In the vast majority of cases, a surgical procedure and the healing process goes as expected and the patient experiences fantastic results. However, in a very small number of cases, something goes amiss during the operation or recovery period and the patient doesn’t end up finding the relief they sought. When this happens, it’s considered a failed operation.
Dr. Holloway and his team do everything in their power to prevent surgery failures, but as you’ll see, it’s not always something that can be controlled by the surgeon or even the patient. In today’s blog, we look at some of the reasons why shoulder surgery fails, and we explain how our team works to prevent these problems.
Causes Of Shoulder Surgery Failure
As we mentioned, shoulder surgery failure rates are extremely low here in the United States, but no surgery works perfectly every single time. If you’re still dealing with pain, weakness, stiffness or instability in your shoulder during a period when you should be making more progress, it’s possible that you’re dealing with a failed surgery.
Many people instinctively want to blame the surgeon in the event that their shoulder surgery fails, but it’s incredibly rare that the failure is due to a surgeon’s mistake. Most times the operation itself goes exactly as planned, but issues during the healing phase end up causing problems for the success of your surgically corrected shoulder. Again, although these issues are quite rare, here’s a look at some of the more common reasons that a shoulder surgery would be classified as a failure.
- Infection – An infection can cause the surgery to fail or other serious complications for your body. If bacteria enter the surgical site during the operation or before the wound can fully close during the recovery period, an infection can develop. Surgeons work carefully to sterilize the surgery site, all surgical tools and they wear gloves and masks during the procedure to greatly reduce the risk of a foreign substance making its way into the surgical site.
- Scar Tissue Formation – Many shoulder surgeries have the goal of restoring range of motion and making movement at the joint more comfortable. Scar tissue forms as a way to heal the skin tissue that has been cut in order to access the shoulder during surgery, and if this tissue envelops nerves or ends up restricting normal shoulder movement, it can lead to a failed shoulder surgery. Targeted physical therapy to break up larger scar tissue formations and using minimally invasive surgical techniques to reduce the wound size can decrease your likelihood of a failed operation caused by problematic scar tissue.
- Poor Healing – Sometimes our bodies simply don’t heal as we hoped after an injury or surgery. Our bodies need a wealth of nutrients and healthy circulation to help injured structures heal, and our age also plays a role in our body’s ability to recover. Sometimes soft tissues simply don’t heal as hoped, and that can lead to poorer outcomes after an operation. Ensuring that a patient is healthy enough for surgery and talking to them about the positive changes they can make to give their operation the best chance to succeed helps to prevent failures caused by poor healing.
- Rushed Back – Finally, one of the most preventable causes of failed shoulder surgery is that the patient tries to take on too much, too soon following a shoulder repair. An operation like rotator cuff repair will take a number of months before you can comfortably lift anything remotely heavy, and if you try to take on too much physical activity too soon after your operation, the repaired structures can be overloaded and tear or become unstable. It’s imperative that you listen to your doctor’s recovery instructions and stay within your restrictions during your rehabilitation. If you believe you can do things like drive or return to work, make sure they are cleared by your surgeon first.
Surgery failure rates are extremely low, but we still do everything in our power to prevent these potential causes of failure. To trust your shoulder operation to someone who will do everything they can to ensure you have a successful operation and recovery, reach out to Dr. Holloway’s office today.
