Shoulder Arthroscopy in Villa Rica GA
According to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, more than 1.4 million shoulder arthroscopies are performed worldwide each year.
Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery, or arthroscopy, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that uses a small camera called an arthroscope. The arthroscope is inserted through a small incision to examine or repair specific areas within or around the shoulder joint.
At Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic, our Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeons provide expert shoulder arthroscopy near Douglasville, Hiram, Carrollton, Bremen, and Dallas, GA. Call (770) 834-0873 to schedule your appointment today!
Shoulder Arthroscopy Procedures
Your shoulder is the most flexible joint in your body allowing you to place and rotate your arm in many positions in front, above, to the side, and behind your body. This flexibility also makes your shoulder susceptible to instability and injury.
- Should Joint Examination. One of the uses for shoulder arthroscopy is to inspect the shoulder joint and surrounding areas to confirm a diagnosis and determine the extent of injury or disease process. Your surgeon will determine if the minimally invasive procedure can be used for a surgical repair instead of a traditional open surgical procedure.
- Shoulder Joint Surgery. Often when using shoulder arthroscopy to make or confirm a diagnosis, surgery is performed to correct conditions affecting muscles, cartilage, joints or ligaments in the shoulder damaged as a result of injury, disease or aging. By performing the surgery during the arthroscopic examination, the surgeon is able to perform a repair without having to inconvenience the patient with a second procedure. By doing so, this eliminates the need for a large incision minimizing blood loss and discomfort helping to speed recovery.
Conditions treated using Shoulder Arthroscopy
Depending on the complexity of the repairs that need to be made, shoulder arthroscopy may be used to correct the following conditions:
- Cartilage or ligaments that have been torn or damaged
- Shoulders with instability where a shoulder joint is loose and/or the shoulder dislocates and slips out of the ball and socket joint becoming dislocated
- Biceps tendon that is torn or damaged
- Torn rotator cuff
- Bone spurs or inflammation around the rotator cuff
- Joint inflammation or damage caused by an illness such as arthritis
- Loose tissue that interferes with movement and has to be removed
- Shoulder impingement where movement is impaired
Results
The minimally invasive nature of arthroscopic surgery will result in less pain, stiffness, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays if any (depending on the complexity of the procedure) and faster recovery sometimes.
Outcomes for most arthroscopic shoulder procedures are highly successful in eliminating pain and providing excellent range of motion. However where surgery is performed to correct stability problems, some patients may still have the instability. Additionally, rotator cuff surgery may provide significant pain relief but result in not being able to regain complete strength.