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...

BACKGROUND Traditional biomechanical evaluations of rotator cuff repair techniques employ cyclic loading of the supraspinatus tendon in an isolated medial direction. PURPOSE This study was conducted to evaluate 2 different rotator cuff repair techniques that are currently the subject of debate with cyclic loading and with internal and external humeral rotation to better simulate postoperative...

INTRODUCTION Rotator cuff tears of the shoulder are a common cause of pain and disability and surgical repair of these injuries is plagued with recurrent tear rates ranging from 20-70% [1]. The time from onset of injury to time of surgical repair is one important factor in repair outcome [2]. Animal models have recently been developed to address hypotheses related to rotator cuff tendon to bone...

A lthough infection after rotator cuff repair occurs infrequently, it can be a catastrophic complication. To the best of my knowledge, there are only a small number of reports in the literature regarding management of these infections, and none of these report the outcome of a staged arthroscopic approach. Once the infection has resolved, reconstruction of the residual rotator cuff defect can p...

Most arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs utilize suture passing devices placed through arthroscopic cannulas. These devices are limited by the size of the passing device where the suture is passed through the tendon. An alternative technique has been used in the senior author's practice for the past ten years, where sutures are placed through the rotator cuff tendon using percutaneous passing dev...

Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair is a reliable option for symptomatic patients who have failed conservative treatments. Limited evidence exists regarding early rehabilitation time points (less than 1 year) and the influence of tear size. The authors sought to determine whether a difference exists in pre- and postoperative range of motion among small, medium, and large isolated rotator cuff tear...

Athletes with superior labral tear from anterior to posterior (SLAP) lesions place large demands on their rotator cuff and often have partial articular-sided rotator cuff tears as part of an internal impingement process. A percutaneous technique that facilitates SLAP repair may decrease the rotator cuff morbidity associated with establishment of the standard Wilmington portal. The current study...

INTRODUCTION: Physiologic shoulder motion is dependent on a complex balance of forces. In particular, the anterior-posterior (AP) force balance in the shoulder is primarily comprised of the subscapularis and infraspinatus-teres minor complex of the rotator cuff [1]. Massive chronic rotator cuff tears, a common clinical problem, can disrupt this balance and present a management challenge. Moreov...