A Shoulder Table for Shoulder Surgeons. As a shoulder surgeon I have spent years on a quest to find the holy grail - an operating table that would allow me to operate on shoulder cases in the beach chair position without breaking the patients neck. And last year at the BESS meeting I found it! There it was at the end of the exhibition hall, beckoning me towards it - the Merivaara Practico. It was immediately evident that this table had actually been designed by a shoulder surgeon and a shoulder surgeon who operated in the same position that I did! The table moves easily (and electrically!) into the beach chair position that I employ: this has the back at about 70 degrees, the thighs in 20 degrees of Trendelenburg and the table broken at the knees. More importantly, though, is the size of the cutaway in the back section. In many other designs this is simply too small and it can be impossible to get instruments in or to manoeuvre them as required. This table however gives superb access to the whole of the back of the shoulder without the instruments banging against the frame. But best of all is the ability to fit every patient of whatever shape comfortably onto the table with the neck in a neutral position rather than in a hyper-extended one which has been the problem with the other systems I have tried. As with anything new there were a few mildly concerned faces when the table arrived. Once everyone had had a go with it, seen how easy it was to use and seen how well it could accommodate every shape of patient, then the frowns quickly turned to grins and the team have taken proud ownership of ‘their new table! Richard J Sinnerton FRCS (Orth)

A Shoulder Table For Shoulder Surgeons R Sinnerton

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A Shoulder Table for Shoulder Surgeons.

As a shoulder surgeon I have spent years on a quest to find the holy grail - an operating table that would allow me to operate on shoulder cases in the beach chair position without breaking the patients neck.

And last year at the BESS meeting I found it! There it was at the end of the exhibition hall, beckoning me towards it - the Merivaara Practico.

It was immediately evident that this table had actually been designed by a shoulder surgeon and a shoulder surgeon who operated in the same position that I did!

The table moves easily (and electrically!) into the beach chair position that I employ: this has the back at about 70 degrees, the thighs in 20 degrees of Trendelenburg and the table broken at the knees.

More importantly, though, is the size of the cutaway in the back section. In many other designs this is simply too small and it can be impossible to get instruments in or to manoeuvre them as required.

This table however gives superb access to the whole of the back of the shoulder without the instruments banging against the frame.

But best of all is the ability to fit every patient of whatever shape comfortably onto the table with the neck in a neutral position rather than in a hyper- extended one which has been the problem with the other systems I have tried.

As with anything new there were a few mildly concerned faces when the table arrived.

Once everyone had had a go with it, seen how easy it was to use and seen how well it could accommodate every shape of patient, then the frowns quickly turned to grins and the team have taken proud ownership of ‘their new table!

Richard J Sinnerton FRCS (Orth)