When I am explaining rotator cuff surgery to patients, one of the most common questions I get is, “How do you repair the tear?”
My answer typically involves an explanation of some basics about rotator cuff tears:
Here I peel back the layers and talk a little about why shoulders are a bit like onions (while plugging our fundraiser for National Shoulder and Elbow Week) A Garden Analogy for Shoulder Complexity Dr. Matthew DiPaola takes a unique approach to explaining the complexity of the shoulder joint—by comparing it to an onion. Just … Read more
Why Shoulder Pain Deserves More Attention Than You Think A Message from Dr. Matt DiPaola in Support of National Shoulder & Elbow Week Good morning from Amherst, NY! In today’s video, Dr. Matt DiPaola takes a moment before clinic hours to talk about something many people overlook—shoulder pain—and why National Shoulder & Elbow Week (May … Read more
Being told that you need rotator cuff surgery can be an intimidating prospect. Physical Therapy after Surgery One of the main concerns is how much physical therapy you will need after surgery. How long will therapy take? And when will you finally be back doing what you want to do? The truth is, most people … Read more
As we mentioned in a previous post, most suture anchors stay in your bone for life. The technology has advanced to such a degree, that they are extraordinarily reliable and rarely come out. While we don’t have exact numbers, our experience as surgeons tells us that it is rare for them to “back-out” of bone … Read more
When I am explaining rotator cuff surgery to patients, one of the most common questions I get is, “How do you repair the tear?”
My answer typically involves an explanation of some basics about rotator cuff tears:
We highlighted an article a while ago about how smoking was bad for your bones in general. It not only leads to osteoporosis (weak bone) but can lead to poor healing if you are unlucky enough to break a bone.
The other day a patient asked me if he should exercise his shoulder before getting a shoulder replacement. A little background, the patient is about 60 years old and is an avid weight lifter. I was a little confused by the question so I asked him to clarify.
He thought that if he increased his shoulder and chest strength before surgery, this would make it easier for him to recover and for me to do the surgery.
Rotator cuff tears can be tricky. And unfortunately not all rotator cuff repairs are fool proof. Older studies showed that rotator cuff repairs failed to heal in up to 3/4 of attempts in some patients.
Newer studies tend to show more favorable results but on average still report at least a 1/4 chance of retiring of the rotator cuff repair.
The patient was about 40 years old. My hunch was that she had a repair that never healed. The evidence was there: she already had one failed repair, a re-repair and her symptoms were exactly the same as when she first came to the previous doctor: popping, catching, pain with reaching across her body and … Read more