Shoulder Joint Replacement - Risks

After the installation of an artificial shoulder joint, provided your operation was conducted professionally and your healing process went well, you can expect your pain to stop or to at least go down substantially. This condition should normally set in shortly after the procedure when the wounds have healed. The range of movement of the shoulder joint usually increases; the extent of this range depends on, among other things, how intensively you have performed your physical therapy exercises. The final results can first be recognised after 3-6 months.

The new shoulder joint is typically stable for 10 years. Further operations can address the renewal of old parts of the joint. However, such an operation proves to be somewhat more difficult than the first one - from the perspective of the patient as well as from the perspective of the operating surgeon.^1,7

Sources:
^1,14 University of Innsbruck Clinic for Trauma Surgery and Sport Traumatology
^2,9 University of Regensburg Clinical Centre
^{3,5,6,8,10,13,17} University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Medical Center
^4,11 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
^7,12,15,16 Arthritis Research Campaign, United Kingdom