My Shoulder: Questions to Ask a Doctor

  • What does joint preservation mean in your practice?
  • If a reconstruction doctor specializes in joint replacement, that’s working on the bone, and a sports doctor works on the cartilage, ligament, and tendons, how do either of you save my joint if a good joint needs healthy bone and healthy cartilage, ligaments, and tendons?
  • Aren’t joint injections that use steroids, PRP, stem cells, and viscosupplements just like using a mouthwash without first brushing the teeth? Meaning my joint was not cleaned out before you injected something into it.
  • Does it make sense to clean my joint thoroughly and then inject something into it to eliminate the pain and help the cartilage and tendons heal?
  • If I undergo arthroscopy for a labral tear and rotator cuff tear, how is the humeral head made to fit better against the shoulder blade?
  • Have you ever performed an IA saucerization of the shoulder? This is extensive cleaning of the joint, removing bone spurs, fixing the labrum, the rotator cuff, and biceps tendon, and then injecting bone and bone marrow into the humeral head.
  • I am not an athlete. Does it make sense to assume that the quality of my bone is ok and does not need any nutrition if I have a rotator cuff tear? If you use anchors to repair my rotator cuff, won’t they just come out of the bone if my bone is not healthy enough to hold the anchor in place?
  • If my diagnosis is osteoarthritis and I have a rotator cuff tear or labral tear, and I am qualified for shoulder arthroscopy, aren’t there more problems in my shoulder than the obvious? Will you address any bone spurs in my shoulder and the quality of my bone?
  • What is the quality of my bone in the humeral head? Will my bone hold any anchor used to repair my rotator cuff? Is blood flowing completely through the humeral head as it normally should, or is there localized congestion, perhaps making the inside of it soft in certain areas? Is the excessive fat inside of my humeral head potentially making the bone soft? Is my humeral head congested? How do you address this concern? If you put anchors in my bone, how do you expect them to stay in place if my bone is not healthy and the inside of it is soft?
  • If you are performing many joint replacements per year, how often are you trying to preserve the joint with shoulder arthroscopy procedures?
  • What type of incision is better suited for a telemedicine visit after surgery?
  • Is it safer for me to perform home exercises after an IA Saucerization of the shoulder than it is to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist?
  • Besides exercising, what other things can I do to assist you in helping me keep the shoulder joint I was born with?

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