[Shoulder injuries in the elderly and their functional impact on the DASH scale]

Disabling shoulder problems in the elderly are common.

To quantify the diagnoses found in 100 consecutive shoulders cases in rehabilitation and its functional impact on the DASH scale.

100 consecutive patients with age 65 years received in the Rehabilitation Department, performing diagnosis and functional assessment in the DASH scale.

Distribution by gender with predominance of the female (67%); the age showed variation from 65 to 98 years with average and SD 78 ± 12. Ten different diagnoses were found: supraspinatus tendon rupture (58%); gleno-humeral osteoarthritis (11%); impingement syndrome (9%); proximal humeral fracture (9%); acromio-clavicular osteoarthritis (7%); long biceps tendon rupture (2%); scapula fracture (1%); humeral head avascular necrosis (1%); neglected gleno-humeral dislocation (1%) and circumflex nerve injury (1%). The distribution corresponded to 52% right, 40% left and 8% bilateral. The DASH scale showed variation from 94 to 52% with mean and SD 71 ± 22.3. Elderly shoulder problems are associated with disability, its relation with DASH is not clear.