Joint
Replacement

Your shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint, and it has the greatest range of motion of all the joints in your body. Injury, arthritis, and overuse can cause the cartilage in the shoulder joint to degenerate, leading to pain, weakness, and decreased range of motion.

Total shoulder replacement is recommended for people with bone-on-bone osteoarthritis and intact rotator cuff tendons. The damaged head of the humerus (upper arm bone) is replaced with a metal ball and the shoulder socket is replaced with plastic.

A reverse shoulder replacement is recommended for people with a completely torn rotator cuff that cannot be repaired, severe arthritis with rotator cuff damage, or prior failed shoulder surgery. Traditional total shoulder replacement surgery would still leave these individuals unable to lift their arm. With a reverse shoulder replacement, the position of the ball and socket in the joint are switched. Such placement allows the deltoid muscle to raise the arm instead of the damaged rotator cuff muscles.

In shoulder resurfacing, the cartilage is removed from the damaged head of the humerus and replaced with a metal covering, or "cap-like" prosthesis. Only the diseased part of the joint is replaced rather than the entire joint.

Your hip is also a ball-and-socket joint, which allows bending and straightening of your body and movement of your lower limbs. The hip is one of the most commonly replaced joints, and osteoarthritis is the main reason for hip replacement surgery. Yet there are other conditions, such as a traumatic fall, that may require the need for a hip replacement.

During a total hip replacement, both the ball (top part of the femur, or leg bone) and hip socket are replaced. This procedure is recommended for severe arthritis in which the bones of the hip joint painfully rub against each other.

With minimally-invasive hip replacement, a smaller incision is typically used, therefore providing patients with less discomfort, and shorter recovery times. This approach is best performed in healthy, younger patients of smaller body sizes.

In hip resurfacing, which is most commonly performed to treat a fractured hip, only the damaged ball portion of the hip joint is replaced. The socket is left intact.

The knee is the largest hinge-type joint in the body. Knee problems are common and can occur from injury, wear and tear, or disease, such as arthritis. For many, knee replacement is the only way to relieve pain, restore function, and improve quality of life.

Total knee replacement may be recommended for cases of severe arthritis in which all of the knee cartilage has completely worn away.

Our doctors may perform a partial knee replacement using the ConforMIS unicompartmental knee implant for patients who have arthritis on only one surface of the knee. In this procedure, only the damaged surface of the knee joint is replaced, rather than the entire joint, which minimizes trauma to healthy bone and tissue.