Shoulder Pain Pumps may cause severe cartilage damage and joint pain

A recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alert has identified shoulder pain pumps as a likely cause of severe cartilage damage and joint pain. The joint pain has most clearly been identified in the shoulder joint, but they are not ruling out joint pain in other joints as a result of the pain pump. The consequences of the damage are severe and can include medication for life, multiple surgeries and even reconstructive shoulder surgery.

The condition caused by the pain pumps is called postarthroscopic glenohumeral chrondrolysis, PAGCL or just chrondrolysis for short. Chrondrolysis has been noted to cause severe pain in the shoulder and other joints by the researchers at the American Journal for Sports Medicine. The FDA is requiring physicians to inform their patients about the substantial risk that the insertion of shoulder pain pumps may lead to Chrondrolysis. Despite their rather widespread use, the FDA never approved pain pumps for use in joints.

The shoulder pain pumps operate to release a local anesthetic to the shoulder area following operations. Chrondrolysis has developed following this procedure in young, athletic and relatively healthy individuals. Initially, medical researchers and physicians were puzzled by the appearance of chrondrolysis, a relatively rare ailment which causes joint cartilage to die. The death of the cartilage causes a grinding bone-on-bone joint resulting in the severe pain.

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