Rotator cuff disease is the most common condition affecting the shoulder, causing significant pain and functional impairment in the adult population. Improvements in arthroscopic instrumentation and suture anchor technology have allowed the development of stronger constructs with multiple suture configurations, allowing repair of large and massive tears through minimally invasive means. However...

Rotator cuff disease of the shoulder, a common condition, is often incapacitating. Whether nonsurgical or surgical, successful management of rotator cuff disease is dependent on appropriate rehabilitation. Numerous rehabilitation protocols for the management of rotator cuff disease are based primarily on anecdotal clinical observation. The available literature on shoulder rehabilitation, in con...

Large rotator cuff tears are extremely uncommon in young people and when they occur they may be associated with shoulder instability. This paper reports on a series of six elite rugby union and rugby league footballers who presented with shoulder instability and large rotator cuff tears. They were treated with a two stage procedure: an open rotator cuff repair followed by an open shoulder stabi...

Rotator cuff tears are extremely common in the adult population, and medial transtendinous rotator cuff tears, although rare, have recently been reported in the literature. These tears are almost always traumatic, which is a common indication for surgical management. It is necessary to consider these tears as a distinct subset when planning for rotator cuff repair because traditional repair tec...

In the operative management of rotator cuff disease, comparable functional results have been reported after open or mini-open repair and arthroscopic fixation. Surgical repair aims to re-establish an anatomical configuration of the tendon-bone construct for restoring its mechanical performance. Single row repair is the most commonly used technique, but recently some authors have proposed to re-...

Transosseous repair of the rotator cuff has been shown to recreate the anatomic rotator cuff footprint in a secure and cost-efficient manner. However, the potential for sutures cutting through bone remains a concern with this strategy. Devices have been used successfully during open transosseous rotator cuff repair to augment the bone tunnels, potentially avoiding suture cut-out through the wea...

Massive rotator cuff tears are particularly challenging to treat and severely limit the function of the shoulder. Compared with a small rotator cuff tear, massive tears are more unpredictable and usually present with low tendon quality. When performing an anatomical repair of the rotator cuff, the surgical treatment is often associated with failure of the construct. An alternative procedure tha...

The purpose of this study was to devise and implement an accurate and reproducible method of measuring the area and dimensions of the rotator cuff tendon insertions and their distance from the articular surface. Twenty fresh-frozen cadaveric upper-extremity specimens were divided into 2 groups of 10. In group 1 the specimens were dissected, leaving only the most distal rotator cuff tendons atta...

BACKGROUND Long head biceps (LHB) degeneration in combination with rotator cuff tears can be a source of chronic shoulder pain. LHB tenotomy is an approved surgical procedure for pain reduction and improvement of joint function, however, the pathophysiology of LHB degeneration is not fully understood. In the literature, neoangiogenesis in tendon tissue has previously been shown to be associated...

Partial thickness rotator cuff tears are a common cause of pain in the adult shoulder. Despite their high prevalence, the diagnosis and treatment of partial thickness rotator cuff tears remains controversial. While recent studies have helped to elucidate the anatomy and natural history of disease progression, the optimal treatment, both nonoperative and operative, is unclear. Although the adven...