The Kennedy Center leads the way in less invasive surgeries
Shoulder impingement or decompression surgery is an arthroscopic procedure to widen the space between the rotator cuff attached to the ball of the shoulder socket and the part of your shoulder blade known as the acromion.
Impingement surgery can be performed to relieve chronic or severe tendonitis that hasn’t responded to conservative, non-surgical techniques including therapy.
Causes of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome
Shoulder impingement syndrome occurs fairly commonly in athletes who participate in sports requiring repeated use of their arms overhead. These can include tennis players, baseball players, gymnasts and volleyball players. It also is fairly common in people whose work involves overhead activities like carpenters, masons and painters.
This syndrome typically produces mild to severe pain in the shoulder or upper arm and limits a patient’s range of arm motion. People often have trouble lifting their arms overhead or away from their body and have general weakness in the arm. The syndrome can be characterized as bursitis, inflammation or a bone spur formation. This can progress into a tear in the rotator cuff.