As the most mobile joint in the body, your shoulder is particularly prone to instability or dislocation. Orthopedic surgeon and shoulder specialists Dr. Sean Mitchell and Dr. Phillip Bennion have expertise and experience with Dislocated Shoulder Surgery. They have the experience it takes to determine whether dislocated shoulder surgery is the best option for you. They treat patients from across the United States and all over the world at the Arizona Center for Hand Surgery. Contact one of the offices for an in-person or remote evaluation.
Shoulder instability is what happens when the head of the upper arm bone is forced out of the shoulder socket. Although it often happens as the result of an acute injury, it can just as easily be the result of overuse. Once your shoulder becomes dislocated, it’s prone to happen again.
Having a loose shoulder joint that suffers repeated dislocations is known as chronic shoulder instability. The two most common ways that a shoulder can become unstable are dislocation and repetitive strain.
Initial shoulder dislocation is often caused by injury or trauma. In such cases, the socket bone, or glenoid, is sometimes injured, as is the labrum, or the cartilage ridge around the edge of the glenoid bone. Shoulder instability can also be caused by loose ligaments in the joint, a condition that may be part of your normal anatomy, or brought on by repetitive overhead motion. Work or sports that require repetitive overhead motion can eventually stretch out the ligaments and weaken the joint.
Reverse total shoulder replacement surgery can be used to address debilitating shoulder pain caused by a variety of factors, ranging from a completely torn rotator cuff to chronic shoulder instability. This type of surgery is an excellent option for patients whose shoulder instability is caused by a rotator cuff tear and may also be an option for older patients who have suffered a severe dislocation.
In a reverse shoulder replacement, your surgeon places an artificial socket on the arm bone, and attaches the ball to your shoulder blade. This provides the shoulder with a stable center of rotation allowing your muscles to resume their optimal length.
The round cartilage ridge around the edge of the glenoid bone, known as the labrum, plays an important role in keeping your shoulder stable. It creates a bumper cushion that deepens the entire shoulder socket, thereby increasing the amount of energy required for the top of your upper arm bone to come out of the socket.
A tear or injury anywhere along the labrum can cause an unstable shoulder, and a shoulder joint that has dislocated multiple times is more likely to have extensive injury to the labrum. A labrum tear, also known as a SLAP lesion, can be diagnosed and treated with arthroscopy surgery.
Glenoid bone (shoulder socket) loss is a major risk factor for developing an unstable shoulder or a shoulder dislocation, and patients that have experienced any amount of glenoid bone loss may require a more advanced surgical procedure to correct an unstable shoulder.
Whether glenoid bone loss is the result of injury, gradual erosion, a developmental variation, or some combination of factors, maximizing the size of the glenoid bone through bone graft surgery is a vital component of the successful long-term treatment for unstable shoulders.
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