Why is Shoulder Replacement Surgery So Painful?

It’s not.

I specialize in shoulder replacements. I do 250 a year. Out of all the surgeries that I do on the shoulder, it’s the least painful in the early postoperative phase. During those first couple weeks, most of our patients come in after surgery 10 to 12 days out and feel better than before the operation. They already already have less pain overall.

For me, that is a very pain-free surgery. If you can get if you can make someone better within a week or two after the surgery, that’s not a painful operation because you know you’re better than you were within a week. That first week or so, people have some pain, but it’s way less than what they anticipate most of the time. Either way, we give people plenty of pain medicine.

You get a nerve block that lasts a couple of days. Those first couple of days are when it’s the worst, but it’s not bad for most patients. And then, after a week or two, you’re already better than before surgery, which is pretty awesome because these people have been in pain for years.