We set up a shoulder group in Osaka City University School of Medicine in 2000. At that time, there were few orthopedic surgeons who specialized in the shoulder joint, and it seems that many patients were suffering from shoulder joint disease received a wide variety of different diagnoses and treatments by general orthopedic surgeons. In the first place, middle-aged and elderly shoulder joint disease was not as easily diagnosed as other joints, and it was a time when all patients were grouped together with "fifty shoulders". However, actually, many diseases was included such as rotator cuff tears, tendonitis, calcific tendinitis, impingement syndrome, contractile shoulder, biceps long head tendon disorder, acromioclavicular joint disorder, degenerative shoulder arthropathy and so on. In fact, there are many diseases that can not be judged by X-ray examination alone, and auxiliary diagnostic imaging techniques were essential for accurate diagnosis. In such cases, we are able to accurately diagnose shoulder joint disease by using useful tools such as MRI, CT, contrast examination, ultrasonography and arthroscopic evaluation prior to other facilities. Aspiring to become a surgeon, the elite unit was born as a shoulder group.
Shoulder surgeons also need the power to make an accurate diagnosis, but they also need qualified treatment techniques. Of course, there are conservative treatment (treatment other than surgery) and surgical treatment (treatment by surgery), but the skill of the latter greatly affects the postoperative performance of patients, especially for the latter. It is necessary for shoulder surgeons to have little impact on the patient's body and have the ability to properly cure only the bad spots. We decided that the arthroscopic surgical procedure was the most powerful as the procedure. At that time, there were few medical institutions that were skilled in shoulder arthroscopic surgery throughout Japan, and it was not easy to learn the technology, but fortunately an opportunity to receive sufficient guidance from overseas and domestic pioneers. The entire shoulder group was able to carry an excellent arthroscopic surgical procedure.
The shoulder joint is located between the humerus and the scapula, but the normal movement of the shoulder joint requires that the scapula move normally with the thorax. Conversely, even if arthroscopic surgery results in normal movement of the shoulder joint, if the scapula continues to move abnormally with the thorax, no improvement in symptoms is obtained. Unfortunately, while shoulder surgeons can treat the shoulder joint, they do not have the ability to improve shoulder blade movement. It is a shoulder specialist physiotherapist who has that ability. Physiotherapists are exercise equipment professionals, but the complexity of the scapula movement does not mean that all physiotherapists can easily acquire the ability to control scapula movement. After a lot of training, a shoulder specialist physiotherapist has become a shoulder blade professional who can control the movement of the shoulder blade.
In other words, a combination of a shoulder surgeon and a shoulder specialist physical therapist is essential to reliably cure shoulder joint disease. We, the Osaka Shoulder Team, are teamed with talented shoulder surgeons and talented shoulder specialist physiotherapists to treat many shoulder joint disorders. Our experience was about 15 years or more, and we have accumulated a lot of know-how through the treatment of many patients. Recently, not only shoulder arthroscopic surgery, but also a special type of artificial shoulder joint replacement called reverse type artificial shoulder joint is often performed. The shoulder surgeons and the shoulder specialist physical therapists are working more closely to treat intractable cases. If you are interested in the treatment, education and research of shoulder joint disease, we hope you get in touch with us.