Absolutely. We have patients go home to live alone all the time. You can start moving your arm immediately—dressing, doing your hair, using the restroom, feeding yourself, and driving your car. All those things are perfectly safe and patients can do them within two days after the surgery. People have this picture in their mind…
What is the expected recovery from shoulder replacement surgery? It is doing excellent on all planes. When you look at the human shoulder, what do people want from it? Well, they want motion, strength, and no pain. They don’t want it to hurt, ever. Shoulder replacements are very good at improving motion, amazing at improving…
The answer is in 99% of patients, yes. This is a common misconception that I get all the time. Some other doctors, even surgeons, say, “Oh, there’s no way your rotator cuffs are torn.” You can move your arm. Tons of people can move their arms with rotator cuff tears. It’s like 99%. Some people…
No, you don’t. Most orthopedic surgeons are bigger doctors. A lot of us are former athletes. I think it’s just because you play sports in high school or college, and the doctors you’re exposed to are orthopedic surgeons. Because a lot of athletes have injuries. When you attend medical school, the kids tend to be…
I would say which one’s better and how are they different. Both Total Shoulder Replacement and Reverse Shoulder Replacement are excellent surgeries with excellent outcomes if done by a specialist who does a lot. For me, a lot is typically the data, saying 50. I would say nowadays, even pushing like 100 a year, as…
This will vary depending on what surgeon does your surgery and what they tell you. In my practice, the way we treat patients is different. We are much more accelerated than 99% of surgeons. For us, after two weeks, the sling is completely optional. You can move your arm around. I’m okay with early active…
When we’re doing shoulder surgery and reattaching muscles slash tendons, muscles become tendons. We’re reattaching tendons in surgery back down to bones that are torn. Sometimes, we have to release tendons and reattach them to do shoulder replacements. It typically takes about three months for them to heal hard into bone before we feel comfortable…
The answer is yes. We make little poke holes in the shoulder. There are 3 or 4 little pokes, and then there is one stitch to close the poke hole. As a trusted Dallas Shoulder Surgeon, I always ensure our patients understand every step of their post-operative care. You can come into the office in…
Typically, it’s the third or fourth day or maybe second to fourth. I do shoulder surgery exclusively. Patients have a nerve block, so they don’t feel anything for the first 1 to 2 nights. When the nerve block wears off, you say, “Oh, now I feel I can feel what was done.” So typically, that…
This is a good question because it’s kind of nuanced. In many shoulder replacements, we use the rotator cuff and four tendons. But the one in the front is called the subscapularis. Think of that as a tendon. That’s the door to the shoulder. But we must open the door, insert the shoulder replacement, and…
