes the mechanics of the shoulder to allow people to elevate their arm,” Dr. Wall explained.
The result was life-changing for Smith, who said he no longer has pain in his right arm and is able to get on with an active retirement. However, Dr. Wall warns, the procedure is not recommended for all patients. The best recipients are older patients who are less likely to put extreme stress on the shoulder joint.