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Rotator Cuff Tears, Sports Medicine

Kenneth Bielak, MD, FACSM, FAAFP, CAQSM Reviewed 04/2019
 


BASICS

DESCRIPTION

  • Partial or complete tears or disruption of any one or combination of the four rotator cuff muscles of the glenohumeral joint

  • Supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscle-tendon complexes ar...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Mechanism of injury:

    • Acute traumatic events such as a fall, direct blow, or forceful boxing punch

    • Traumatic hyperextension of abducted arm

    • Traumatic external or internal rotation of abdu...

TREATMENT

GENERAL MEASURES

  • Acute treatment

  • Analgesia:

    • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the drugs of choice initially, but long-term use prior to operative repair can result in inferior l...

ONGOING CARE

FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

Orthopedic surgeon referral encouraged for acute full-thickness tears early and partial tears after failed conservative therapy 

PATIENT EDUCATION

Overhead athletes...

REFERENCES

1
Park HB, Yokota A, Gill HS, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of clinical tests for the different degrees of subacromial impingement syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg Am.  2005;87(7):1446–1455.
2
Ho...

ADDITIONAL READING

Rashid M, Cooper C, Cook J, et al. Increasing age and tear size reduce rotator cuff repair healing rate at 1 year. Acta Orthop.  2017;88(6):606–611. 

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Diagnostic accuracy of shoulder US when evaluating rotator cuff tears can reach 91–100% for partial- and full-thickness tears detection, respectively, having been reported to be as acc...

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