Direct active rehabilitation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty: an international multicentre prospective cohort safety study with 1-year follow up

Objectives To gain insight in the safety of direct active rehabilitation without immobilisation in patients undergoing reverse total shoulder arthroplasty without subscapularis reattachment, measured by the occurrence of complications until 1-year follow up. Next, to explore improvement in shoulder function and in patient-reported outcome measures. Design An international multicentre prospective cohort safety study. Setting Patients indicated for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, visiting the orthopaedics outpatient clinic at two hospitals in the Netherlands and one hospital in Curacao between January 2019 and July 2021, were selected. Participants 100 patients (68% female, mean age 74 +/- 7.0 years) undergoing unilateral primary shoulder replacement were included if: >= 50 years, diagnosed with shoulder osteoarthritis, rotator cuff arthropathy or avascular necrosis, and selected for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. A sling was used for only 1 day, followed by a progressive active rehabilitation for >= 12 weeks with no precautions. Main outcome measures Complications, range of motion and patient-reported outcome measures (Oxford Shoulder Score, Pain Numeric Rating Scale and EuroQol-5D for quality of life). Patients were evaluated preoperatively and 6 weeks, 3 months and 1 year postoperatively. Results In total, 17 complications were registered (17.0%) including five (5.0%) categorised as potentially related to the rehabilitation strategy: one dislocation, one acromion fracture and three cases with persistent pain. Anteflexion, abduction and external rotation, pain scores and the Oxford Shoulder Score all improved significantly (p<0.05) at all time points compared with preoperative. Quality of life improved significantly from 3 months onwards. These secondary outcomes improved further until 1 year postoperatively. Conclusion Direct active rehabilitation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty seems to be safe and effective. Potentially, this approach will lead to less dependent patients and faster recovery. Larger studies, preferably including a control group, should corroborate our results. Trial registration number NL7656.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the safety of direct active rehabilitation without immobilization in patients undergoing reverse total shoulder arthroplasty without subscapularis reattachment. It also explored the improvement in shoulder function and patient-reported outcome measures. The results showed that direct active rehabilitation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty appears to be safe and effective, potentially leading to less dependent patients and faster recovery.