Part 4: Surgery: 

Surgery for a rotator cuff tear, involves reattaching part of the tendon to the arm bone or humerus. A partial repair is described as a department surgery.

What is the most common procedure? 

There are 3 types of rotator cuff repair: 

• Open: 
  • This is the original repair technique and involves a large opening in order to deal with large and complicated tears to the rotator cuff
• Arthroscopic:
  • Less invasive than an open repair, arthroscopic repairs have small incisions and the surgeon views your shoulder on a monitor to perform the repair
• Mini-Open:
  • A newer technique with a smaller incision than open, but large enough to allow the surgeon to view your shoulder directly, rather than on a screen.

What’s a Rotator Cuff repair with tenodesis?

Often, when you tear your rotator cuff, you also injure your biceps tendon. If the injury to your biceps is significant enough, a tenodesis may be performed. This involves repositioning the biceps tendon on a different part of the humerus (arm bone) to reduce stress on it during activity. 

What does rehab look like for all this?

• • If you have one or more of the following:
    • Fit and Healthy 
    • have a small tear 
    • have a good understanding/experience of strength and conditioning
    • Then it will likely be 3-6 sessions over 12-24 weeks
  • If you have one or more of the following:
    • Sedentary
    • Medium to large tear
    • Not much experience with strength and conditioning
    • Then it would likely take a little longer: 12-30 sessions over 12-36 weeks

Why?

• Being strong, fit and healthy means your body can tolerate more stress and it recovers from stress quicker and less painfully. 
• This is why we have recommended the above timelines for recovery. 
• A fit, healthy person who knows how to train, has a higher baseline than a sedentary person and therefore doesn’t go as far backwards following injury-meaning they recover quicker. 

Here’s what ideal rehab looks like: