Blog
Practical advice, injury prevention, and surgical care for shoulders, elbows, and hands.
Bankart vs Latarjet: How the Choice Is Made
The choice between Bankart vs Latarjet is not made on preference. It is made on measurements. How much bone has been lost from the socket, whether the dent in the ball can catch on the rim, how old you are, what sport you play, and whether a repair has already failed. Surgeons use defined thresholds…
Shoulder Stabilisation Surgery: Labral Repair and Latarjet Explained
Shoulder stabilisation surgery comes down to two main operations. A labral repair, usually called a Bankart repair, reattaches the torn cartilage rim and ligaments back onto the socket through keyhole surgery. A Latarjet takes a small piece of bone with its tendon still attached and transfers it onto the front of the socket. Which one…
Dislocated Your Shoulder? Why the First One Matters Most
A first shoulder dislocation is the most important one you will ever have, because it decides almost everything that follows. If you are in your teens, the chance of it happening again has been reported at close to 90%. If you are over 40, it is far lower, but you have a different problem to…
Frozen Shoulder or Rotator Cuff Tear: Telling Them Apart
Frozen shoulder or rotator cuff tear is one of the most common diagnostic questions in shoulder medicine, and there is a single test that separates them better than any other: what happens when somebody else moves your arm. If the shoulder still will not move when it is being moved for you, that points to…
Does Frozen Shoulder Ever Need Surgery?
Frozen shoulder surgery is needed by only a small minority of people. The condition usually resolves on its own, given enough time, and the great majority get there with patience, pain relief and stage-appropriate physiotherapy. Surgery becomes a reasonable conversation when someone remains genuinely stuck and disabled after several months of good conservative treatment, and…
Frozen Shoulder: The Three Stages and How Long Each Lasts
Frozen shoulder stages run in a familiar order: freezing, which is dominated by pain and lasts 6 weeks to 9 months; frozen, dominated by stiffness, lasting 4 to 6 months; and thawing, when movement gradually returns over 6 months to 2 years. Added together, the honest answer to how long it takes is often somewhere…
Calcific Tendonitis: Why the Pain Is So Severe and What to Do
Calcific tendonitis is one of the most painful things that can happen to a shoulder, and one of the strangest, because the very worst of the pain is the sign that your body is curing the problem. It happens when a deposit of calcium forms in a rotator cuff tendon and then, at a certain…
Hydrodilatation vs Manipulation vs Arthroscopic Release
If a frozen shoulder is not shifting, there are three procedures commonly offered. Hydrodilatation for frozen shoulder involves injecting fluid into the joint to stretch the tight capsule from the inside, without an anaesthetic or an operation. Manipulation under anaesthetic stretches and tears the capsule while you are asleep. Arthroscopic capsular release cuts it precisely…
Subacromial Decompression: Why This Surgery Is Done Less Often Now
Subacromial decompression was, until recently, one of the most commonly performed shoulder operations in the world. It involves shaving away a small amount of bone to create more room for the rotator cuff tendons, and for decades it was a standard answer to a painful shoulder. Then several rigorous trials compared it with placebo surgery…
Massive and Irreparable Rotator Cuff Tears: What Are the Options?
Being told you have an irreparable rotator cuff tear sounds like the end of the conversation, and it is not. Irreparable means the torn tendon cannot simply be stitched back to the bone, usually because it has pulled too far back or the muscle has changed too much. It does not mean nothing can be…