Rotator Cuff Surgery in Athletes: From Rehabilitation to Return to Sport

Rotator Cuff Surgery in Athletes: From Rehabilitation to Return to Sport

The main goal of this project is to study and define a rehabilitative flow-chart for athletes' rehabilitation and return to sport made by a set of objective shoulder evaluation indicators that are easy to use in clinical context. Enrolled patients will undergo supervised rehabilitation treatment for rotator cuff repair according to a standardized protocol (5 days/week) and will undergo four evaluation at different times. Healthy subjects will undergo evaluations with the same timing as patients.

Clinical, kinematic and shoulder muscle strength assessments to collect data useful to define objective criteria for progression between rehabilitation phases will be performed according to the following times:

• T1 - 4-6 weeks after surgery: PROM assessment, pain assessment at rest and during PROM, Constant-Murley score (CMS).
• T2 - 6-12 weeks after surgery: AROM assessment (flexion in scapular plane, abduction, external and internal rotation), pain assessment at rest and during PROM and AROM tasks, scapular humeral rhythm, CMS.
• T3 - 12-16 weeks after surgery: AROM assessment (flexion in scapular plane, abduction, external and internal rotation), pain assessment at rest and during PROM and AROM tasks, scapular humeral rhythm, isometric strength assessment, CMS; joint proprioception assessment (joint position sense).
• T4 - 16-24 weeks after surgery: AROM assessment (flexion in scapular plane, abduction, external and internal rotation), scapular humeral rhythm, isometric strength assessment, CMS, joint proprioception assessment (joint position sense), movement speed and smoothness.

Enrolled patients will undergo supervised rehabilitation treatment for rotator cuff repair according to a standardized protocol (5 days/week) and will undergo the evaluations. Healthy subjects will undergo evaluations with the same timing as patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 18 and 65 years
• Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE)> 24
• Acceptance and signature of informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presence of other pathologies that can compromise the standard post-operative course (shoulder instability; reoperation for failed rotator cuff repair; neurological and cognitive problems)