Shoulder problems are quite common and cause a lot of disability. Unfortunately, in elderly patients, many conditions like frozen shoulder, rotator cuff degeneration, and arthritis are not treated properly due to lack of awareness and the tendency to attribute these to ‘ageing’. Young patients suffer from different conditions: instability (recurrent dislocation), rotator cuff tears and glenoid labral tears. Traumatic injuries occur at all ages and need specialised treatment. Shoulder surgery has now become established as a sub-speciality in orthopaedics.

Arthroscopic Surgeryis done with the help of miniaturized telescope to visualize the interior of the joint (Arthroscope). Special miniaturized instruments are used to perform the operation. These include manual instruments, motorized cutters (shaver system), electrocautery, radio-frequency ablation devices, etc. A large number of procedure-specific instruments and ancillary equipment is used. Arthroscopic surgeons typically undergo years of training to acquire and hone their surgical skills.