Stephanie Kralevich from FOX 12 Oregon’s Good Day Living recently visited ROC’s Tualatin location to meet with Dr. David Huberty, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and shoulder specialist.
Stephanie and Dr. Huberty discuss how shoulder replacement surgery has evolved, the difference between traditional and reverse total shoulder replacement, and when a reverse shoulder replacement may be recommended. Dr. Huberty also explains how many shoulder conditions can be treated without surgery and what patients can expect when surgery is needed.
Video Transcript:
Stephanie Kralevich: ROC stands for Regenerative Orthopedic Center. Today we are at the Tualatin location to speak with Dr. David Huberty, a board certified orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Huberty, what is your specialty here at ROC?
Dr. David Huberty: I’m a shoulder specialist and deal with most upper extremity ailments.
Stephanie Kralevich: And shoulder replacement surgery has come a long way in the past couple decades.
Dr. David Huberty: When I was training 20 some years ago, we were using a traditional or an anatomic shoulder replacement for the vast majority of conditions requiring replacement. And right about that time, the FDA approved a procedure called reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.
Stephanie Kralevich: Can you show us how reverse shoulder replacement differs from the traditional method?
Dr. David Huberty: Yeah, reverse replacement really pertains to kind of the orientation of the ball socket joint. This model here demonstrates what would be an anatomic replacement or traditional, and you can see that there’s a metal head attached to the humerus bone, and then the socket is planed and then resurfaced with a plastic component. And so this is the anatomic or the normal body’s orientation. And in reverse shoulder replacement, we have the ball socket joint reversed, the ball being attached to the scapula or the socket side, and the cup being placed into the humerus. And that serves to link the ball socket joint, providing stability to the joint.
Stephanie Kralevich: Why would you do the reverse total shoulder replacement versus the traditional method?
Dr. David Huberty: Probably the most common indication would be a patient who has both arthritis and a rotator cuff tendon tears.
Stephanie Kralevich: But not every shoulder injury you see even needs surgery, right?
Dr. David Huberty: Most shoulder injuries and ailments can be treated with rest and therapeutic exercises, massage.
Stephanie Kralevich: What would you say to someone who knows they need shoulder surgery, but they’ve been putting it off?
Dr. David Huberty: We’ve come a long ways. Things have really improved over the past 20, 30 years in particular. There’s never a guarantee of an outcome, but for the most part, there’s a really high expectation for improvement in pain relief and function. A majority of my patients are reporting that the recovery was a lot easier than they expected, both in terms of relatively early pain relief and relatively early return to function.
Stephanie Kralevich: To learn more about orthopedic care and recovery at Regenerative Orthopedic Center, visit rocpdx.com.