Surgery not indicated?...PODay 167

I have read that if you have a full thickness tear of of the rotator cuff you can only be helped by surgery.

But in a study of 93 patients with documented rotator cuff tears symptomatic at least three months there were some interesting findings.

The patients age averaged 60 years old and 42% were female. Half of the patients suffered a traumatic incident to cause the tear.

The patients were given three months of treatment involving stretch exercises, followed by strength exercises. The treatment was considered successful if, after the three months, the patient and their doctor agreed that there was considerable improvement and that surgery was not indicated since the patient was mostly asymptomatic. A failure was declared if the patient remained symptomatic and still opted for surgery.

The study found that 75% of the patients were deemed a success based on their assessment of their situation. After two years 89% of the 75% maintained their immediate post treatment status.

Since the tears were chronic small tears the authors of the study thought there was little harm in trying the exercise program and delaying surgery.

As my surgeon told me, there is no need to rush to a decision. In my case, waiting would not make things worse. But I opted for surgery since I had already waited a year from my accident, I had had physical therapy without improvement, and torn ligaments were not my only problem. So I am not second guessing my decision. Just find this new study interesting. It would be nice to see the study repeated with more patients.