Patient education
Answers to the questions you're actually asking.
Practical guides on shoulder surgery decisions, recovery timelines, costs and what to expect — written for patients, not textbooks.
Most read
Guides patients come back to
Rotator Cuff Surgery Recovery: Week by Week Timeline
From day one through twelve months — sling duration, physio milestones, return to driving, work and sport. The timeline your surgeon should walk you through before you agree to the operation.
Read the full timeline Recovery guide · Week by weekRobotic Shoulder Replacement Recovery: What to Expect Week by Week
From hospital discharge through twelve months — sling phase, active movement, return to driving and sport. The recovery arc Dr Coory sees in his Sunshine Coast practice using the Mako system.
Read the full timelineMaking the decision
Before you book surgery
Do I Need Shoulder Surgery?
Which conditions are managed conservatively, when surgery becomes necessary, and what a specialist opinion actually involves.
Read the guide Practical guideHow to Choose a Shoulder Surgeon on the Sunshine Coast
What credentials to check, which questions to ask, and why subspecialty training matters more than advertising.
Read the guide Technology explainerWhat Is Mako Robotic Shoulder Replacement?
How it differs from conventional surgery, which patients it suits, and Dr Coory's experience as the first surgeon on the Sunshine Coast to perform it.
Read the explainerUnderstanding your condition
Plain-English explanations
Why Won't My Shoulder Move? — Frozen Shoulder in Plain English
What is actually happening inside the joint, why time is part of the treatment, and when injection, hydrodilatation or arthroscopic release earns its place.
Read and watch Patient education · Essay + videoShoulder Instability: The Age-at-First-Dislocation Rule
If you are under 25 and dislocate once, the chance of doing it again is over 80%. The Bankart-vs-Latarjet decision and the bone-loss threshold.
Read and watch Patient education · Essay + videoThe Biology of Rotator Cuff Repair
Two decades of repair has been about technique. The ceiling now is the biology of the tendon being repaired. What that means for your recovery.
Read and watch Patient education · Essay + videoTendon Retraction: Why a Chronic Cuff Tear Is a Different Operation
The fresh cuff tear and the chronic retracted cuff tear require different strategies. The repair-versus-transfer-versus-replace decision tree.
Read and watch For patients & case managersWorkCover Queensland — Why the First Four Weeks Shape the Outcome
The single most modifiable variable in a WorkCover shoulder injury is the time to specialist review. The disability curve and the secondary injury risk.
Read the essay A note from Dr CooryBefore I Look at Your Imaging
The first question I ask every new shoulder patient is not about the MRI. It is about the life the shoulder is supposed to serve.
Read morePractice & profession
From the operating theatre and beyond
A Surgeon, an Insurer and an Employer Walk Into a Room
Dr Coory on caring for injured workers: an established WorkCover shoulder practice, better measurement of recovery, and biology that may enhance healing.
Read the essay Robotic shoulder · Surgical educationThe Questions You Can't Answer Are the Ones Worth Keeping
Hosting a Christchurch surgeon to observe robotic shoulder replacement, and why being watched is one of the best teachers a surgeon has.
Read the essay Proctoring · Learning curvesProctoring Brisbane's First Mako Robotic Shoulder Replacement
Dr Coory travelled to Greenslopes Private Hospital to proctor Brisbane's first Mako robotic total shoulder replacement, and why surgical experience is a resource to be shared.
Read the essayFor clinicians & referrers
Looking for the clinical essays?
Faculty notes, conference takeaways, technique deep-dives and the Unscrubbed podcast live on the Insights page — written for GPs, physiotherapists and orthopaedic colleagues.
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