Arthroscopic Surgery :: Free Essays

Arthroscopic shoulder surgery helps many athlete’s speed up the healing process of many shoulder injuries. If an athlete requires some type of shoulder surgery many of them prefer to have the surgery done Arthroscopically so that they can resume playing or training to get back into their sport. Sometimes Arthroscopic surgery will even save some player’s careers. Baseball pitchers are the most common athletes to require shoulder surgery. Their shoulders have a lot of pressure put on them when they pitch. If they don’t properly warm-up their arm they can have serious damage done to their shoulders. One of the most common shoulder injuries is a rotator cuff tear. A rotator cuff tear occurs when one of the four muscles, usually the Supraspinatus, surrounding your shoulder tears. There are two types of rotator cuff tears. An "acute" tear happens when a person experiences a sudden injury, such as falling down onto an outstretched arm, or lifting something very heavy with a jerking motion. The more common tear is a "chronic" tear. A chronic tear occurs over a long period of time, much like a hole getting worn into a sock after years of wear. To fix a rotator cuff tear you will pretty much need surgery. Arthroscopic surgery is the surgery that leaves the least amount of scarring as the surgeon only makes several small incisions (only  ¼- ½ inch long). Bone anchors are usually placed into the humerus and attached to the cuff back down to the humerus where it belongs. These anchors are very small but strong. They are usually made of metal, plastic, or a special material that is absorbed by your body over time. Arthroscopic surgery is preferred by most physicians because of the recovery time and the limited scarring. If the tear is fixed arthroscopically the patient has much less pain than if the tear is fixed with open surgery.