SHOULDER ARTHROSCOPY

Q:

I have been diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear that requires repair. What are my chances of returning to sports after surgery, specifically golf

The recovery from rotator cuff repair requires patience, as the repaired tendon tissue must be allowed to undergo some biologic healing before it can safely be stressed. Patients are placed into a specialized sling which they are expected to wear for 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. The sling can be removed for bathing and changing clothes and for appropriate physical therapy, but no purposeful, active movement of the shoulder is permitted as this can compromise the healing process. The optimal approach to physical therapy following rotator cuff repair remains a topic of ongoing research without widespread consensus. Most research favors a very slow progression of therapy, with a brief period of complete rest followed by several weeks of passive movement of the shoulder where the patient does not assist in the movement of the arm.

Once patients enter the strengthening phase of their rehabilitation, typically 3 months following surgery, it is often safe to begin some very light golf activity such as putting and some chipping. Greater caution may be advised when surgery involves the lead arm in the golf swing (the left arm for a right handed golfer), as the lead arm is stretched to a greater extent in the backswing and more active as a power supplier in the downswing. A meta-analysis, which is a large study pooling the results of multiple smaller studies on a particular topic, was published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in July of 2016 by Klouche et al. It examined 25 studies and over 800 patients who had undergone rotator cuff repair to determine how successful the patients were at returning to sports following surgery. The studies collectively showed an 84.7% rate of return to sports following surgery demonstrating that the vast majority of patients have an excellent prognosis to get back to sports such as golf after rotator cuff repair.

While it may be frustrating for the avid golfer to miss even a small portion of the golfing season recovering surgery, given the predictable symptom relief and the high rate of success getting back to sports like golf, rotator cuff repair is typically a good long term

A:

Eric M. Parsons, M.D.