Sound familiar?
- You've started using the other arm for things without deciding to.
- Night pain has made your shoulder the reason you're tired.
- You've heard "bone-on-bone" or "your rotator cuff is gone" and left the appointment with more questions than answers.
This page walks you through what our shoulder surgeons would tell you in the exam room — including which of the two very different shoulder replacements fits which shoulder.
Do I need a shoulder replacement?
Shoulder replacement resurfaces the worn ball-and-socket joint with an implant, relieving arthritis pain that injections and therapy no longer control. There are two kinds — anatomic (your rotator cuff still works) and reverse (it doesn't) — and choosing correctly matters more than almost anything else. Most shoulder pain never needs either; a third of the people who ask us hear "not yet."
The two operations, in plain English
- Anatomic
Same design as nature's
New ball, new socket, same arrangement — the right call when arthritis wore out the joint but your rotator cuff muscles still do their job. Motion and strength return close to natural.
- Reverse
The engineering workaround
Ball and socket switch places, letting your deltoid take over for a failed rotator cuff. The operation that turned "nothing more we can do" shoulders into functioning ones.
- Which one?
Your anatomy decides
Imaging, cuff testing, and an honest conversation. Planning software maps your shoulder in 3D before surgery so the implant position is decided before the room is even booked.
The path most shoulders actually take
- Symptoms
The quiet surrenders
Reaching hurts, then sleeping hurts, then you're doing your hair with the wrong hand and calling it adapting.
- First moves
Everything short of surgery
Therapy with our in-house team, activity changes, injections. Plenty of shoulders stabilize here — our PT team sees them every week.
- The line
When replacement earns its place
Night pain, a shrinking reach, imaging that shows the joint is gone, and conservative care that's stopped helping.
- The surgery
What actually happens
About two hours. Many patients go home the same day from our own surgery center at Woodforest. A sling for the early weeks, then therapy takes over.
- Recovery
Reach returns in stages
Sling for 3–6 weeks, therapy from early on, everyday reach by 2–3 months, strength building through month 6. Golfers golf again; swimmers swim again.
Why patients choose Sterling Ridge for this
Fellowship-trained shoulder surgeons who do this every week, 3D preoperative planning on every replacement, our own outpatient surgery center — and the rehab that makes or breaks a shoulder replacement happens with our 38-person recovery team, on the same chart as your surgeon. And if you're not ready: we'll say "not yet" and mean it.
What does it cost?
Nationally, an in-network shoulder replacement bills roughly $30,000–$55,000, most of it facility and implant costs. We're in-network with major plans (Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Medicare, United Healthcare), and our outpatient center typically carries meaningfully lower facility costs than a hospital stay. Our team verifies your benefits and gives you a real number before you decide anything. Full details: cost & insurance, answered honestly.
Common questions
How long does a shoulder replacement last?
Modern shoulder implants commonly last 15–20 years or more, and reverse replacements — once considered the short-lived option — now show similar longevity in registry data.
Will I get my motion back?
Most patients regain the reach that daily life requires — overhead, behind the back, across the body — with pain relief being the most reliable result of all. Your starting cuff strength shapes the ceiling, which is why the anatomic-vs-reverse decision matters so much.
Is it as big a recovery as a knee?
Different, not bigger. Less walking disruption, more early caution — the sling protects healing tissue for the first weeks, then therapy does the heavy lifting. Most patients call it easier than they feared.
What about my rotator cuff tear — do I need a replacement or a repair?
Very different answers. Tears without arthritis usually mean repair, not replacement. Tears with arthritis ("cuff tear arthropathy") are exactly what reverse replacement was invented for. Imaging settles it.
The surgeon who replaces shoulders here
Board-certified, fellowship-trained, and in the office every week — read their story, then decide.
Paul Chin, MD, PhD, FAAOSMedically reviewed by Keith W.V. Johnson, MD, FAAOS · Updated September 28, 2026