Has anyone had a shoulder replacement?

[D0G]

I had a pretty bad accident in January, amongst many other injuries I had a proximal humeral head fracture with a four way split and spiral fracture going down my arm. The head was basically smashed to pieces and snapped clean off from the rest of my arm. It needed a lot of metal work, which when x rayed again some screws were scraping in my shoulder joint so were removed, this has happened another two times as the bone has died a bit and keep collapsing slightly meaning the pins are now long. Apparently it now looks like a deflated football :-(.

Next month they will remove all the metal work and hopefully if it doesn't all collapse it will bide time till the shoulder replacement. They don't want to do it too soon as I'm reasonably young and apparently they're shit at doing them and they don't last long. Which isn't especially reassuring. Has anyone had one? Did you get a better range of movement and less pain? Right now it hurts a lot and keeps getting stuck in one position and grinding in the joint. It feels awful I feel so old and tired and just well broken really. I keep having panic attacks and I'm really frightened about this op. Has anyone had similar injuries and a positive story?

Anyone around?

Sorry, no experience but my elderly mum broke her shoulder recently and has been told the only option is a shoulder replacement. She was told it would literally be as good as new, so presumably there would be better movement. It sounds really painful. I know a guy who does it in Liverpool - I don't suppose you're nearby, are you?

Not Liverpool no, I have faith in my consultant/surgeon he is fantastic, I think they're reluctant to replace as it only lasts about ten years and I guess each time the scar tissue etc makes it trickier to do.

Sorry about your mum that must be awful.

Hopeful bump

ImperialB, would you mind telling me the Liverpool surgeon's name ? I hope I won't need this information.. PM if you prefer. Thanks, and sorry OP, you must be desperate to feel better.

Last hopeful bump

Sorry about this D0G. I don't have any experience with shoulder replacement but happy to bump the thread for you.

If you ever need advice on tendinitis, bursitis, impingement, calcifications, cortisone/hyaluronic acid injections in joints, I'm your (wo)man.

DH has a bone condition and will require one in the next year. He had a scrape out and clean up of the joint earlier this year but it's only a temporary remedy. It has helped an awful lot though (but took about 8-10 weeks to recover even though it was keyhole surgery). He had a hip replacement at 35 but his orthopaedic guys say shoulders are more tricky and they are much less keen to do them to people of his age (40) as they are much harder to replace when they wear out. It also seems to be quite a long recovery process when compared to other joints... 6 months to a year before fully healed. I know one older person who's had one and it was very successful, they have full mobility restored and even play tennis when before they couldn't brush their hair. It sounds like it would improve your situation, but the surgeon must be keen to try and keep you going as long as you can on your original one, same as my DH, as the replacement will not last the rest of your life. there are better joints coming on to the market all the time. I'm sure the operation will be fine once you have it, please try not to worry about the surgery, you'll be in excellent hands I'm sure

smaths - How does your DH feel about his hip replacement? Does he have full mobility? Can he run, do sports etc?

Sorry about the thread hijack, D0G. Bumpity bump anyway

It maybe worth researching the type of implant you have they are not all the same. For example the average life of a hip replacement is 10 years, however, one brand (Stryker) has been manufactured for 35 years and no one has required a second hip of this type.

My sis had one last January and is still experiencing pain. It is much better than it was but it is proving to be a long road.

Crikey was your sister in pain before the operation? Mine is painful about 95% of the time so I'm not really expecting much of an improvement. Maybe when the metal is gone it may feel better...

They say the same about mine, I was 29 when I had my accident consultant said had I been ten years older they wouldn't even have tried to salvage the bone.

GMIL had her shoulder replaced (and both knees, both hips) and it made a huge difference - she went from constant pain and unable to dress to no pain (obv after a recovery period) and pretty normal movement.

IMO, it would be worth asking about whether a referral to one of the national centres of excellence would be appropriate. The difference I found between the orthopod who initially managed my catastrophic arm injury, and the surgeon I then saw who only did wrist and hand was massive.

Thank you, that's good to know. I do have total faith in the guy seeing me, henis very good and specialises in shoulders. I was sent out of county and a good 3 hour drive there. Well actually I was taken there after my accident as they are the major trauma centre, my local hospital after an X-ray decided to remove a screw and didn't replace it with a smaller screw and since then my consultant won't even let them X-ray me.