• Physiotherapy
Periodic physiotherapy associated with anti-inflammatory treatment may improve functional parameters and reduce the pain, but it can’t usually stop the progression of the osteoarthritis.
• Infiltrations
Corticosteroid infiltrations or viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid might relieve the symptoms to some extent.
• Shoulder Prothesis
A partial or total replacement of the shoulder has positive results in terms of functionality, improving the symptoms significantly.
There has been a remarkable evolution regarding shoulder implant procedures, which nowadays include, but it’s not limited to, the classic hemiarthroplasty (in which only a humeral component is used), total arthroplasty (in which the glenoid is also resurfaced) and "resurfacing" procedures (with minimal bone loss where only the humeral cartilage is removed and replaced by a metallic implant).
Currently, even in shoulder osteoarthritis cases associated with a complete rotator cuff tear, it is possible to use special implants (reverse arthoplasties) with satisfactory functional results. In this procedure it is the glenoid component that has a convex surface in which a humeral concave component will be implemented. This will lower the rotation centre of the joint and improve the leverage of the deltoid muscle compensating the absence of the rotator cuff.