Arthritis of the shoulder
- degeneration of the shoulder joint -
View through the skin from the front and bottom onto a destructed shoulder joint due to arthritis
What is it ?
An arthritis of the shoulder is a bony destruction of the shoulder. There´s no more cartilage on the humeral head and / or glenoid. You can see a video here ( Low Speed , High Speed ).
Symptoms ?
There are two symptoms: 1. pain in the affected shoulder or upper humerus, 2. movement of the shoulder joint becomes less and less and a partial or complette stiffness develops. Pain is present while moving the arm and shoulder and night pain is very disturbing.
Development ?
A posttraumatic arthritis is a possible cause. Due to a fracture the shoulder joint might be destructed. A rheumatoid arthritis leads to a destruction of the shoulder, in the end stage. Quite often it´s "primary" arthritis, which means, that the cause is not known. Probably due to genetic prerequisities a shoulder joint destruction appears. Within this scope a familiary disposition can be observed in a few patients. A necrosis of the humeral head might also end in a shoulder joint arthritis.
Therapy ?
In the beginning therapy of an arthritis od the shoulder joint is nonoperative, which means that local injections into the shoulder joint as well as physical and physiotherapy are applied. In contrast to the hip and knee there is no weight bearing at the shoulder and in further stages the results of an arthroscopic debridement and lavage are very good.
If shoulder joint degeneration succeeds arthroplasty / shoulder prosthesis are implanted. This could be a cup prosthesis ( ? surface replacement ), a hemi or total shoulder.
For further information in english, just click here.
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Other themes & sites arround the shoulder:
Diseases of the shoulder ( german ): http://www.schulterinfo.de , http://www.schulter.info
Diseases of the shoulder ( english ): http://www.shoulderinformation.com
Shoulder arthroplasty: http://www.schulterprothesen.net , http://www.schulterprothesen.com , http://www.shoulderprosthesis.com , http://www.prothesenatlas.de
Frozen shoulder ( german ): http://www.schultersteife.de
Shoulder specialists ( german ): http://www.schulterspezialisten.de
Shoulder examination ( german ): http://www.schulteruntersuchung.de
Shoulder videos ( german ): http://www.schultervideo.de