by Liz Bonis, WKRC | Click here to read the full story.

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – If you have been putting off a joint replacement surgery hoping the pain will go away, a recent study from the National Institutes of Health says what you are experiencing is only likely to accumulate or continue to get worse.

This came from research in the pandemic that shows that elective surgeries are not optional surgeries.

Dr. Brandon Kohrs performs what’s called a reverse shoulder replacement using what’s called the InSet™ Reverse Shoulder System.

“It’s called a reverse shoulder replacement because you actually switch what you are doing there. You actually put the ball where the socket used to be, and the socket where the ball used to be, what that does is it constrains and almost turns the shoulder into a hip joint in a way, and stabilizes everything allowing your big deltoid arm out here to be able to lift your arm appropriately.”

Bill Walker has had this reverse shoulder replacement.

“During COVID, it was hurting but it wasn’t that bad. I could work on everything. I like to work on cars I really do, and you can’t do that without shoulders.”

He admits he did put off his surgery.

“I was scared, I was honestly scared.”

Doctor Kohrs said you can only put off surgery for so long.

“What I tell patients is you do put things off if you can, but once you get to the point where it’s impacting your quality of life, and limiting your ability to do things you really want to do then that’s when you should consider surgery and doing something about it.”

It also can reduce the need for pain medications prior to a procedure which reduces addiction risk.