Patient reported activities after reverse shoulder arthroplasty: part II

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Biomedical engineering
• Rehabilitation medicine

Background:

• Reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) is increasingly common.
• Surgeons typically advise older patients with lower activity demands for RSA.
• This study investigates patient-reported activities after RSA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define and categorize patient-reported activities following reverse shoulder arthroplasty.
• To compare activity levels in RSA patients with those undergoing other shoulder arthroplasties.
• To assess the impact of component center of rotation on patient activities.

Main Methods:

• Survey of 78 patients (81 shoulders) aged 73 years on average, 3.6 years post-RSA.
• Evaluated pain, motion, strength, and 72 specific activities.
• Diagnoses included rotator cuff tear arthropathy, massive rotator cuff tears, and failed fracture treatments.

Main Results:

• Favorable clinical outcomes were reported across all parameters.
• Most common activities included low-demand (cooking, driving), medium-demand (gardening, lawn mowing), and high-demand (snow shoveling, wheelbarrow use).
• Activity levels were comparable to total shoulder arthroplasty and hemiarthroplasty, with no difference based on component center of rotation.

Conclusions:

• A notable percentage of patients perform medium to high-demand activities after RSA.
• These activity levels mirror those seen in other shoulder arthroplasties.
• Further studies are recommended to establish safe activity guidelines for RSA patients.