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Shoulder Joint Replacement Surgery

What is Shoulder Joint Replacement?

Joint replacement is a kind of surgical process where the ends of bones are replaced in a damaged joint. With such a surgery, new joint surfaces are created to relieve the pain.

Shoulder joint replacement involves the replacement of the ends of the upper arm and shoulder bone. The replacement is followed by capping the bone with artificial surfaces. Cement is used to hold together the components of joint.

This replacement also works to treat a series of painful conditions that plague the shoulder, like arthritis. The replacement is safe and very helpful to alleviate pain so that routines are followed by patient with ease.

Types of shoulder joint replacement

There are various types of shoulder joint replacement that are done as per the conditions of the patient.

Let’s have a look at the types:-

Total Shoulder Replacement – It’s a viable option for those with bone-on-bone osteoarthritis.
Stemmed Hemiarthroplasty - It involves, in most cases, only replacement of the ball.
Resurfacing Hemiarthroplasty – In this, a cap-like prosthesis is used to replace the surface of the humeral head.
Reverse Total Shoulder Replacement- It’s for those with a failed shoulder replacement in the past.

Indications of Shoulder Joint Replacement

The doctor would recommend the shoulder joint replacement when few symptoms persist for long.

Let’s have a look at those symptoms:-

When a severe pain stops shoulder to do daily chores
When the pain is there while resting
When the shoulder feels weakness
When the shoulder experiences a loss of motion
When other treatments have failed to fetch result ‘

Treatment of shoulder joint replacement

The surgery starts with giving patients anesthesia according to the need. The kind of anesthetic provided relies on the need of patient, as in some cases, patients need to be asleep for the entire duration, but not always.

The surgery in itself takes around 2 hours wherein the shoulder joint is replaced with an artificial device. Post surgery, there would be an extensive recovery which may take hours.