ORTHOPEDIC PROCEDURES & POST-SURGICAL PRECAUTIONS FOR THE SHOULDER

Course overview

Course Description: Each year, approximately 200,000 Americans require shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and an additional 400,000 have surgery for related tendonitis or partial tears. In 2011 an estimated 66,485 shoulder arthroplasty procedures were identified (33% RSA, 44% TSA, and 23% hemiarthroplasty). A third of those were reverse total shoulder replacements. These surgeries have become common and routine in our society. Studies show more people each year are receiving massages for a variety of reasons. It is important that massage therapists and chiropractors have a better understanding of how some of the most common orthopedic surgeries are performed and how we as therapists can best help our clients and patients. This course describes pathologies, the surgeries, and the post-surgical precautions doctors may place on patients, so the massage therapist or chiropractor can work safely on their clients/patients without doing harm to them or the surgical sites. Students will learn how to communicate with surgeons and physical therapists "in their own language." Course Objectives: 1. Describe different pathologies of the shoulder 2. Explain and summarize the procedures for total, partial and reverse total shoulder replacements and rotator cuff surgeries 3. Explain the reasons why MDs place precautions on the patients 4. Employ the different precautions that need to be adhered to by patients and therapists 5. Communicate effectively with MDs and PTs to facilitate improved patient outcomes