A bike accident left Jim Smith with a shoulder injury so painful he couldn't ride, or even raise his right arm. "I was down to practically doing nothing because whatever I did, I couldn't even trim bushes in the yard because I didn't have any control of my right arm."
A traditional shoulder replacement failed. Then, Doctor Bryan Wall suggested something new -- reverse shoulder replacement. The normal ball and socket joint is replaced with implants that reverse the anatomy of the shoulder. "So the ball is now on the shoulder blade and socket is on the arm bone." "The reverse shoulder replacement, what it does is it allows us to not only replace the joint that has become arthritic, but it puts the shoulder in a better mechanical position and changes the mechanics of the shoulder to allow people to elevate their arm."
The surgery works best for older patients who have chronic shoulder pain, longstanding rotator cuff tears and arthritis. It doesn't work for everyone -- there's a risk of patients dislocating the shoulder joint after surgery or loosening it. "The best thing is whatever I do during the day, no matter what I do, I don't have any pain in my right arm." The surgery fixed Jim's shoulder so he could get back to doing his own fixing. "I've worked pretty hard all my life. Now it's time to play!" Hitting the road to a pain-free and active retirement.
The surgery generally requires a two-day hospital stay and a four to six-week recovery, plus post surgical therapy to restore full range of motion. Doctor Wall says younger patients are generally not good candidates for the procedure because they tend to put extreme stress on the shoulder joint.
