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Early versus delayed mobilization following rotator cuff repair.

ABSTRACT: Rotator cuff tears are a common cause for pain and reduced function. Tears of the tendons of the cuff can be a result of a degenerative process or as a consequence of trauma. Management of cuff tears are surrounded by controversy from indications for surgical management to rehabilitation protocol post-surgical repair. The aim of post surgical rehabilitation is to improve functional outcome, reduce pain and promote tendon healing. In the case of rotator cuff repair, rehabilitation can be broadly divided into early passive range of motion (EPM) and delayed range of motion (DRM). The EPM regime is defined by minimal immobilisation of the shoulder and passive mobilisation of the joint within the first post-operative period. In contrast, DRM immobilises the shoulder joint up to six weeks post-operatively. Proponents of EPM state various advantages of their rehabilitation protocol including improved range of motion and earlier return to normal activities of daily living. However, there has also been concern that this rehabilitation regime may result in an increased rate of re-rupture. Since this is a highly controversial issue, various high quality literature have been published looking to clarify which regime is best following rotator cuff surgery. Reviewing these articles, it appears that there is an increase rate of re-tear of the repaired rotator cuff tendon when the EPM regime is employed. Statistical significance however was limited by small sample sizes. Range of motion post-repair also appears to be associated with post-operative rehabilitation regime. As expected, the EPM regime has been shown to improve range of motion post-repair. Despite this, literature reports patients managed with the DPM showed a statistically better patient reported outcome measure. We conclude that based on the evidence we currently have, early range of motion post rotator cuff repair is related with an increase risk of re-tear. The DPM regime reduces this risk with the possible complication of reduced range of shoulder movement. This problem is thought to be an easier clinical issue to deal with compared to re-rupture of the repaired rotator cuff tendon. There is however lack of data to achieve statistical significance in most of these analysis. There is a definite need for a large, multi-centre single blinded randomised controlled trial to further shed light on this controversial topic.

SUBMITTER: Bakti N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6382997 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of early rehabilitation compared with delayed/standard rehabilitation after rotator cuff repair for pain, function, range of movement, strength, and repair integrity.DesignSystematic review and meta-analyses.MethodsWe searched databases and included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing early with delayed/standard rehabilitation for patients undergoing rotator cuff repair surgery. We assessed risk of bias of the RCTs using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool.ResultsTwenty RCTs, with 1841 patients, were included. The majority of the RCTs were of high or unclear risk of overall bias. We found substantial variations in the rehabilitation programmes, time in the sling and timing of exercise progression. We found no statistically significant differences for pain and function at any follow-up except for the outcome measure Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation at six months (MD: 6.54; 95%CI: 2.24-10.84) in favour of early rehabilitation. We found statistically significant differences in favour of early rehabilitation for shoulder flexion at six weeks (MD: 7.36; 95%CI: 2.66-12.06), three (MD: 8.45; 95%CI: 3.43-13.47) and six months (MD: 3.57; 95%CI: 0.81-6.32) and one year (MD: 1.42; 95%CI: 0.21-2.64) and similar differences for other planes of movement. In terms of repair integrity, early mobilisation does not seem to increase the risk of re-tears (OR:1.05; 95%CI: 0.64-1.75).DiscussionCurrent approaches to early mobilisation, based largely on early introduction of passive movement, did not demonstrate significant differences in most clinical outcomes, although we found statistically significant differences in favour of early rehabilitation for range of movement. Importantly, there were no differences in repair integrity between early and delayed/standard rehabilitation. Most rehabilitation programmes did not consider early active movement as soon as the patient feels able. With ongoing variation in rehabilitation protocols there remains a need for large high quality RCT to inform the optimal approach to rehabilitation after rotator cuff repair surgery.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Rotator cuff (RC) tears are common tendon injuries seen in orthopaedic patients. Successful repair of large and massive RC tears remains a challenge due to our limited understanding of the pathophysiological features of this injury. Clinically relevant small animal models that can be used to study the pathophysiological response to repair are limited by the lack of chronic repair models. PURPOSE:To develop a highly clinically relevant mouse model of delayed RC repair. STUDY DESIGN:Controlled laboratory study. METHODS:Three-month-old C57BL/6J mice underwent unilateral supraspinatus (SS) and infraspinatus (IS) tendon tear with immediate, 2-week delayed, or 6-week delayed tendon repair. Animals with no repair or sham surgery served as controls. Gait analysis was conducted to measure shoulder function at 2 weeks and 6 weeks after surgery. Animals were sacrificed 6 weeks after the last surgery. Shoulder joint, SS, and IS muscles were harvested and analyzed histologically. Ex vivo mechanical testing of intact and repaired SS and IS tendons was conducted. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed on SS and IS muscles to quantify atrophy, fibrosis, and fatty infiltration-related gene expression. RESULTS:Histological and tendon mechanical testing showed that torn tendons could be successfully repaired as late as 6 weeks after transection. However, significant atrophy and fatty infiltration of muscle, with impaired shoulder function, were persistent in the 6-week delayed repair group. Shoulder function correlated with the severity of RC muscle weight loss and fatty infiltration. CONCLUSION:We successfully developed a clinically relevant mouse model of delayed RC repair. Six-week delayed RC repair resulted in persistent muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration with inferior shoulder function compared with acute repair. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:Our novel mouse model could serve as a powerful tool to understand the pathophysiological and cellular/molecular mechanisms of RC muscle and tendon degeneration, eventually improving our strategies for treating and repairing RC tears.

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Early versus delayed mobilization following rotator cuff repair.

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