Don’t Live With Shoulder Pain: How Arthroscopy Can Bring Relief

Sometimes, shoulder pain creeps up on you unsuspectingly, causing days, weeks, or months of discomfort and disability. Whether your pain started after an injury or happens because of wear-and-tear, relief is crucial to prevent further complications.

Physical therapy, medications, and ice or heat are helpful treatments for various forms of shoulder pain — but if they don’t work, you may need an arthroscopy procedure. A shoulder arthroscopy is a minimally invasive option to see inside the joint and fix any issues causing pain.

You don’t have to live with shoulder pain — Dr. Jon Thompson and Dr. Brian Snow offer various treatments at their Alpha Orthopedics & Sports Medicine practice. Both surgeons are experienced orthopedic specialists who provide surgical relief for shoulder issues like rotator cuff and labral tears.

What causes shoulder pain?

The shoulder joints are integral body parts most people use daily for work and leisure. Over time, the shoulders’ tendons, ligaments, and muscles can suffer wear-and-tear injuries that cause pain and trouble moving.

Injuries are another reason you could be feeling pain in the shoulder joints. Baseball, tennis, and volleyball players are all at risk for shoulder injuries due to overuse. You can also suffer an injury from a fall or car accident.

Most issues that lead to shoulder pain are associated with tendons, fractures, arthritis, or joint instability. The common causes of shoulder pain include all of the following:

• Bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Labral tears
• Rotator cuff tears
• AC joint arthritis
• Frozen shoulder
• Biceps tears

Shoulder pain can be acute or chronic. Acute injuries happen suddenly and cause intense pain that may or may not heal. Chronic shoulder pain often occurs over time from an injury that didn't heal correctly or wear-and-tear on the soft tissues.

Living with shoulder pain is tough, especially when it doesn’t resolve with home care and conservative measures. Shoulder pain can affect every aspect of your life, so you may want to consider an arthroscopy for a proper diagnosis and pain relief.

The facts on an arthroscopy

An arthroscopy is a minimally invasive technique to see inside your joints to diagnose what’s causing pain and fix problems through a few tiny incisions. A shoulder arthroscopy is one of the main procedures for looking inside the joint when you have pain that doesn’t resolve.

You are under general anesthesia during the arthroscopy, meaning you’ll be asleep and won’t feel anything. Our team makes a few tiny incisions in the skin around the shoulder joint and inserts an instrument called an arthroscope.

The arthroscope is a long, thin tube with a camera and a light on the end. The camera allows our team to see inside the shoulder joint by projecting images on a screen in the operating room.

Our team inserts small instruments through the other incision to repair any damage to the shoulder joint. We can fix issues like rotator cuff, biceps, and bursitis, along with other problems and complications.

One of the significant benefits of arthroscopic surgery is that you can go home the same day to start the recovery process. It also takes much less time to recover after arthroscopic surgery than other forms of open surgery.

Relief after arthroscopic surgery

Living with shoulder pain for even a few weeks is tortuous and affects work and your social life — but you don’t have to continue to suffer. If your pain persists despite conservative treatments, rest, and physical therapy, an arthroscopy is the next step in treatment.

It’s an excellent choice over traditional open surgery because it’s less invasive while still providing long-term relief for shoulder issues and pain. Minimally invasive techniques allow for less damage to the surrounding tissues, which helps you heal faster.

A shoulder arthroscopy is the perfect option for us to fix various shoulder injuries and problems without the need for large incisions and a long recovery. However, following our recovery program to heal properly and regain strength and function in the affected shoulder is essential.

An arthroscopy is a tool we use not only to diagnose shoulder issues through small incisions but also to fix or repair damage within the joint to restore your shoulder to its new state. Although it may take several weeks to months to regain full use, the results of arthroscopic shoulder surgery are excellent.

Don’t hesitate to call one of our convenient offices in Sherman, Prosper, and McKinney, Texas, today for shoulder arthroscopy or request a consultation on the website.