Comparative Responsiveness of Shoulder PROMs to Rotator Cuff Repair Surgery and Healing

Shoulder PROMs are highly responsive to RCR surgery but even their highest function items lack sensitivity to structural healing during the first two postoperative years. PROM improvements primarily reflect subjective gains in pain relief and daily function, highlighting the need for alternate outcome measures incorporating objective functional assessments to better define the impact of RCR healing in the early term. Future research should focus on developing PROMs with lesser ceiling effects postoperatively and evaluating the longer-term clinical consequences of failed structural RCR healing.