Participation in Work and Sport Following Reverse and Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Both anatomical total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) are routinely performed for patients who desire to continuously work or participate in sports. This study analyzes and compares the ability of patients to work and partake in sports following shoulder arthroplasty based on responses to clinical outcome surveys. A retrospective review of the shoulder surgery repository was performed for all patients treated with TSA and RSA and who completed questions 9 and 10 on the activity patient self-evaluation portion of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) Assessment Form. Patients with a minimum of 1-year follow-up were included if a sport or work was identified. The analysis included 162 patients with TSA and 114 patients with RSA. Comparisons were made between TSA and RSA in terms of the specific ASES scores (rated 0-3) reported for ability to work and participate in sports and total ASES scores, and scores based on specific sports or line of work reported. Comparisons were also made between sports predominantly using shoulder function and those that do not. TSA patients had a 27% higher ability to participate in sports (average specific ASES score: 2.5 vs 1.9, P < .001) than RSA patients and presented significantly higher scores for swimming and golf. Compared with RSA patients, TSA patients demonstrated more ability to participate in sports requiring shoulder function without difficulty, as 63% reported maximal scores (P = .003). Total shoulder arthroplasty patients also demonstrated a 21% higher ability to work than RSA patients (average specific ASES scores: 2.6 vs 2.1, P < .001), yielding significantly higher scores for housework and gardening. Both TSA and RSA allow for participation in work and sports, with TSA patients reporting better overall ability to participate. For sports involving shoulder function, TSA patients more commonly report maximal ability to participate than RSA patients.