Reverse shoulder replacement offers new approach to pain management

Shoulder replacement is the third most common replacement in the US, following hip and knee replacement.

It’s mostly needed due to arthritis, causing severe bone-on-bone joint pain, but for some patients, a traditional shoulder surgery isn’t the best option.

That’s why now, doctors can relieve pain with a new approach.

“I’m an ICU nurse, retired now, and for 35 years, I was lifting, pulling, tugging patients,” said Martha Kuhr.

It just wasn’t Kuhr’s job that took a toll. The pain stopped her from doing what she loved most: biking.

“The weight on the shoulders, on the handlebars, would become very uncomfortable,” said Kuhr.

Doctor Nikhil Verma at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush suggested a reverse shoulder replacement.

“I thought he was gonna put my arm on backwards, you know; I said, ‘Great, I can scratch my back now.'” said Kuhr.

Martha’s rotator cuff was not strong enough to support a traditional shoulder replacement, in which a surgeon replaces the socket but still depends on all the surrounding muscles and tendons to support the implant.

“What a reverse shoulder replacement does is, it puts the ball where the socket goes, and the socket where the ball goes, and what that does is, it allows the shoulder to become a constrained joint so that the big muscles on the side of your shoulder are now able to substitute for the rotator cuff.” said Verma.

Recovery is quicker and results better.

“If we had done a traditional replacement, we probably wouldn’t have seen the same range of motion recovery and functional recovery that we saw with a reverse replacement.”

And now, Martha is back on her bike, ready to roll.

“Well, I can do this. How’s that? It feels very much so, now, a part of me, I don’t even know it’s there.”

Verma says about 50% of all shoulder replacements are now done with reverse implants.