Shoulder arthroscopy

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Shoulder arthroscopy

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On the day of your surgery:

• You will usually be asked not to drink or eat anything for 6 to 12 hours before the procedure.
• Take your drugs your doctor told you to take with a small sip of water.
• Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to arrive at the hospital.

Recovery can take anywhere from 1 to 6 months. You will probably have to wear a sling for the first week. If you had a lot of repair done, you may have to wear the sling longer.

You may take medicine to control your pain.

When you can return to work or play sports will depend on what your surgery involved. It can range from 1 week to several months.

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For many procedures, especially if a repair is performed, physical therapy may help you regain motion and strength in your shoulder. The length of therapy will depend on the repair that was done.

Arthroscopy is an alternative to "open" surgery that completely exposes the shoulder joint. Arthroscopy results in less pain and stiffness, fewer complications, shorter (if any) hospital stays, and faster recovery sometimes.

If you had repair done, your body still needs time to heal after arthroscopic surgery, just as you would need time to recover from open surgery. Because of this, your recovery time may still be long.

Surgery to fix a cartilage tear is usually done to make the shoulder more stable. Many people recover fully, and their shoulder stays stable. But some people may still have shoulder instability after arthroscopic repair.

Using arthroscopy for rotator cuff repairs or tendonitis usually relieves the pain, but you may not regain all of your strength.

Review Date: 02/09/2009
Reviewed By: C. Benjamin Ma, MD, Assistant Professor, Chief, Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service, UCSF Dept of Orthopaedic Surgery. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).