Riassunto dello studio

Seventy patients with full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff reconstruction were randomized to receive either supervised physiotherapy (n=35) or home exercises alone (n=35). The primary outcome of interest was the Constant Shoulder score at 1 year follow-up. The secondary outcomes of interest included the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and the Subjective Shoulder Value (SSV), measured at 3 months and 1 year follow-up. Other outcomes included the size of the supraspinatus tear, and the incidence of tenotomy, tenodesis, acromioclavicular resection, and acromioplasty, which were all measured peri-operatively. The results revealed that Constant shoulder scores were not statistically significantly different between the 2 groups at both 3 months and 1 year follow up. VAS pain scores was statistically significantly different in favour of the supervised physiotherapy group at 3 months follow-up (p=0.0053), but not at 1 year follow-up (p=0.3547). Additionally, the SSV scores were not statistically significantly different between the 2 groups at all follow-up periods. All peri-operative measures were not statistically significantly different between the supervised physiotherapy group and the home exercise group.