I would say the number one thing is a rotator cuff tear. The symptoms of shoulder bursitis and rotator cuff tears are identical. A very common misconception is that “Oh, I can still move my arm. There’s no way my rotator cuffs are torn.” That’s false. In 95% of the rotator cuff tears we see,…
It can vary. I’ve seen people with tendinitis or bursitis in the shoulder for months and months and months and sometimes even longer. Typically, if it’s been there for over 3 to 6 months, it’s probably a rotator cuff tear, more than bursitis. But that’s not always the case. Rotator cuff tears can have relatively…
You don’t need any special pillows. You can just use your pillows. I tell people to sleep with just two or three up the back so you’re up at a 20- to 30-degree incline. Then, place one or two underneath your operative arm to help prop up your elbow and take off your sling. That’s…
Immediately. I encourage patients to start exercising within a day after surgery. Take some long walks. Maybe don’t walk for 30 miles the day after surgery. Go for a couple of miles. You won’t be on narcotics and doing crazy hikes and things like that because then you could fall. But going out, getting outside,…
A lot of this depends on the surgeon that you see. We’re all different. In my practice, we are much more focused on early motion and activity. Looking at our outcomes and data, we’ve had better success, allowing people to move their arms quickly. When establishing your post-operative routine, understanding how to manage your sling…
In general, yes. If you average out a thousand people that have had their shoulder and their knee replaced, um, at least 70 to 80% of the shoulder replacements will have had a quicker, simpler, less painful recovery with a better overall outcome in terms of how much better their joint feels now. Knee replacements…
Well, pinched nerves within the shoulder joint are very rare. However, you can get them. You can get suprascapular nerve impingement with para labral cysts where you have a torn labrum. That’s relatively uncommon. What’s way more common is a pinched nerve in your neck radiating down your arm. But often, people think that they…
There’s no way to answer that question until you come in and figure out what the injury was and get some imaging to figure out what happened. So much depends on how much pain you’re having, the injury, the mechanism, how long you’ve been hurting, and what you look like right now. What do our…
Typically, about an hour. Our procedure times are quick. Most of the surgeries we do are 30 minutes or less. People say. “How?” I tell them it’s volume. If you do something thousands and thousands of times, you get more efficient. Because of the techniques and the technologies we use, the procedures are quick, and…
Well, I know this is semantics, but you actually cannot heal a torn rotator cuff naturally. Once the tendon tears, it’s torn. It’s gone. What you can do is strengthen the other muscles of the shoulder and rebalance the system so that your shoulder no longer has any pain and has full strength in motion….
