Your total shoulder replacement will be done the day you arrive at the hospital.  Patients generally stay in the hospital for 2 days following their procedure.  After 2 days, you can go home.  The operation is performed under regional anesthesia, which means the shoulder is frozen and you are given intravenous sedation.  No general anesthesia is required.  An incision is made in the front of the shoulder to perform the operation.  The operation involves replacing the top of the arm bone (humerus) with a metal ball attached to a pin that is inserted into the arm bone.  The socket part of the shoulder (glenoid) is replaced by a plastic piece that is cemented into the bone.  If the operation is being performed for a recent fracture, the glenoid is generally not replaced.

On the first day after surgery, physical therapy is started to begin moving the shoulder.  The therapy is done passively for the first 8 weeks, which means that you do not lift your arm on your own.  By 2 to 3 months, most patients feel much better than before the surgery, and by 3 months, almost all patients can use the arm well.  Improvement continues, and by 6 months, function is normal for regular activities in most cases.  Physical therapy is required for several months after surgery to regain motion and strength in the shoulder.  

Risks of surgery include, but are not limited to, anesthesia, infection, re-operation, stiffness, instability, nerve or blood vessel injury, implant loosening and pain.