As a child, I had an infection in my shoulder that has since become arthritic. Now I need a shoulder joint replacement. Is this a common problem?

No. In fact it’s so uncommon that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota reports only 13 cases in 25 years. And that’s out of 2,568 patients who had a shoulder replacement.

Many studies report this is more common in hips and knees. The reason for this difference is unknown.