A total shoulder replacement is when you take the normal ball and socket joint within the shoulder and you replace those with metal and plastic parts.
The recovery from a total shoulder is totally dependent on the patient and their willingness to listen to the postoperative instructions, participate actively in the physical therapy and their ability to ask relevant intelligent questions that can help us avoid any of the pit falls postoperatively.
It's on a daily basis that I'll meet a patient and the family member says, "You know, my shoulder's been killing me for six months. What should I do?" Those are the type of people we say, "Hey, ask the right questions. Come in and see us and we'll get a true evaluation and figure out what our options are in terms of treatment.
