Rotator Cuff Surgery: Returning to Sport.
Rotator cuff tears are a common injury in recreational and professional athletics which involve repetitive overhead motions. Tears can result in weakness, pain, limited mobility and varying degrees of disability. While many athletes, and non-athletes, can return to full function without surgery, there are circumstances which require surgery. A common concern many athletes have following a rotator cuff repair surgery is the time it will take to return their sport again.
A study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in 2015 investigated the overall rate and time of return to sport following a rotator cuff surgery. The researchers reviewed a total of 859 patients aged 15-81 years old across 25 studies. Approximately 80% of patients included were athletes (professional and recreational) who predominantly participated in baseball, tennis, or golf. Analysis showed an 85% overall rate of return with 66% of athletes returning to equivalent pre-injury level at an average of 10.5 months after surgery. While the overall rate of return was favorable, being a highly competitive athlete (i.e. professional) was a risk factor for not being able to return to the same level of play.
Conclusions:
85% of athletes who undergo rotator cuff surgery return to sport.
66% of athletes return to the same level of play.
Average time of return is about 10.5 months.
Highly competitive athletes are at a greater risk of not returning to the same level of play after surgery.
While these results may sound surprising, they make sense when you look deeper into the issue. The variation of skill-sets, athletic ability and knowledge among average level athletes is vast. As the competition gets closer to the elite level, we see that variation in abilities shrink significantly. Highly competitive athletes spend their careers working to perfect their skill-set, their technique and their strength and mobility. The difference between a hall of fame athlete and a minor league athlete can be as subtle as their ability to perform consistently. Thus, a rotator cuff injury and subsequent surgery may result in a slight decrease in performance for the average athlete, while the same surgery outcome could result in a tremendous decrease in performance for the highly competitive athlete.
Tiara Dunson,PT, DPT
Tiara is a physical therapist at Kauno
References:
1. Klouche, S., Lefevre, N., Herman, S., Gerometta, A., & Bohu, Y. (2015). Return to Sport After Rotator Cuff Tear Repair. The American Journal Of Sports Medicine, 44(7), 1877-1887. doi: 10.1177/0363546515598995