The unit treats all shoulder and elbow problems, including sports injuries, complex or revision procedures, trauma and conditions associated with aging.
Our team has close links with many national and regional sporting organisations. We treat players from a majority of the Welsh rugby clubs as well as elite athletes from other sports including tennis, athletics and football.
Led by four of the UK's top orthopaedic surgeons, the Shoulder Unit can provide consultations, specialist imaging, physiotherapy and state-of-the-art surgical facilities under one roof.
The Shoulder Unit is fully equipped to surgically and conservatively manage shoulder and elbow disorders utilising the latest techniques and state-of-the-art technology. Our consultants are specialists in keyhole surgery which is less painful and has shorter recovery times than conventional open surgery.
Please contact us today if would like further information on the Unit or wish to book an appointment.
The shoulder girdle is a sophisticated mechanism that acts as the fulcrum for the upper limb, and its smooth function, strength and stability are vital in order to reliably place the hand in space to undertake everyday tasks.
It is composed of three bones:
The scapula is a large flat bone which has a body (the flat part), a spine (the ridge at the back of the shoulder), an acromion (tip of the shoulder blade) and a coracoid process (a projection from the front of the blade that serves as an attachment point for muscles and ligaments).
These bones are linked by ligaments to form joints, upon which framework the tendons and muscles facilitate movement.
The joints are:
These bones and joints depend on linkages provided by ligaments which are tough fibrous flexible bands.
Some of the important ligaments are:
The shoulder blade serves as the origin of several important muscles that attach to the humerus. Tendons are the short bands or cords of tough connective tissue that connect muscles to bones. The tendons from the muscles arising from the scapula converge on the ball, together forming the 'rotator cuff'.
The main functional components of the rotator cuff are:
In addition, the biceps muscle has two attachments from the scapula. One, the ‘short head', arises from the coracoid process outside the joint, while the other, the ‘long head', arises from the top of the socket and travels across the ball, through a groove and into the arm to join together to the main biceps muscle.
Where the tendons pass over or under bony prominences a special membranous sac called a bursa exists to lubricate the motion. Numerous bursae have been identified around the shoulder of which the subacromial (or subdeltoid) bursa is the largest and the most often implicated in shoulder problems. When irritated or injured, the bursa may produce fluid and the walls of the sac may thicken and contribute to impingement.
The shoulder is also richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. Nerves carry sensory signals from the joint tissues to the brain and also convey motor signals from the brain via the spinal cord to the muscles. The most important nerves are:
If you have shoulder problems or symptoms that you are worried about attend one of our regular private self-pay clinics.