Regain Range of Motion with Shoulder Surgery

How Is Shoulder Pain Treated?

Your first line of treatment for shoulder pain is your primary care physician. Your physician may recommend treatment options such as cold and heat therapy, rest, medications, cortisone injections, ultrasound, and physical therapy. If these don’t bring significant pain relief, you may be referred to a Penn Highlands orthopedic surgeon who may recommend shoulder replacement surgery.

What Happens During Total Shoulder Replacement Surgery?

At Penn Highlands Healthcare, we have expert orthopedic surgeons who perform shoulder replacement surgery, which involves resurfacing the areas of the bones that meet in the shoulder joint. The ball-shaped end of the upper arm or humerus is replaced with a metal component, while the socket-shaped glenoid cavity of the shoulder blade is relined with special plastic. These new components eliminate the bone-on-bone situation that causes most shoulder pain.

Who Is a Candidate for Shoulder Replacement Surgery?

People whose daily activities—particularly reaching over your head, dressing, and bathing—are severely limited by shoulder pain or those who have shoulder pain that interferes with their sleep may be candidates for shoulder replacement surgery. Your orthopedic surgeon will consider shoulder surgery after careful examination and diagnosis of your particular joint problem, and after more conservative measures such as exercise, physical therapy, and medications have been tried. Patients with osteoarthritis whose rotator cuff tendons are in good shape are typically good candidates.