Osteoarthritis Of The Shoulder

The Osteoarthritis of the shoulder is not as common as the Osteoarthritis of the knee, it has been
increasing in incidents in past few years. More importantly, it is not diagnosed properly and hence
patients continued to suffer.

Osteoarthritis of any joint is defined as wear and tear of the joint surfaces. The end of the bones which
forms the joint are covered with a cartilage called hyaline cartilage. This cartilage makes ends of bones
smooth so that the moments of the joint are relatively smooth and frictionless. This cartilage undergoes
wear and tear-wet time and is a cause of irregular or not so smooth moments of the joint.

The various causes which can cause the wear and tear of cartilage are

1. Age-related

2. Any injury to the joint

3. Certain inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis

All of this conditions cause the cartilage to undergo degeneration and wear and tear. As a result, the
patient feels the increase in pain, swelling in the joint and difficulty to move the joint, also the moments
of joint may be associated with sounds like crepitus.

The diagnosis of Osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint is usually made on x-rays and clinical examination of
joint. once it has been established that the joint is arthritic than the management usually goes through
conservative management in terms of painkillers, exercise, physiotherapy etc or can be done with the
help of an intra articular injection. but all these things are not making any difference or in advance
stage, most patients will need a shoulder replacement.

Shoulder replacement is an increasingly done procedure all over the world these days and the results
have improved in past few years. In this procedure the worn out ends of the bone which makes shoulder
joint is replaced with an implant made of high-grade metal .overall the result of joint replacement these
days are in excess of 90%. Shoulder joint replacement is primarily of 3 types

1. Resurfacing of the head of the humerus

2. Total shoulder replacement in which both the surfaces that are the ball of the head of the humerus
and Socket of the glenoid are replaced by the implant

3. Reverse shoulder replacement in which the polarity of the shoulder joint is reversed
By

Dr.Manish Bansal