shoulder pain can severely limit your daily routine and quality of life for
some a shoulder replacement is the only way to find relief so today we're
starting a six part series on how a person with a debilitating shoulder
problem can get back to doing what they love I am with world-renowned shoulder
surgeon dr. Anthony Romeo now dr. Romeo a shoulder replacement
seems a bit daunting but actually it's a very common procedure it's become a much
more common procedure the modern-day shoulder replacement started about 50
years ago and about 20 years ago there was some significant advances in the way
the implants were designed to really match the patient's normal anatomy or
the shape of their bone and what we saw was not only the pain relief that we had
become used to but significant improvements in their range of motion
and their function and their ability to return back to both work activities and
sports activities we also noticed that this operation wasn't putting a
tremendous stress on them overall in terms of their physiology or the way
their bodies handled it so we were able to move many of these procedures into
the outpatient setting so shoulder replacements now can be done frequently
in an outpatient ambulatory surgery center which is really quite an
advantage for many patients it's really great and it can really change someone's
life so let's start our shoulder replacement
journey and learn about our patient who we will be following over the next six
weeks to see how he gets back to doing what he loves
hi my name is Paul VAR waltz I'm 49 years old I am an internal bank auditor
and I'm also a heavy practitioner in martial arts my shoulder would kind of
bother me on and off nothing that was excruciating but enough tour was not
what I call the normal and I didn't think about anything of it you know I
would dig my thumb in the shoulder try to loosen up the socket a few years
later I started to notice range of motion started to go down so it became
more difficult putting a shirt on putting a coat on bringing my hands up
to my head it felt literally like it's being grabbed so it's like a poking
stabbing pain and not being able to show others to really give the best that I
have to them really hinders my ability to really be good at what I was doing
which is trying to help others to martial arts and helping them improving
themselves with other options offering little relief
Paul approached Romeo orthopedics to help remedy is pain and recover his
range of motion I'd already heard a lot of good things about what he's done
definitely this is the doctor that seems to be right and play with what I would
look for and it was pretty much an easy decision at that point Paul hope that
the team at Romeo orthopaedics would create a major positive change in this
lifestyle the most important thing is that if you listen to your patients
they'll tell you exactly what the problem is but you got to listen and so
Paul explained to me if shoulders were giving him some problems he was having
trouble at times with sleep at night it interfere with some of his activities it
doesn't really want to move very well let's go to the other direction it was
very clear especially at his relatively young age of 49
the problem was either a rotator cuff problem which is actually more common at
that age or arthritis of his shoulders x-rays confirmed that Paul was suffering
from osteoarthritis and had developed large bone spurs as a result the good
news was that this initial visit to dr. Romeo was the start of Paul's journey to
get pain relief and get back to the things he loved to do once we start to
discuss the various options with Paul is very important that we develop a trust
that to be on the same team he knew exactly
what the issue was the manner which he communicated was straightforward gave me
a lot of confidence in what he's doing and it was pretty much an easy decision
to say this is the doctor that I wanted working on my shoulder on the next
installment of advancements in health care will learn what action our team
will take to remedy Paul's shoulder and get him back to the things he loves if
you're having shoulder or elbow pain or questions about treatment options visit
Romeo orthopedics comm to find out the best treatment options for you