Shoulder surgery goes by several different names depending on what’s being fixed. The most common terms you’ll encounter are arthroscopy (keyhole surgery using a camera), arthroplasty (joint replacement), and rotator cuff repair. Each name tells you something about what the surgeon is doing and how they’re doing it.
How Shoulder Surgeries Get Their Names
Medical names for shoulder procedures follow a pattern built from Greek and Latin roots. Once you know a few suffixes, the terminology becomes much easier to decode. “Plasty” means surgical reconstruction, so arthroplasty is rebuilding a joint. “Scopy” means to examine, so arthroscopy is looking inside a joint with a camera. “Ectomy” means removal, “pexy” means surgical fixation, and “desis” means binding. A surgeon describing an “acromioplasty” is reshaping bone at the top of your shoulder; a “capsulorrhaphy” is tightening the joint capsule.
Shoulder Arthroscopy
Arthroscopy is the most versatile shoulder surgery and the one most people encounter first. The surgeon makes a few small incisions and inserts a narrow tube with a camera on the end, then uses miniature instruments to work inside the joint. Because the incisions are small, recovery is generally faster than open surgery.
A long list of problems can be treated arthroscopically. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons includes rotator cuff repair, removal or repair of the labrum (the ring of cartilage lining the socket), ligament repair, removal of inflamed tissue or loose cartilage, and repair for recurrent shoulder dislocation among the common procedures. Less common arthroscopic procedures include nerve release, fracture repair, and cyst removal.
The word “arthroscopy” describes the approach, not the specific repair. Two people who both had “shoulder arthroscopy” may have had completely different things fixed inside the joint.
Rotator Cuff Repair
Rotator cuff repair is one of the most frequently performed shoulder surgeries and is usually done arthroscopically. The surgeon reattaches torn tendon tissue to the bone using small anchors. When the tear is large enough to need a tissue graft, surgeons typically switch to a “mini-open” repair, which combines the camera-guided approach with a slightly larger incision to place the graft.
Recovery from a large rotator cuff repair follows a predictable but slow timeline. For the first six weeks, the arm stays in a sling with no active movement at all. The priority is protecting the repaired tendon while it heals to the bone. Passive range of motion with a physical therapist begins around week six, and patients typically need to reach at least 100 to 120 degrees of forward elevation before progressing. Active movement starts between weeks 10 and 14, but only gently. Actual strengthening exercises don’t begin until roughly 18 to 22 weeks after surgery. Full recovery can take six months or longer.
Shoulder Replacement (Arthroplasty)
When arthritis or a severe fracture destroys the joint surfaces, the surgery is called shoulder arthroplasty, meaning the joint is replaced with artificial components. There are two main versions: total shoulder replacement and reverse total shoulder replacement.
A standard total shoulder replacement installs a metal ball on the upper arm bone and a plastic socket on the shoulder blade, mimicking normal anatomy. It works well when the rotator cuff muscles and tendons around the joint are still intact, because those muscles are what power the new joint.
A reverse total shoulder replacement flips the anatomy. The ball is placed on the shoulder blade and the socket on the arm bone. This design lets the large deltoid muscle do the heavy lifting instead of the rotator cuff. Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that the most common reason to choose a reverse replacement is rotator cuff tear arthropathy, a condition where both arthritis and a severely torn or absent rotator cuff are present. It’s also used when a previous standard replacement hasn’t relieved pain or restored motion.
Modern shoulder replacements last 10 to 15 years on average, sometimes longer. Patient satisfaction rates run above 85 to 90 percent.
Surgeries for Shoulder Instability
If your shoulder dislocates repeatedly, the surgery to stabilize it has its own set of names. The two most common are the Bankart repair and the Latarjet procedure.
A Bankart repair reattaches the torn labrum and ligaments back to the rim of the shoulder socket, restoring the joint’s normal anatomy. It’s typically done arthroscopically and has been the standard first-line surgery for shoulder instability for years.
The Latarjet procedure takes a different approach. Instead of reattaching torn tissue, the surgeon transfers a small piece of bone (the coracoid process) along with its attached tendon to the front of the socket, creating a bony block that prevents the shoulder from slipping forward. This is especially effective when there’s bone loss on the socket, which makes a soft-tissue repair less reliable. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has found that patients who undergo a Bankart repair first and then need a Latarjet later tend to have worse outcomes than those who get the Latarjet as their initial surgery. For that reason, some surgeons now favor the Latarjet as a primary procedure in young, active patients with anteroinferior instability.
Open Reduction and Internal Fixation (ORIF)
When a shoulder fracture shatters bone into multiple pieces, the surgery to put it back together is called open reduction and internal fixation, or ORIF. “Open reduction” means the surgeon makes an incision to directly access and reposition the bone fragments. “Internal fixation” refers to the hardware (plates, screws, wires, or nails) used to hold the pieces in place while they heal. ORIF applies to fractures anywhere along the upper arm bone, including the portion near the shoulder joint. For some fracture patterns, the incision is made through the top of the shoulder.
In cases where the fracture is too severe to reconstruct, the surgeon may skip ORIF entirely and proceed to a shoulder replacement instead, particularly in older patients where the bone quality makes hardware fixation less reliable.
Other Named Procedures
A few additional shoulder surgeries come up often enough to be worth knowing:
- Subacromial decompression (acromioplasty): The surgeon shaves down bone or removes tissue pressing on the rotator cuff tendons, relieving impingement syndrome.
- SLAP repair: A specific type of labral repair focused on the top of the socket where the biceps tendon attaches. SLAP stands for “superior labrum anterior and posterior.”
- Capsular release: Used for frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis), this procedure cuts tight scar tissue inside the joint capsule to restore movement.
- Distal clavicle excision (Mumford procedure): Removes a small portion of the collarbone to treat arthritis at the joint where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade.
The name your surgeon uses will depend on which structure is damaged and what technique best addresses it. Asking specifically whether your procedure is arthroscopic or open, and what tissue is being repaired or replaced, will give you the clearest picture of what to expect during recovery.