POSTSURGICAL SHOULDER STRENGTH IN THE OLDER PATIENT

Following surgery, a goal of rehabilitation is to return the surgical extremity to its original strength. However, for the older rotator cuf f repair patient, we are unsure if this is a realistic goal. The purpo se of this study was to determine the quality of shoulder strength in older males who had undergone rotator cuff repair and acromioplasty su rgery and to determine if test position and test velocity effects for rotation at the shoulder existed. Nine patients (XBAR age = 60.8 years ) were tested bilaterally on the Cybex II isokinetic dynamometer for t wo movements (internal/external rotation), two velocities (60-degrees/ sec, 120-degrees/sec), and two positions (neutral, 90-degrees abductio n) to determine the peak torques for the shoulders. Following a three- way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, results indic ated that the surgical shoulder had torque values approximating the no nsurgical shoulder and that test position had no significant effect on the internal or external rotation torques produced. As seen with nons houlder-impaired younger subjects, peak torque decreased with increase d test velocities. It was concluded that the older rotator cuff repair patient may be expected to attain a level of strength in the surgical shoulder similar to or exceeding the nonsurgical shoulder and that ei ther test position recommended by Cybex for testing of the shoulder ro tators was acceptable. Clinically, a full functional recovery similar to the nonsurgical shoulder should be expected in the older patient wi th postsurgical rotator cuff repair and acromioplasty.