Shoulder joint accounts for a large proportion of joint problems, since it is the most mobile joint in the body with a complex anatomy. In places like Nagpur, Amravati, Chhindwara, Seoni, Jabalpur etc thousands of people every year go to a doctor’s clinic like London Orthopaedic Clinic, Dhantoli, Nagpur for a shoulder sprain, strain, dislocation or other shoulder problem.
The shoulder joint is prone to injury since it is very mobile. Frequent overhead movements and injury or trauma can damage the tissues inside the shoulder. This can cause pain, tenderness, weakness, instability, and limitation of movement in the shoulder joint. The pain can radiate down into the arm of up in the neck area. Although symptoms, physical examination, and different types of X-rays, Ultrasound and MRI scans and related studies can tell us a great deal about the nature of the problem, we often need to use shoulder arthroscopy to determine more precisely what is wrong and at the same time treatment can also be done arthroscopically. Arthroscopy is keyhole surgery of the shoulder joint.
The types of disorders that can be diagnosed with arthroscopy include inflammation, impingement, tears, swelling, abnormal formations, detachments, loose fragments (loose bodies), and arthritis. However, arthroscopy cannot diagnose all conditions, therefore, after a proper examination, we will be able to determine if arthroscopy is right for you. Sometimes nerve conduction studies or Electro-diagnostics are required.
THE OPERATION
Dr Vishal Sahni, Shoulder surgeon, performing Shoulder Arthroscopy for Rotator Cuff Repair.
Dr Vishal Sahni, Shoulder surgeon, performing Shoulder Arthroscopy for Frozen Shoulder.
Arthroscopy is commonly known as ‘key hole surgery’. usually two or three 5mm puncture wounds are only required, avoiding large wounds and scars.
Dr Vishal Sahni, one of the best shoulder surgeons in Central India, does most of the operations arthroscopically, rather than open surgery that involves a big incision.
Arthroscopic surgery has the following advantages over open surgery, since smaller incisions are made and there is less dissection to surrounding structures
- Recovery is quicker after arthroscopic surgery
- Post-operative pain is less.
- Blood loss is minimal so no blood transfusion required
- The operations can be done as a Day case
- There are less complications of surgery
The shoulder joint is examined using a tiny telescope with television camera introduced through a small ‘key hole’. This telescope and camera is known as the Arthroscope. It allows the surgeon to see the area where he or she is working on a TV screen. Through other small incisions, the surgeon can insert special instruments, which are thin and long. If a repair is required tiny anchors are used which are fixed in the bone and have strong sutures attached to their other ends which are passed through the torn tissues and thereby the tissues are repaired. After the surgery the patient may be required to wear a shoulder sling and usually physiotherapy is required after the operation. In a few weeks the patient can expect to be back to normal.