Shoulder Replacement

When he began to have serious shoulder pain, James Biond feared his decades-long enjoyment of racquetball might come to an end. But his Mayo Clinic surgeon put those fears to rest. Now after shoulder replacement, James has returned to his favorite sport pain-free.

From golf to gardening, the shoulder plays a vital role in so much that we do.  In this Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute, 

In this Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute, Dr. John Sperling tells us more about shoulder replacement surgery. To listen, click [...]

Shoulder pain due to rheumatoid arthritis can be debilitating.  In this Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute, we hear from Dr. John [...]

Once viewed with skepticism, complementary and integrative medicine is now playing an increasingly important role in modern health care. On [...]

Shoulder pain due to rheumatoid arthritis can be debilitating.  In this Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute, we hear from Dr. John [...]

Mark Pearce jokes that, "If something's going to happen, it's going to happen to me." That sentiment isn't hard to understand in someone who has had eight joint replacements (knees, hips and shoulders – some more than once), has been cardioverted 18 times to restore normal heart rhythm, and had surgery for a brain tumor. Among other things. What may be harder to understand is how he's kept an amazingly positive attitude through it all. For Mark, it starts with gratitude. "I feel like being treated like royalty here," he says of his experience at Mayo Clinic. "It's amazing. And if there's any way that I could say thank you to the physicians here and to the complete staff … I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for you." Mark came to Mayo Clinic in the 1980s for a procedure physicians in his home state of Michigan were hesitant to perform because of his prior neck fractures. At Mayo Clinic, he found physicians who were able to perform the procedure and manage things when his care got complicated. Since then, he's had his left knee replaced twice, and the right, once; three hip replacements; and two shoulder replacements. Brain surgery. Cardioversion and heart procedures. And a gastric bypass procedure to combat the weight gain cause by his pituitary tumor.

ROCHESTER, Minn. ― Here are highlights from the January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. You may cite this publication as often as you wish. Reprinting is allowed for a fee. Mayo Clinic Health Letter attribution is required. Include the following subscription information as your editorial policies permit: Visit http://healthletter.mayoclinic.com/ or call toll-free for subscription information, 1-800-333-9037, extension 9771. Full newsletter text: Mayo Clinic Health Letter January 2015 (for journalists only). Wrist fractures: Treatment decisions not always straightforward Treatment decisions for wrist fractures quickly can become complicated, according to the January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. The wrist is made up of eight small bones at the base of the hand and two in the forearm ― the radius and ulna ― that connect the elbow to the wrist bones. Any one of these bones can be fractured; a wrist fracture is a widely variable injury. One of the primary decisions is the choice between nonsurgical and surgical treatment. Sometimes the choice is clear, and sometimes it’s not. Factors to consider include overall health, lifestyle, ability to tolerate surgery and the desire for a fully functioning wrist.