|
Featured Articles Help for Aching Shoulders: Arthroscopic Surgery is Answer for Some
Frank Crossley remembers lying in bed at night with his shoulder pulsating in pain. Eventually, he could no longer stand the soreness. So the foreman at a local construction company had his right shoulder operated on in 1996 to repair a torn rotator cuff. He was out of work for three months while his muscles and the large incision healed.
 |
The rotator cuff is made up of muscles and tendons surrounding the top of the upper arm bone, or humerus. When it's working the way nature intended, we don't give the joint a second thought. When it tears, the pain, say sufferers, is unbearable.
Being laid up for three months wasn't the worst of Crossley's problems. Ironically, his left shoulder was now giving him trouble.
This past December, Crossley, who is 57 and from Beacon Falls, had the rotator cuff in his left shoulder repaired. This time instead of an open operation, he had the shoulder repair done arthroscopically, a minimally-invasive surgery that fixed Crossley's shoulder without a large open wound, speeding recovery and reducing time away from work. | |
| Crossley is one of more than 4 million people in the United States each year to seek medical care for shoulder problems. His doctor, Eric J. Olson, MD, an attending orthopaedic surgeon at Waterbury Hospital, used small instruments that slip easily through tiny incisions to fix the damaged shoulder.
During arthroscopy, an arthroscope shines light into the joint and relays an image onto a video monitor. Small incisions, also called portals, allow for the instruments and the arthroscope to be guided into the shoulder and reattach the tendons to the bones. Because the incisions are minute, less anesthesia is required, patients avoid a hospital stay and recovery is quicker. Full use of the shoulder, however, may take up to six weeks, according to Dr. Olson.
Dr. Olson likens the ability to repair rotator cuff problems arthroscopically to building a ship in a bottle. "The technology has advanced to make this possible," he said. "We have the ability to attach soft tissue to bone using little knots that are tied outside the body, then inserted through a very small tube."
Another plus is that with an arthroscope doctors can view the inside area from many perspectives. "Because you see it from the inside, you can judge better how to repair it. It's like having a periscope inside a joint."
Crossley, who has now experienced both open and arthroscopic techniques is bullish on the latter. "It's so much easier. Dr.Olson likens the ability to repair rotator cuff problems arthroscopically to 'building a ship in a bottle.'
The recuperation is much quicker. My pain is gone and I went back to work in six weeks."
Signs and symptoms of rotator cuff problems can include:
- Recurrent or constant pain when doing overhead activities.
- Pain at night that interrupts sleep.
- Muscle weakness, especially when raising the arm or lifting objects.
- Cracking sounds when moving the arm.
Who specifically is a candidate? "Anyone who has a rotator cuff tear that is causing pain and has failed to improve through medication, activity modification and therapy may be a good candidate for this," noted Dr. Olson.
|
