Direct active rehabilitation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty: an international multicentre prospective cohort safety study with 1-year follow up.

OBJECTIVES: To gain insight in the safety of direct active rehabilitation without immobilisation in patients undergoing reverse total shoulder arthroplasty without subscapularis reattachment, measured by the occurrence of complications until 1-year follow up. Next, to explore improvement in shoulder function and in patient-reported outcome measures. DESIGN: An international multicentre prospective cohort safety study. SETTING: Patients indicated for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, visiting the orthopaedics outpatient clinic at two hospitals in the Netherlands and one hospital in Curaçao between January 2019 and July 2021, were selected. PARTICIPANTS: 100 patients (68% female, mean age 74±7.0 years) undergoing unilateral primary shoulder replacement were included if: ≥50 years, diagnosed with shoulder osteoarthritis, rotator cuff arthropathy or avascular necrosis, and selected for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. A sling was used for only 1 day, followed by a progressive active rehabilitation for ≥12 weeks with no precautions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Complications, range of motion and patient-reported outcome measures (Oxford Shoulder Score, Pain Numeric Rating Scale and EuroQol-5D for quality of life). Patients were evaluated preoperatively and 6 weeks, 3 months and 1 year postoperatively. RESULTS: In total, 17 complications were registered (17.0%) including five (5.0%) categorised as potentially related to the rehabilitation strategy: one dislocation, one acromion fracture and three cases with persistent pain. Anteflexion, abduction and external rotation, pain scores and the Oxford Shoulder Score all improved significantly (p<0.05) at all time points compared with preoperative. Quality of life improved significantly from 3 months onwards. These secondary outcomes improved further until 1 year postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Direct active rehabilitation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty seems to be safe and effective. Potentially, this approach will lead to less dependent patients and faster recovery. Larger studies, preferably including a control group, should corroborate our results. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NL7656.

Fast track rehabilitation after reversed total shoulder arthroplasty: a protocol for an international multicentre prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: The use of reversed total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) has increased because of an increasing number of indications for this procedure and by ageing of the population. Usual postoperative care consists of immobilisation of the shoulder for a period of 2-6 weeks to allow healing of the subscapularis tendon and protection of the joint. However, new literature proved that reattachment of the subscapularis tendon is unnecessary. Therefore we hypothesised that immobilisation of the shoulder is not necessary and patients can start safely with mobilisation on the first postoperative day. We expect this fast track protocol to be safe and result in better short-term and long-term functional outcomes. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In our prospective cohort, we will include at least 75 patients aged 50 years and older indicated for rTSA, with acute fracture treatment as an exclusion criterion. Patients will be selected and operated in three hospitals: two in the Netherlands and one in Curacao.Patients will visit the outpatient clinic preoperative, at 6 weeks, 3 months and 1 year postoperative. The data that will be collected includes baseline characteristics, reason for surgery, complications and adverse events, patient reported outcomes (Oxford Shoulder Score, EuroQol-5D and Numeric Rating Scale for pain) and range of motion of the shoulder.All patients will be instructed to use a sling only for 1 day and to follow a progressive physiotherapy schedule for 12 weeks. The primary outcome is the occurrence of complications and adverse events. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Medical Ethics Committee from the VUmc and Curacao reviewed this study protocol and granted exemption from ethical approval (METC VUmc 2019.111, METC Curacao 2019-02). Study results will be presented at (inter)national conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Netherlands Trial Register (NL7656).

Prevalence of symptomatic rotator cuff ruptures after shoulder trauma: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: After shoulder trauma, most fractures and dislocations are easily recognized on radiographic examination; however, the opposite is true for rotator cuff injuries. As a consequence, shoulder complaints may persist or arise due to unrecognized cuff injury. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of shoulder pain and symptomatic rotator cuff ruptures 1 year after shoulder trauma without fracture or dislocation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective descriptive study included all the patients presented at our emergency department between January 2007 and January 2008 after a trauma to the shoulder without fracture or dislocation. One year after trauma, this cohort was interviewed by telephone and re-examined at the outpatient clinic on indication. RESULTS: Of the 217 patients included, all had been pain-free before the trauma. One year after trauma, 69 patients (32%) were still suffering from shoulder pain. Of these patients, 31 were re-examined and 27 had already been re-examined in the meantime. In total, 20 of these 58 patients (34%) were diagnosed with a symptomatic rotator cuff rupture, representing a prevalence of 9% among the included patients. CONCLUSION: Emergency physicians should be aware that normal radiography does not exclude the presence of a rotator cuff tear in patients with a history of shoulder trauma. Regular follow-up is essential for discovering rotator cuff injuries. In this study, 32% still suffered from shoulder pain 1 year after shoulder trauma, and re-examination revealed a prevalence of 9% symptomatic rotator cuff ruptures.