Patients Question Use of Shoulder Pain Pumps

Miami, FLPatients who have had shoulder pain pumps used after arthroscopic surgery are now questioning whether those pumps should have been used at all. The pumps have been linked to a condition called postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis (PAGCL), a condition that can be far worse than what the surgery was initially performed to treat.

Furthermore, many of the people who are developing PAGCL are young, healthy and active people. They now report that their quality of life has diminished greatly because of the development of PAGCL.

PAGCL often results in patients losing mobility in their arm and shoulder. Essentially, this means that they can no longer perform activities with the affected arm. Many require shoulder replacement surgery. Patients who developed PAGCL after the use of a shoulder pain pump have been as young as 17 and report loss of strength, loss of range of motion, inability to perform tasks and severe shoulder pain. Many note that even pain medication does not alleviate the pain in their shoulders.

In addition to pain in the shoulder and loss of mobility, PAGCL has other consequences as well. Many patients report an inability to sleep properly. They note that the pain in their shoulder wakes them up repeatedly at night, compounding their problem. They also suffer psychological consequences because of how limiting their condition is. Many who are injured were active before their surgery and now cannot take part in the activities they loved including sports, dancing and painting.

Meanwhile, patients who have had arthroscopic shoulder surgery but have not experienced any side effects are concerned that they may also develop PAGCL. Any time they feel pain in their shoulder, they wonder if the cartilage in their shoulder is breaking down. Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do to stop PAGCL from developing once the shoulder pain pump has been used. In fact, the only to prevent PAGCL is to not use a shoulder pain pump following surgery. Once the pain pump has been used, the patient is at risk for developing PAGCL.

With a risk of a problem as debilitating as PAGCL, why are doctors still using shoulder pain pumps after surgery? The answer could be that few know about the actual risk of using the pain pumps. Even though the study outlining the risk of PAGCL was published two times, it has not received a lot of media attention, so few doctors may be aware of the risk they are exposing their patients to. Many patients are also unaware of the risk they face if they use the shoulder pain pump following surgery.

Unfortunately, once the pain pump has been used, there is nothing that can be done to prevent the onset of PAGCL. And there is currently no way of determining who has a higher risk of developing PACGL. Any patient who uses a shoulder pain pump following arthroscopic surgery is at a risk of developing PAGCL and also at risk of losing use of their affected shoulder.