“I couldn’t even raise my arm to turn the piano book page anymore.” That’s why 75-year-old Evelyn Hueter elected to undergo reverse shoulder replacement surgery on her left arm.
Dr. Jason D. Doppelt, elbow and shoulder surgeon at Advanced Center for Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery (formerly Orthopedic Associates of Marquette, P.C.,) successfully performed the reverse shoulder replacement procedure on Hueter. The reverse shoulder replacement uses a ball-and-socket joint, but the ball is placed on the shoulder blade, and the socket is placed on top of the arm bone. This is the reverse of our normal anatomy; thus, the name of the procedure is "reverse shoulder replacement."