Comment by lelanthran

> My mother-in-law has spinal surgery last christmas

I dunno if spinal surgery is comparable to shoulder surgery.

I had spinal surgery; the scans were conclusive (specific disks had ruptured), the surgery to put in prosthetic disks (2x in total) is apparently quite routine, and the procedure itself is simpler (limited 3D motion in each vertebra - if you lose motion between any two vertebra after surgery, you might not even notice).

Compare to shoulder surgery where the scans are frequently inconclusive ("we think this surgery might fix the pain, but we are not sure"), and the surgery is uncommon, and the procedure itself is complex (large range of large movements across a large number of axes).

I know about a dozen people in real life who have had spinal fusions, but not one who has had shoulder surgery.