Obesity May Limit Overall Function Two Years after Shoulder Replacement Surgery
Dr. Li has been featured in over 350 online newspapers and newslinks including Yahoo.com, Reuters, Boston Globe, ABC news, CBS News, AAOS, etc. for his research on the functional outcome after total shoulder replacement surgery and obesity. Dr. Li says, “Our study found that with short-term follow-up, obesity does not have a detrimental effect on functional outcomes and complication rates in patients after TSA,” said orthopaedic surgeon and lead study author Xinning Li, MD, Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center.
“In the normal body mass index (BMI) patient group, both the shoulder function and the overall physical function improved after TSA. However, among patients diagnosed with obesity, we found that the shoulder function improved after TSA, but the overall physical function did not improve at final follow-up.” Furthermore, the data from the study “suggests that in the normal BMI patient group who are active, that their overall physical function may have been limited due to shoulder pain,” said Dr. Li. “Therefore, a total shoulder replacement was able to provide this patient population (normal BMI) with improved shoulder function which resulted in a better physical function.
Overall, “Total shoulder arthroplasty is an excellent procedure for pain relief and functional improvement in patients with shoulder arthritis,” said Dr. Li. This paper was published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery – American. Nov. 6th, 2013.
