Julie came to our clinic in 2010 because she was having bilateral elbow and shoulder pain. She has a history of rheumatoid arthritis. She was especially having difficulties with overhead, behind-the-back and cross body activities as well as sleeping. She rated her elbows to be 30% of normal and her shoulders 45-50% of normal. At the time, her left side was causing her the most discomfort.
Her x-rays revealed that she had bilateral end-stage arthritis secondary to rheumatoid disease.
We replaced both her left elbow and left shoulder that year. In 2012 she already felt her shoulder and elbow were up to 80% of normal, however, she was still having difficulties with activities on the right side. Near the end of 2012 we replaced her right shoulder and at the beginning of 2013 we replaced her right elbow.
Julie visited our clinic September 2014 and stated her shoulders feel 98-100% of normal and her elbows feel near 100% of normal.