The collection of soft tissues that comprise your rotator cuff play an essential role in your overall shoulder health. Aside from connecting your shoulder blade to your upper arm bone (scapula to humerus), these muscles and tendons support and stabilize the shoulder joint while also making it possible to move your arms in different directions.
It’s no wonder, then, that a tear in one of these supportive soft tissues can cause so much discomfort. Movement becomes painful, range of motion decreases, and everyday tasks become a chore. Surgical correction is a common treatment, especially for larger tears that don’t respond to conservative methods, but what are the odds you’ll tear your rotator cuff again down the road? In today’s blog, we take a closer look at retear rates after rotator cuff surgery and discuss some ways you can lower your risk of a subsequent rotator cuff tear.
Retorn Rotator Cuff After Surgery
A number of different studies have attempted to determine the approximate odds of rotator cuff retears, but we’re going to look at data from Johns Hopkins Medicine for our projections. Of course, patient age, activity level and overall health factor into a person’s retear likelihood after corrective rotator cuff surgery, but here’s the approximate odds of reinjury:
- Small full thickness tears (~1 centimeter) – 5%
- Moderate full thickness tears (~1-3 cm) – 20%
- Large full thickness tears (~3-5 cm) – 27%
- Massive tears – Anywhere from 50%-90%
The reason massive tears are so likely to retear, even when corrected with surgery, is because there is a hole too large to be filled by stretching the remaining tendon, and the tendon edges struggle to hold the stitches typically used during repair.
Those retear rates are higher than patients and providers would like, but the fact of the matter is that we ask a lot of our shoulders, and it only takes one misstep where we have to catch ourselves from falling or one awkward overhead reach to overload our rotator cuff tissues, especially if they are worn from natural aging, years of stress or weakened despite surgical correction.
Fortunately, you can work to reduce your likelihood of suffering a retear of your rotator cuff by being smart in your approach to surgery and recovery. Here’s what we recommend if you want to lower your risk of a rotator cuff retear:
- Choose Your Surgeon Wisely – Put your faith in a surgeon like Dr. Holloway who has decades of experience delivering fantastic results for patients dealing with rotator cuff tears.
- Prehab – You don’t have to wait until surgery is complete to start strengthening your rotator cuff and other supportive tissues in your shoulder. The stronger you are before surgery, the stronger you’ll be after the operation. Dive into some prehab exercises in the weeks leading up to your procedure.
- Stick To Your Post-Op Rehab Program – The single best thing you can do for your shoulder health and for reducing your likelihood of a retear is to connect with a physical therapist and go through the standard post-op PT program. Strengthening your rotator cuff with targeted exercises and carefully working to expand your comfortable range of motion will make the tissues more functional and less prone to another tear.
- Avoid Certain Movements – Finally, your doctor and your physical therapy team will talk with you about what motions and actions should be avoided during rehab and once you’ve made a full recovery.
And remember, a retear isn’t the end of the world. Many patients can pursue physical therapy, reduce symptoms and regain a fair amount of functional movement in their shoulder, even with a partially or fully torn rotator cuff. There’s also the possibility that a reverse shoulder replacement procedure could be right for you, although most doctors only push for this if arthritic degeneration is also present alongside a rotator cuff tear. Your shoulder specialist can take a closer look at your shoulder and come up with a care plan that’s right for your injury and your future activity goals.
For more information about overcoming rotator cuff tears or preventing a subsequent shoulder injury, reach out to Dr. Holloway and his team today at (865) 410-7887.
