The shoulder is the body’s most flexible joint. While this flexibility allows you to move your arm in all different directions, it also makes the shoulder particularly vulnerable to injury. Several different types of surgical shoulder treatment procedures are performed at UnaSource that aim to improve patients’ mobility and quality of life.
Shoulder Arthroscopy or Open Procedures
Arthroscopic procedures are minimally invasive, by which the internal structure of a joint is examined for diagnosis and/or treatment using a tube-like viewing instrument called an arthroscope through very small incisions.
Rotator Cuff Repair
Your rotator cuff is a group of four muscles and tendons that stabilize your shoulder joint and let you lift and rotate your arms. A rotator cuff tear is a common shoulder injury that can happen over time with wear and tear or suddenly. A partial tear is when one of the muscles that form the rotator cuff is frayed or damaged. The other is a complete tear. That’s one that goes all the way through the tendon or pulls the tendon off the bone.
Subacromial Decompression Shoulder Treatment
One of the most common reasons for shoulder surgery is the treatment of impingement syndrome. This is a condition in which the tendons of your rotator cuff are intermittently trapped and compressed during movement. This causes progressive damage to the tendons, as well as the cushions inside the joint space (called bursa). Impingement syndrome can also be described as rotator cuff tendonitis and bursitis. The arthroscopic shoulder treatment procedure used to correct impingement is known as a subacromial decompression. The aim of the surgery is to increase the space between the rotator cuff and the top of the shoulder (known as the acromion).
Acromioclavicular (AC) Joint Repair
The acromioclavicular joint, commonly known as the AC joint, is the junction of the end of the clavicle (collarbone) and acromion. There are several problems that can occur at the AC joint. The first is that it can wear out. This can occur as a result of arthritis, usually at the site of a previous trauma. It can also deteriorate due to a repetitive use injury, such as weightlifting (a condition referred to as distal clavicle osteolysis). If either of these conditions occurs, open surgery may be performed to remove the end of the collarbone and widen the AC joint space. Instability can also occur at the AC joint, causing progressive damage to the ligaments that connect the clavicle to the end of the shoulder blade. This can eventually lead to shoulder separation. While shoulder separation can often be treated nonsurgically, severe cases may require surgery to repair or reconstruct ligaments that support the end of the clavicle.
