Study: Play ball after shoulder surgery

HOUSTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Even older patients are able to play sports six months after shoulder joint replacement, U.S. researchers say.

Patients returned to previous sports activity levels and athletics often proved a great motivator for surgery -- and an even greater one for sticking to a rehabilitation schedule -- the researchers said.

"In our study, approximately 94 percent of the patients who have a total shoulder arthroplasty, or joint replacement, were able to return to sports, and 85 percent were able to return to the type-specific sport they were involved in before the surgery," lead author Dr. Gregory Drake of the Texas Orthopaedics Hospital in Houston said in a statement.

The study analyzed one surgeon's shoulder arthroplasties from July 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, 2007. A questionnaire was sent to 304 patients, with 165 responding.

Eighty-seven of the respondents regularly participated in sports before surgery. The average age of the patients was 68.5 years.

The findings are scheduled to be presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Keystone, Colo.