Sports Injury & Performance Care – Orange County, California

Shoulder Surgery & ART®

Shoulder Surgery & ART®

Dr. Sebastian Gonzales D.C., C.S.C.S., ART, Orange California

“ I have been told I need shoulder surgery by my medical doctor. I have had pain in the front of my shoulder while swimming and throwing over the last few years, I really don’t want surgery so what are my other options?”

Symptoms that may require a shoulder or rotator cuff surgery
What does a shoulder surgery consist of? What is it like?
What if you feel you might not need a shoulder surgery

There are a few things to consider when we are talking about shoulder surgery and whether it is necessary or not. Now it doesn’t sound like this injury was from a traumatic event, but this does not mean you have not developed a tear in the labrum or rotator cuff muscles. Tears can occur from one single event or they can come from overuse of the shoulder. If there was a traumatic event, the ligaments of the shoulder complex could have sustained an injury. One example of this would be an acromioclavicular (AC) separation.

Symptoms that may require a shoulder or rotator cuff surgery

Here are a few of the conditions where shoulder surgery is traditionally considered an option:

• If the patient has a been diagnosed with Impingement Syndrome or a partial rotator cuff tear which does not respond to 3 months of non-surgical treatment.
• Full thickness tears of any of the muscles of the rotator cuff, which don’t respond to 3 months of non-surgical treatment.
• Multiple or chronic shoulder dislocations
• Arthritis of the shoulder with limited range of motion

As you may notice, a few of these conditions may require surgery only after months and months of ineffective non-surgical treatment. However, with a full thickness rotator cuff tear, surgery is usually recommended within 3 months of the tear for best results.

Even when a surgery is warranted and preformed, many times the condition does not improve. I have even heard of orthopedic surgeons who have had labral tears and have opted not to have the very surgery they perform on a daily basis. They would rather live their lives, with the pain how it is than have the surgery. If this doesn’t say something about the typical results expected from a shoulder surgery, I don’t know what does.

What does a shoulder surgery consist of? What is it like?

Generally people receive three different types of shoulder surgery. The first type is called an Impingement surgery. In this surgery, the bone on the tip of your shoulder, called the acromion is shaved off to create more space of tendons and a bursa that normally reside between this bone and the head of the humerus. This procedure is commonly done in conjunction with other shoulder surgeries. Recovery time and resolution of pain after this type of surgery is typically within two to four months, but it has been known to take up to a year.

The second type of shoulder surgery is called a rotator cuff repair. This surgery is where the surgeon attaches a tendon back onto the bone after it has been ripped off by a traumatic event. This is often a necessary surgery with a long healing time. Typically patients will achieve normal range of motion and a moderate amount of strength within 4-6 months.

The third type of shoulder surgery is called arthroscopic surgery. This is often recommended to repair smaller tears in the rotator cuff. The incisions are much smaller in this type of procedure and recovery time is much quicker.

What if you feel you might not need a shoulder surgery

You are probably right; although a small amount of people truly do need a shoulder surgery, many people do not. As stated before, surgery usually only becomes an option after months and months of unsuccessful, non-surgical treatment and rightly so, but what if you end up getting stuck with a type of non-surgical treatment that is not very effective? Why not find the most effective type treatment first? What is the best treatment option, giving you the best idea whether surgery should be considered in your injury? The answer to your problems might be found in the hands of an Active Release Techniques® provider.

Active Release Techniques® (ART®) is a very effective treatment in many cases of Impingement Syndrome, Rotator Cuff Syndrome, and muscle tears. ART® has been considered as an alternative to surgery in many injuries sustained by professional athletes in the NFL, NHL, NBA and even with Olympic medalists. ART® works by removing scar tissue from injured muscles, ligaments, and tendons and restoring normal motion in the joint. Many patients who receive Active Release Techniques® will experience a significant decrease in their pain in about 3-4 treatments of about 15 minutes. Many conditions can be completely resolved in about 6-8 treatments, with results varying from case to case.  In the patent document, it states an “expert medical practitioner” who diagnosed soft tissue adhesions (scar tissue) in 447 of his patients found 418 of them (93.5%) has significant improvement from symptoms of numbeness, tingling, burning, weakness or restricted motion within an average of 6.2 office visits when using Active Release Techniques® 1. Regardless, any non-surgical route is better than going under the knife, which will change your body forever.

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For more on Active Release Techniques® or to find a provider in your area: www.activerelease.com

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Orange County Pain Management has been serving Southern California for over 5 years.  Although many of our patients live right in the city of Orange, many of them will come from a great distance to receive our Active Release Techniques®, Chiropractic Care, and Injury Rehabilitation. Our customer service is second to none; our patients always come first.

Serving the cities of Orange, Irvine, Villa Park, Mission Viejo, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Placentia, Yorba Linda, Costa Mesa, Stanton, Westminster, Buena Park, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest, Seal Beach, Long Beach, Sunset Beach, Fullerton, Brea, Laguna Hills, Tustin, and Huntington Beach.

Check out our other articles and information on Active Release Techniques® to see if it can help you or any of your loved ones get out of pain.