What is a reverse shoulder surgery

Reverse Shoulder Surgery

One of the most common causes of shoulder injuries is damage to the rotator cuff, a group of tendons located just under the shoulder blade. In severe cases, standard surgery can fix the damage. In older people, extensive wear and tear can sometimes leave the rotator cuff too damaged to repair. Now a new surgery can get older patients back in the swing of things.

A nice walk on a brisk day is nothing for Fritzie Richardson -- even though she's almost 90! "I've exercised pretty much all my life," she says. "I've swam. I've ridden bicycles. I've walked. Everything."

Richardson's been swimming for 82 years, but for the past two, a bad shoulder has kept her in the shallow end, making her very depressed. "When I couldn't do my back stroke that really bothered me." She had a severely damaged rotator cuff caused by years of wear and tear and arthritis.

Orthopedic surgeon Anand Murthi, M.D., says standard surgery was not an option. "When you don't have a rotator cuff, then you have nothing to compress the ball against the socket," he says.

So Dr. Murthi, of University of Maryland in Baltimore, tried something new -- a reverse shoulder replacement based on using your deltoid muscle, or the outer muscle on your shoulder. It replaces the rotator cuff tendons and is the reverse of a standard replacement.

"The part that goes down your arm bone ... is the part that actually gets screwed into your socket," Dr. Murthi says. The deltoid muscle raises the bone up and makes the shoulder functional again. "It's actually miraculous the kind of results that these patients will get."