Osteoarthritis in shoulder

Hi Denise,

I'm so sorry you have hurt your shoulder. I personally have not had a dislocation, but I could write a thesis on osteoarthritis of the glenoid humeral joint. I sustained a serious injury to my right shoulder in 2013 and had a subsequent arthroscopy surgery to repair what the surgeon described as a low grade labral tear. Unfortunately, I learned last year that this type of surgery is only done for dislocations which I never had and I should not have had the surgery. The surgeon did so much damage during the scope that now have no more cartilage left in that joint and previous to the surgery I had never had any shoulder problems or pain. I still do not know what my diagnosis was except that a second opinion I received from another ortho surgeon explained that I had severe arthritis in the joint. So, the injury could have certainly exacerbated the stability of my joint to the point where more cartilage was lost, and interestingly in many cases of arthritis there are patients who never experience pain and don't know they have it. This may explain why I never had any shoulder pain or loss of function prior to the injury if I had beginning stages of arthritis. I hope you don't have "arthur" as we jokingly refer to it, as that would complicate matters for your treatment.

My diagnosis, at this point based on a recent MRI, is severe degenerative arthritis and the only treatment offered is a total shoulder replacement. I am still researching to find out who the most experienced surgeons are, what countries could I travel to to find a surgeon who could perform a cartilage implant, and lastly is it possible to live with such high pain levels for the rest of my life.

So, with your dislocation I hope you have consulted with a competent ortho doc for your diagnosis and if so, based on the findings was he/she should be able to determine a treatment plan? If a doc has determined the dislocation is partial, then the labrum may have a low grade tear and could be repaired by arthroscopy. Also, have your rotator cuff been confirmed to still be intact?

A friend of mine had a completely dislocated shoulder while playing football in college and ended up having a total shoulder replacement. He had no arthritis or bone spurs, but the labrum was torn at a high grade and apparently could not be repaired.  

In any case, I hope you have found a surgeon who ONLY treats shoulders and not the whole spectrum of orthopedic injuries. I have found these types of orthos (who treat knees, hips, etc.) are just not as experienced  - that was the kind that ruined my right shoulder. He was not a true shoulder specialist, and that's what I believe you might want to seek out based on my experience. On top of that, I would make sure they have had many shoulder cases per week, i.e. more than 100 per year. The shoulder joint is the most complicated joint in our bodies, and it takes an experienced doctor to make good decisions for the patient and a higher level of expertise if surgery is required. 

Best of luck and keep us posted,

Holly