John Bowling of Hollywood, Maryland, suffered from serious shoulder pain for years and in 2015, it started to interfere with his everyday activities as a farm owner. When the pain escalated to where he could no longer perform simple tasks, such as dressing himself, his wife made an appointment for John with Dr. Peter Johnston of the Southern Maryland Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.

Dr. Johnston found that both of Bowling’s shoulders had deteriorated due to arthritis and bi-lateral replacement was the only option. He recommended a new stemless shoulder replacement procedure. Dr. Johnston explained that shoulder replacement historically used a metal spike which runs halfway down the arm, however newer stemless devices are an eighth of that size. The newer procedure also results in less blood loss than previously-available procedures, and preliminary evidence suggests there may be lower risk of infection.

Bowling now lives pain free after both shoulder replacements and his only regret is that he waited so long to do something about the pain. .

The opinions of Dr. Johnston and John Bowling are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wright Medical.