Shoulder replacement surgeries are also performed at Shah Hospital. In shoulder replacement surgery, doctors replace the ends of the damaged upper arm bone (humerus head) and usually the shoulder bone (glenoid) and cap them with artificial surfaces lined with plastic or metal & plastic.
The top end of your upper arm bone is shaped like a ball. Muscles and ligaments hold this ball against a cup-shaped part of the shoulder bone. Surgeons usually replace the top of the upper arm bone with a long metal piece with a rounded head is inserted into the upper arm bone. If the cup-shaped surface of your shoulder bone that cradles your upper arm bone is also damaged, doctors smooth it and then cap it with a plastic or metal and plastic piece.
To lift the shoulder for overhead activities, the group of muscles presses the head down to allow the arm to be raised. These cuff of muscles are called the rotator cuff. Quite often, there is damage to this rotator cuff along with the arthritis. If a shoulder replacement is necessary and the rotator cuff is damage or torn, conventional total shoulder replacement would not give satisfactory results. In such situations, the position of the ball and socket are interchanged to allow for normal lifting up of the arm. This is called reverse shoulder replacement.
Shah Hospital offers the complete range of shoulder replacements from partial or hemi replacement to reverse total shoulder replacement.
