A history of the reverse shoulder prosthesis

In this article, we document the history of the shoulder prosthesis in cases of gleno-humeral arthropathy with severely damaged peri-articular structures, in particular, the rotator cuff. Charles Neer was the first to search for a solution to this difficult problem and his work encouraged others including Paul Grammont to develop his revolutionary principles applied to the reverse shoulder prosthesis. Even now, newer versions of reverse prostheses continue to advance our understanding of how these difficult cases can be treated optimally.