Dr. Armin Tehrany, Orthopedic surgeon of Mount Sinai Hospital, goes into the factors that make a shoulder specialist good or not.

Doctor Tehrany: One must do in my opinion at least 50 to 100 arthroscopic shoulder procedures a year. What matters is the training. Did the orthopedic surgeon have the right training? Does the orthopedic surgeon have a special interest in the shoulder? I love the shoulder so that helps a lot for me to be able to get better at it every day. And academic affiliation, staying in touch with new research, going to meetings, these kinds of things are important in a surgeon who does specialize in surgery. You should expect that of any orthopedic surgeon. But specifically with the advanced arthroscopic shoulder techniques that we're discussing it helps to have an academic [benefit]. One must do in my opinion at least 50 to 100 arthroscopic shoulder procedures a year in order to stay facile with these advanced techniques. Fortunately though the instrument companies are making the surgeries easier and easier which is great. Hopefully it will become so easy that the number of orthopedic surgeons have to choose from is much higher.