Park Offers Shoulder Replacement Surgery

As Northwest Arkansas grows, so have its health care amenities and fewer trips outside the area are needed to receive specialized care.

One of the latest examples is the reverse total shoulder replacement being performed by Dr. John Park of Ozark Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Fayetteville.

Park has specialized in shoulders for more than 25 years and has been a University of Arkansas Razorbacks team doctor for 29 years. He is the only doctor in Northwest Arkansas trained on the procedure after previously having to send patients to Little Rock.

By age 75, Park said, three-quarters of the population have some kind of tear in the rotator cuff.

For those who have tolerated the pain for years, the rotator cuff tendon will sometimes have been completely absorbed into the body, leaving nothing to repair. Park has seen people in this subgroup as young as their 40s.

The reverse shoulder is a prosthetic device that switches the ball and socket and moves the rotation center of the shoulder inward to allow the deltoid muscle to raise the arm.

Park, who has had six shoulder surgeries himself, said the first generation of the reverse shoulder didn’t gain wide acceptance because it had a high loosening rate, but the second generation has been in use in Europe for 10 years.

Shoulder pain is particularly problematic because it is “night pain” that often keeps patients from getting good sleep.

“For me, it’s so rewarding to see someone be able to raise their arm again and not hurt,” he said. “It gives most patients significant pain relief.”