Open AccessRehabilitation Management of Rotator Cuff Injuries in the Master Athlete
Author(s) -
Belmarie Rodríguez-Santiago,
Brenda Castillo,
Luis Baerga-Varela,
William Micheo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
current sports medicine reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.424
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1537-8918
pISSN - 1537-890X
DOI - 10.1249/jsr.0000000000000628
Subject(s) - medicine , rotator cuff , rehabilitation , range of motion , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , athletes , rotator cuff injury , tendinopathy , sports medicine , tears , surgery , tendon
Rotator cuff (RTC) injuries are common in master athletes, especially overhead athletes. Risk factors include aging and degeneration as nonmodifiable and volume of activity, muscle weakness, and loss of motion as modifiable. The clinical presentation involves limited range of motion (ROM), pain at rest and at night. Injury classification into traumatic versus nontraumatic and tendinopathy, partial or full-thickness tears helps to establish a treatment plan. RTC injury rehabilitation protocols are criteria-based, multimodal, and divided into four phases. The acute phase addresses pain, inflammation, ROM, and RTC protection. The recovery phase addresses kinetic chain abnormalities, flexibility, and strength, and the functional phase involves exercises directed toward specific sport activities. Return to sports is based on clinical recovery, kinetic chain principles, and adequate sports technique. Nonsurgical management is recommended in most cases, and surgical management is considered if symptoms progress, especially for full-thickness tears.