With any injury or condition, the Bone & Joint Center in Holland, MI is committed to using the least invasive, most effective approach to get you back to normal activity -- with as little pain as possible. Arthroscopy is a surgical procedure we use to diagnose and, many times, treat problems inside a joint.

During an arthroscopic procedure, the surgeon will make a small, buttonhole-sized incision in your skin and then insert pencil-sized instruments that contain a small lens and lighting system to "see" inside the joint without having to make a larger cut. If we identify a problem, we can often use the same incisions to insert instruments to take care of it. This means less pain and a faster recovery.

Recent advances have made arthroscopy an effective tool for correcting many knee problems. According to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, more than 4 million knee arthroscopies are performed worldwide each year.

Knee arthroscopy is most commonly used for removing or repairing torn meniscal cartilage, reconstructing a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), trimming torn pieces of articular cartilage, removing loose fragments of bone or cartilage, and removing inflamed synovial tissue.Recovery from knee arthroscopy is much faster than recovery from traditional open knee surgery. Unless you've had a ligament reconstruction, you should be able to return to most physical activities after six to eight weeks, maybe even sooner.

If you have a painful condition in your hip and it isn't responding to nonsurgical treatment such as rest, physical therapy, medications or injections, hip arthroscopy may be an option for you.Hip arthroscopy may relieve pain due to damage from an injury or a number of orthopedic conditions.

Labral tears are tears of the cartilage rim that deepens the socket and stabilizes the hip joint by creating a suction-seal. FemoroAcetabular impingement (FAI) is a disorder in which abnormal shape of the bone around the socket and/or the femoral head cause cartilage damage in the hip. Dysplasia is a condition where the socket is unusually shallow, putting the labrum more at risk for tearing. Snapping hip syndrome is characterized by a snapping felt in the front or side of the hip from an overly-tight tendon snapping across the bony anatomy of the hip. Synovitis is a reaction of the joint lining to a problem in the hip joint. "Loose bodies" is a term that describes fragments of bone or cartilage that become loose and move around within the joint.

Damage to the shoulder can happen in the bones, cartilage or ligaments. If pain from this damage becomes severe and does not respond to nonsurgical treatments, arthroscopy may be an option. Arthroscopy is an alternative to "open" surgery that completely exposes the shoulder joint.

Arthroscopy may be recommended for shoulder problems such as a torn rotator cuff, a bone spur or inflammation around the rotator cuff, shoulder impingement, a torn or damaged cartilage ring, shoulder instability, a torn or damaged biceps tendon, inflammation or damaged lining of the joint, arthritis of the collarbone, and removing loose tissue.