Blog
Practical advice, injury prevention, and surgical care for shoulders, elbows, and hands.
Tennis Elbow That Won’t Settle: When Surgery Is Considered
Tennis elbow surgery is something only a small minority of people ever need, because the condition overwhelmingly settles on its own given enough time. Around 8 or 9 in 10 people are better within a year to eighteen months whether or not they have any specific treatment. For the stubborn minority whose pain drags on…
Golfer’s Elbow vs Tennis Elbow: Telling Them Apart
The difference between golfer’s elbow vs tennis elbow comes down, first and simplest, to which side of the elbow hurts. Golfer’s elbow is felt on the inner bony point, the side nearest your body when your arm hangs with the palm forward. Tennis elbow is felt on the outer point. They are the same kind…
Tennis Elbow: Why It Is Not About Tennis
Tennis elbow has one of the most misleading names in medicine, because it is rarely about tennis and it is not really inflammation either. Most people who develop it have never picked up a racquet. It is a wear problem in a forearm tendon, brought on far more often by work and daily use than…
What the National Joint Replacement Registry Says About Shoulders
The National Joint Replacement Registry is one of the quiet reasons shoulder replacement in Australia is as safe as it is. Since 2003 it has recorded almost every joint replacement performed in the country, close to 99 in every 100, along with the exact implant used and whether it later needed revision. That makes it…
Life After a Shoulder Replacement: What You Can and Can’t Do
Life after a shoulder replacement is, for most people, a great deal better than life before it: far less pain and a shoulder they can use for the things that matter. There are some permanent rules, though, and they are worth knowing. The short version is that a replaced shoulder is built for a comfortable,…
Reverse Shoulder Replacement for Rotator Cuff Arthropathy
Rotator cuff arthropathy is a particular kind of shoulder arthritis that develops when a large rotator cuff tear is left for years. Without the cuff to hold the joint together, the ball drifts upward, rubs where it should not, and the joint slowly wears into an arthritic, painful, weak shoulder that a standard replacement cannot…
How Long Does a Shoulder Replacement Last?
A modern shoulder replacement lasts, in the great majority of people, at least 10 years, with around 9 in 10 still working well at that point, and most continuing to 15 or 20 years. It is not permanent, because it is a mechanical bearing that slowly wears, but for many older patients it comfortably outlives…
Anatomic vs Reverse Shoulder Replacement: Which One and Why
The choice between anatomic vs reverse shoulder replacement comes down to one thing above all others: whether your rotator cuff still works. An anatomic replacement rebuilds the shoulder in its natural layout and needs a healthy cuff to run it. A reverse replacement deliberately swaps the ball and socket around so that a large muscle…
Shoulder Replacement Surgery: Who It Helps and Who It Doesn’t
Shoulder replacement surgery is one of the most reliable operations in orthopaedics for one specific thing: relieving the pain of a worn-out shoulder. Around nine in ten people are satisfied with the result. What it does less predictably is restore movement, and it is not a route back to a high-performance shoulder. Understanding that distinction,…
SLAP Tears: Why Fewer Are Repaired Than a Decade Ago
A SLAP tear is an injury to the top of the shoulder socket rim, where the biceps tendon anchors into it. Repairing these tears was once routine, and it is now done considerably less often. The reason is not that the repair does not work at all, but that a simpler alternative, cutting the biceps…