Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common form of arthritis that can harm joints around your body, including your shoulder joints.
At the Center for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Tomball, Kingwood, and The Woodlands, Texas, Dr. Michael L. Blackwell provides full diagnosis and treatment services for arthritis.
If RA impacts joints like your shoulders significantly enough, you could need surgical shoulder joint replacement. Before it gets to that point, more conservative treatment options can also relieve RA symptoms.
If you’re concerned about damage related to RA in one of your shoulders, get in touch with Dr. Blackwell to learn more about the best treatment options for you.
Your shoulder is a complex ball-and-socket joint. You need all of the parts of your shoulder joint to function smoothly so you can maintain your full range of motion and ability to extend and use your arms.
When you have rheumatoid arthritis, your own immune system becomes the source of your joint problems. In this autoimmune condition, your immune system attacks your own tissues, mistaking them for invading germs. RA can result in pain, inflammation, and joint degeneration.
RA symptoms are most likely to appear in your hands, wrists, and knees. RA typically has to become severe before it starts to affect your shoulders.
If you have RA in your shoulders, symptoms like pain and swelling can affect any of the four parts of the joint. RA usually affects both sides of your body at once. You may lose range of motion in your shoulders, or feel a popping or grinding sensation when you try to move your arms.
Several strategies can address the impacts of arthritis on your shoulders. Some patients respond well to medication management via disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or more powerful biologics. Injections can provide targeted pain and tame inflammation where you need it the most.
If your tissues are sufficiently damaged by aggressive and severe RA, shoulder joint replacement could be your best option for regaining pain-free full use of your shoulder and arm.
Dr. Blackwell and the team at the Center for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine are experienced with joint replacement surgery, and they advise you on whether this could be the right treatment option for you.
Dr. Blackwell offers both full and partial shoulder joint replacement. And, whenever possible, he uses state-of-the-art arthroscopic techniques to keep your procedure minimally invasive. Once you recover from your surgery, your artificial joint parts let your shoulder move without pain or restriction.
If you suffer from shoulder pain or lack range of motion in one or both of your shoulders, contact Dr. Blackwell at the Center for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and learn whether arthritis could be the cause of your symptoms. He helps you understand your treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis of the shoulder.
Schedule your initial consultation appointment by calling today, or book an appointment online anytime.
