Emporian John Buckridge got a new lease on life and relief from his shoulder pain following a surgery called “reverse shoulder.”
The surgery, which is done by Dr. Michael Yost of Newman Orthopedic and Sports Medicine, is performed when the rotator cuff, a group of tendons that attaches shoulder muscles to the upper arm, is torn and irreparable or when the joint is riddled with arthritis. The surgery reverses the mechanics of the shoulder.
In a normal shoulder, there’s a ball on the end of the humerus, the upper arm bone. It fits into a socket on the scapula or shoulder blade.
During reverse shoulder surgery, an artificial ball is attached to the shoulder blade that fits into a socket implanted in the top of the humerus.
Before having reverse shoulder surgery on Oct. 11, Buckridge was in so much pain he couldn’t go to work. His job entails lifting and delivering countertops. Buckridge had been out of work since August. He returned to work in January on light duty after recovering from surgery.
Buckridge was a good candidate for reverse shoulder surgery because his rotator cuff was so torn it wasn’t repairable, he said.
As of January, Yost said he’s done three of the surgeries in Emporia so far. He did 15 in Pratt. He said the surgery mainly is for older people and is done only if shoulder repair surgery won’t work. He said the surgery helps restore range of motion in patients.
Although patients often won’t go back to a full range of motion, they should be able to get the arm most of the way up to the front and part of the way up from the side.
Recovery time for the surgery entails about four weeks of immobility of the arm.
After that, another several weeks of physical therapy are needed. Yost said most patients have deficient deltoid muscles — the large triangular muscle that forms the rounded contour of the shoulder — because they haven’t used them in so long.
“They need to build that back up,” he said.
Patients who have light-duty jobs can go back to work as soon as they are off the pain medication, Yost said. For Buckridge, the go-ahead to return to work came much later because of the nature of his work. Buckridge said he can do just about anything as long as he doesn’t overdo it.
“(They) told me not to lift over 20 pounds,” Buckridge said.
Buckridge’s recovery included therapy, which in January he was doing two times a week.
“It’s been pretty easy,” he said.
After six weeks of physical therapy, Buckridge said it was getting easier every time he went in. Part of his therapy includes exercises every day. He has used bands, lifted weights, done push ups on the wall and climbed up the wall with his hands.
Buckridge said he really didn’t have much pain after leaving the hospital.
“It really hasn’t been too bad of a deal,” he said.