Shoulder surgery

At Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic, you get excellent care and treatment options for shoulder pain. When cold and heat therapy, rest, medications or physical therapy don’t relieve your symptoms, shoulder surgery may help. Our orthopedic specialists offer a range of surgical options to decrease pain and improve your quality of life.

What is shoulder surgery?

Shoulder surgery is a treatment for shoulder injuries and conditions. In these procedures, a surgeon operates on your shoulder joint. The shoulder joint contains the round end of your arm bone (ball), which fits into the opening at the end of your shoulder blade (socket).

Usually, orthopedic specialists recommend noninvasive treatments such as rest, physical therapy and medications before surgery. Surgery may be the right choice for you if these options don’t bring relief.

Types of shoulder surgery

There are several types of shoulder surgery. Two of the most common procedures include:

• Arthroscopy: Most shoulder surgeries are arthroscopic. The surgeon makes a few small incisions over your shoulder. Then they insert a surgical tool with a camera (arthroscope) through these incisions to see and operate on the joint. Some common arthroscopic procedures include rotator cuff surgery, frozen shoulder surgery and tendon repair.
• Shoulder replacement: A surgeon removes the bones of your shoulder joint and replaces them with artificial parts. Shoulder replacement may treat severe shoulder pain and immobility.

Conditions treated with shoulder surgery

Shoulder surgery may treat a variety of conditions, including:

• Arthritis
• Dislocations
• Instability
• Labral tears, which are tears in the ring of cartilage surrounding the shoulder joint
• Rotator cuff tears
• Tendinopathy, also known as pitcher’s shoulder

Shoulder surgery side effects

Shoulder surgeries are generally safe procedures. Like all surgeries, they carry some risks of side effects, such as:

• Bruising
• Numbness
• Pain
• Stiffness
• Swelling

In more severe cases, some people may have lingering weakness, pain or nerve damage after surgery. These side effects are rare.

Excellence in shoulder surgery

Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic surgeons were among the first in northwest Georgia to perform reverse total shoulder replacement. This innovative procedure can treat some complex shoulder conditions that can’t be treated with traditional techniques.

In 2019, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brad Bushnell was recognized for his work with a medical research study for a bioinductive implant. This implant is a patch about the size of a postage stamp that’s used during minimally invasive rotator cuff surgeries. Dr. Bushnell has completed more than 150 surgeries using this implant, which integrates into the injured tendon and accelerates healing.