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Effects of one-month continuous passive motion after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: results at 1-year follow-up of a prospective randomized study

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Abstract

The study included 100 patients who underwent an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. All patients suffered about a rotator cuff tear that was repaired arthroscopically with a suture anchor technique. Immediately postoperatively, patients were randomly allocated to one of two different postoperative physiotherapy regimens: passive self-assisted range of motion exercise (controls: 46 patients) versus passive self-assisted range of motion exercise associated with use of continuous passive motion (CPM) for a total of 2 h per day (experimental group: 54 patients), for 4 weeks. After this time, all the patients of both groups underwent the same physical therapy protocol. An independent examiner assessed the patients at 2.5, 6 and 12 months particularly about pain with the VAS scale (0–10) and the range of motion (ROM). Our findings show that postoperative treatment of an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with passive self-assisted exercises associated with 2-h CPM a day provides a significant advantage in terms of ROM improvement and pain relief when compared to passive self-assisted exercise alone, at the short-term follow-up. No significant differences between the two groups were observed at 1 year postoperatively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shoulder Unit, IRCCS Humanitas Institute, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

    Marco Conti, Leonardo Maradei, Antonio Giardella & Alessandro Castagna

  2. Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Unit, Regional Hospital F. Miulli, Acquaviva delle fonti, Bari, Italy

    Raffaele Garofalo

  3. Department of Clinical Methodology and Surgical Technique, Orthopaedics Section, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Angela Notarnicola

Authors
  1. Raffaele Garofalo
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  2. Marco Conti
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  3. Angela Notarnicola
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  4. Leonardo Maradei
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  5. Antonio Giardella
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  6. Alessandro Castagna
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Correspondence to Raffaele Garofalo.

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Garofalo, R., Conti, M., Notarnicola, A. et al. Effects of one-month continuous passive motion after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: results at 1-year follow-up of a prospective randomized study. Musculoskelet Surg 94 (Suppl 1), 79–83 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12306-010-0058-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12306-010-0058-7

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