CONTEXT Despite the significant attention directed toward optimizing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, there has been less focus on rehabilitation after rotator cuff repair surgery. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of different rehabilitation protocols on clinical outcomes by comparing early versus late mobilization approaches and continuous passive mobilization (CPM) versus manual therapy a...

Massive rotator cuff tears are not necessarily synonymous with irreparable tears. Technical and biological challenges to a successful repair include inelastic poorquality tendon tissue, scarring, muscle atrophy, and fatty infiltration. Fatty infiltration of the involved rotator cuff muscles has been identified as an important negative prognostic factor for the outcome after repair of massive ro...

PURPOSE To assess minimum 2-year clinical outcomes after open revision biologic patch augmentation in patients with massive rotator cuff retears who had deficient rotator cuff tendons with healthy rotator cuff muscles. METHODS Patients with massive posterosuperior rotator cuff retears who underwent open revision rotator cuff repair with patch augmentation were identified from a surgical regis...

BACKGROUND Restoration of shoulder function is a primary goal when treating patients with traumatic brachial plexus injury. A concomitant rotator cuff tear may alter the treatment approach and prognosis for these individuals. The purpose of this study was to define the prevalence of rotator cuff tears in patients with traumatic brachial plexus injuries. METHODS This is a retrospective review ...

BACKGROUND It is unknown which combination of patient information and clinical tests might be optimal for the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of nine individual clinical tests for evaluating rotator cuff tear and to develop a prediction model for diagnosing rotator cuff tear. METHODS This prospective cohort study included 169 patients with s...

Xanthomatous infiltration may rarely affect the rotator cuff muscles and long head of the biceps tendon. It is the deposition of cholesterol within the rotator cuff muscles and long head of the biceps tendon resulting from hyperlipidemia, specifically high triglyceride and total cholesterol levels. As more commonly seen with xanthomatous infiltration and tear of the Achilles tendon, there may a...

Rotator cuff tear has been a known entity for orthopaedic surgeons for more than two hundred years. Although the exact pathogenesis is controversial, a combination of intrinsic factors proposed by Codman and extrinsic factors theorized by Neer is likely responsible for most rotator cuff tears. Magnetic resonance imaging remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears, but the ...

The management of both rotator cuff tears and symptoms related to rotator cuff disease has historically demonstrated good results with surgical treatment when conservative measures fail. In cases of persistent pain and/or disability after rotator cuff surgery, reasons for failure include misdiagnosis, post-operative complications, errors in surgical execution, and problems related to post-opera...

Subacromial impingement syndrome (SAIS) represents a spectrum of pathology ranging from subacromial bursitis to rotator cuff tendinopathy and full-thickness rotator cuff tears. The relationship between subacromial impingement and rotator cuff disease in the etiology of rotator cuff injury is a matter of debate. However, the etiology is multi-factorial, and it has been attributed to both extrins...

Strangulation around cuff tissue is a possible cause of retear after rotator cuff repair. Therefore, tendon healing ideally requires changes in suture tension over the cuff tissue in accord with rotator cuff muscle activity. The authors present a type of fixation that mimics the mechanism of the Chinese finger trap. The devised knot-free tendon trap technique resembles the double-pulley-suture ...