Patients Who Undergo Rotator Cuff Repair Can Safely Return to Driving at 2 Weeks Postoperatively

Evidence-based guidelines are lacking for return to driving following rotator cuff repair (RCR). As a result, surgeons are often overly conservative in their recommendations, placing potential undue burden on patients and their families. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to formulate evidence-based return-to-driving guidelines.

Thirty-two subjects planning to undergo primary RCR were enrolled. Driving fitness was assessed in a naturalistic setting with an instrumented vehicle on public streets with a safety monitor onboard. Driving kinematic measures and behavioral data were obtained from vehicle data and camera capture. Several driving tasks and maneuvers were evaluated, including parking, left and right turns, straightaways, yielding, highway merges, and U-turns. The total course length was 15 miles (24 km) and the course took 45 to 55 minutes to complete. The subjects' baseline drive was performed prior to RCR and postoperative drives occurred at 2, 4, 6, and 12 weeks after RCR. All drives consisted of identical routes, tasks, and maneuvers. Driving metrics were analyzed for differences between baseline and postoperative drives, including differences in gravitational force equivalents (g).

Twenty-seven subjects (mean age, 58.6 years [range, 43 to 68 years]) completed all 5 drives. Of the 13 analyzed kinematic metrics measured from 14 of 17 driving events, all exhibited noninferiority across all postoperative drives (2 to 12 weeks) after RCR compared with baseline. Beginning at postoperative week 2, subjects generally braked less aggressively, steered more smoothly, and drove more stably. Kinematic metrics during the performance of specific maneuver types also showed noninferiority when compared with baseline. Of note, subjects drove more smoothly on highway merges starting at postoperative week 2 (minimum longitudinal acceleration, -0.35 g [95% confidence interval (CI), -0.050 to -0.019 g]; standard deviation of longitudinal acceleration, 0.008 g [95% CI, 0.003 to 0.013 g]), but exhibited more aggressive driving and acceleration on highway merges at postoperative week 12 (maximum absolute yaw, -0.8°/sec [95% CI, -1.2°/sec to -0.4°/sec]).

Patients showed no clinically important negative impact on driving fitness as early as 2 weeks after RCR. Adaptive behaviors were present both preoperatively and postoperatively.

Prognostic Level II . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.