Shoulder arthritis

Shoulder arthritis is the wear and tear of shoulder cartilage until bare bone is exposed.

The shoulder joint can sometimes become narrowed and arthritic, and spurs can form on the undersurface. This arthritic development can happen by either genetic osteoarthritis, injuries such as dislocations, overloading from weightlifting, years of push-ups, or years of overhead work and activity.

Injections

Injections of combinations of hyaluronic acid plus growth factors from PRP and other sources have provided dramatic relief for some patients up to a year after a single injection. Our cocktail of anabolic stimulants plus lubricants appears to stimulate the lining of the joint to produce more lubrication, shifts the degradative environment to an anabolic environment, decreases inflammation, and provides pain relief. It does not cure arthritis, however.

Mumford procedure

The success rate of our Mumford procedure is extremely high, with complications being extremely low since the shoulder joint is not completely opened; instead, the AC joint of the shoulder is cleared arthroscopically. By carefully cleaning out the undersurface of the joint and removing the spurs, we open the undersurface joint space to allow smoother movement of the joint. The Mumford procedure is an outpatient procedure performed under a regional block.

Debridement

A careful arthroscopic removal of bone spurs, scar tissue and frayed cartilage followed by anabolic and lubricating injections and early aggressive physical therapy improves the symptoms for many people with arthritic shoulders. By obtaining an improved range of motion and strengthening of the shoulder and upper body musculature pain is relieved often for years.

Shoulder articular cartilage treatment

In surgery, we can stimulate a cartilage repair process of the shoulder by perforating the exposed bone and releasing stem cells to the surface of the damaged joint. When the damaged area is too large, we need to graft the cartilage. We harvest articular cartilage and bone, form a paste, and then impact the paste onto the damaged area in the shoulder. When the damaged shoulder area is too large, a full osteochondral graft is used to replace the damaged area or a shoulder replacement is recommended.