Rotator cuff tear is consensus amongst orthopaedic surgeons and physical therapists regarding rotator cuff repair rehabilitation protocols. The timing and duration of treatments and exercises are based on biologic and biomedical factors involving the rotator cuff. For approximately two to three weeks following surgery, a patient experiences shoulder pain and swelling; no major therapeutic measures are instituted in this window other than oral pain medicine and ice. All in all, those patients at risk of failure, should undergo a more conservative approach to rehabilitations. That is followed by the "proliferative" and "maturation and remodeling" phases of healing, which ensues for the following six
Rotator cuff tear postoperative pain or pain medication use apparently are not seen between arthroscopic- and open-surgery. Even for full-thickness rotator cuff tears, conservative care (i.e., nonsurgical treatment) outcomes are usually reasonably good. However, many people still have disability and pain despite nonsurgical therapies. For massive tears of the rotator cuff, surgery has shown durable outcomes on 10-year follow-up. However, the same study demonstrated ongoing and progressive fatty atrophy and repeat tears of the rotator cuff. MRI evidence of fatty atrophy in the rotator cuff prior to surgery is predicative of a poor surgical outcome. If the rotator cuff is completely torn, surgery