Impact of Preoperative rehabilitation training on clinical outcomes after arthroscopic repair of chronic full-thickness rotator cuff tears

To investigate the impact of preoperative rehabilitation training on short-term clinical outcomes after arthroscopic repair of chronic full-thickness rotator cuff tears. A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data from 95 patients with chronic full-thickness rotator cuff tears who underwent arthroscopic repair treatment at our hospital from January 2020 to December 2022. Patients were divided into a recovery group (n=43) and a Control Group (n=42) based on whether they received systematic preoperative rehabilitation training. The recovery group received at least 7 days of systematic rehabilitation training preoperatively, while the Control Group received only routine preoperative care. Primary outcome measures included the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Constant-Murley Score (CMS), and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, assessed at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. Secondary outcome measures included muscle strength, the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and patient satisfaction. There were no statistically meaningful differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups (P>0.05). At the 1-month and 3-month postoperative follow-ups, the recovery group demonstrated statistically significant lower VAS scores and higher CMS and ASES scores compared to the Control Group (P<0.05). Similar significant differences favoring the recovery group were also observed in muscle strength scores and SF-36 dimensions at the 3-month follow-up (P<0.05). However, the satisfaction scores showed no statistically significant between groups (P>0.05). In this retrospective study, preoperative rehabilitation training was associated with better short-term outcomes in pain, functional scores, muscle strength, and quality of life after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair compared to routine care. However, the clinical importance of these statistically significant results requires further investigation, as they may not have reached the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for all measures. Longer-term follow-up studies are needed to determine the impact of preoperative rehabilitation on long-term function, retear rates, and return to work/sports.