If non-surgical treatment hasn’t relieved your pain, surgery may be the best option to get you back to the active lifestyle you’ve had to put on hold. Surgery is typically recommended for total rotator cuff tears, severe fractures and advanced joint damage caused by arthritis. If your doctor recommends a total joint replacement, St. Elizabeth Healthcare offers advanced techniques in shoulder replacement surgery that help you heal faster and have better movement.

The traditional approach to shoulder replacement requires an incision in front of the shoulder. To reach and replace the shoulder joint, the surgeon must cut the muscles or tendons in the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff sparing method allows the surgeon to access your shoulder joint through an incision at the back of your shoulder, which eliminates the need to cut any of the muscles or tendons of the rotator cuff. Because there’s no tendon repair along with the joint replacement, you heal faster with fewer restrictions and less pain.