Minimally Invasive Rotator Cuff Repair

Your rotator cuff is composed of four different muscles that cover the humerus, your upper arm bone. These muscles help you to lift and rotate your arm and keep it in place.

The rotator cuff typically becomes damaged through injury or degeneration and can occur in either partial or full-thickness tears. Treatment options will depend on the degree of the tear. For example, a partial tear may fixed by smoothing or trimming the frayed muscle in a procedure called debridement. Meanwhile a full-thickness tear will most likely require surgery.

Open Repair Surgery
This approach was the first procedure designed to treat torn rotator cuffs. The surgeon will make an incision over the shoulder, detach the deltoid muscle and then remove any bone spurs from the bottom of the acromion. This option works well for large or complex tears and/or if additional reconstruction is needed.

Minimally Invasive Surgery
This outpatient procedure uses a small camera, television screen, thin, miniature instruments, and small incision. The camera projects images of the joint onto the TV screen to help guide the surgeon during surgery.

Mini-Open Repair

This procedure is a combination of minimally invasive and open repair. It uses a small incision to first access the damage and treats bone spurs through arthroscopic technology and then repairs the tendon by viewing the shoulder structure directly.

Your surgeon will be able to determine the best treatment option after examination. TO learn more, click here.

Total Shoulder Replacement 

Your shoulder is composed of three main bones- the collarbone (clavicle), shoulder blade (scapular) and upper arm bone (humerus) -  and a variety of muscles, tendons and connective tissues that protect the joint and hold it together. Since this ball-and-socket joint is stabilized by its muscles and tendons, it has a wide range of motion, but is also more prone to disease and injury compared to other large joints in the body.

A variety of issues can lead to shoulder replacement, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, rotator cuff tear, fracture and avascular necrosis.

Shoulder replacement is the third most common joint replacement surgery. Patients typically receive either a total (primary) or reverse procedure.

In a total shoulder replacement, a plastic “cup” is fitted into the shoulder socket (glenoid) and a metal “ball” is attached to the top of the upper arm bone (humerus) to mimic the patient’s anatomy.

Learn more about total shoulder replacement.

Reverse Shoulder Procedure  

In a reverse shoulder replacement, the anatomy of the shoulder is reversed by attaching a metal ball to the shoulder bone and a plastic socket to the upper arm bone. Candidates for a reverse are typically individuals who have significant tears in their rotator cuff and need a procedure that relies on different muscles to move the arm.

Recovery time will vary per patient, but most are ready to return home one to two days post-surgery.

Learn more about this procedure.