SHOULDER PAIN

Shoulder pain can severely limit your ability to move your arms, affecting work, leisure, and everyday activities. If you have shoulder pain, visit board-certified orthopedic surgeons at AZ Ortho in Scottsdale, Arizona. They offer effective treatments for shoulder pain, including arthroscopic surgery and joint replacement. To find a solution to your painful shoulder, call AZ Ortho or book an appointment online today.

What causes shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain can result from an acute injury, overuse, or disease. Common causes of shoulder pain include:

• Rotator cuff tears
• Labral tears
• Adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder)
• Osteoarthritis
• Bursitis
• Bone spurs
• Joint dislocation
• Fractures
• Shoulder instability

The rotator cuff tendons and muscles help keep the upper arm bone in its shoulder blade socket and give the joint its wide range of motion. However, rotator cuff injuries are common, especially in athletes. The AZ Ortho team specializes in sports medicine. They have extensive experience in treating common sports injuries like rotator cuff tears, dislocations, fractures, and bursitis.

How is shoulder pain treated?

Initial treatments for many causes of shoulder pain involve taking medication, avoiding activities that stress the joint, and physical therapy. You might need to wear a splint, sling, or cast to immobilize the joint while it heals.  If these conservative methods fail to provide you with relief, corticosteroid injections into the joint can help reduce inflammation and pain. You might also benefit from iovera°® cryoanalgesia, which freezes the pain nerves. If the injury is too severe to heal naturally, or you still have severe joint pain despite several months of nonsurgical treatment, you might need shoulder surgery.

What shoulder surgery might I require? The shoulder surgery you need depends on the damage and how it affects you. The AZ Ortho team performs several forms of shoulder surgery, including: 

Rotator cuff repair 

Rotator cuff repair involves reattaching torn muscles and tendons. Your surgeon stitches the damaged tissues together where possible or may use grafted material if the damage is extensive. They may also secure the rotator cuff with anchors that attach to the bone. 

Shoulder replacement 

Shoulder replacement involves substituting damaged parts of the shoulder joint with artificial implants. This might be necessary after severe joint trauma, but in most cases, the team uses shoulder replacement to treat osteoarthritis (joint damage caused by years of wear-and-tear). Shoulder replacement surgery may be partial (replacing only one section of the joint) or total, where your surgeon replaces both the ball and the socket.

If you already have a replacement shoulder joint and it’s causing pain or loss of function, the AZ Ortho team can perform revision shoulder replacement to correct the problem. If you have shoulder instability from repeated rotator cuff tears or dislocations, they might perform a reverse shoulder replacement. This involves swapping the position of the replacement ball and socket so the socket is on the top of your upper arm bone and the ball fixes to your shoulder blade. This positioning uses different muscles to stabilize the joint, giving you more strength and preventing further injuries.

If you develop shoulder pain, call AZ Ortho to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online today.