When Is It Too Late for a Shoulder Replacement?

When is it too late for a shoulder replacement? The answer is never.

I’ve never once had a patient who came in with arthritis or a rotator cuff tear, and they never had surgery, and their shoulder was so worn out that there was nothing we could do.

Some people have worn away quite a bit of bone. But with the new techniques, with the new instrumentation, and with all the new technology out there, we can use 3D modeling and printing customized implants to rebuild people’s shoulders.

I haven’t seen it with thousands of these in my career, so it’s never too late to have it done. Our technology now allows us to replace anybody’s shoulder, regardless of how severe the arthritis is. Even those where it’s bad, it’s pretty straightforward to fix, so there is always time.