Common Complication From Routine Shoulder Surgery: Postoperative Stiffness After Rotator Cuff Repair

Rotator cuff repair is commonly performed, and stiffness represents one of the most common complications. Unique characteristics of postoperative stiffness, including its natural history and pathoanatomy, differentiate it from other etiologies of shoulder stiffness. Patient risk factors that have been associated with postoperative stiffness should be reviewed to better help clinicians tailor their presurgical risk assessment. Although stiffness in this setting has clinical consequences for patients' postoperative shoulder function, it is important to discuss the important implications of stiffness as it relates to rotator cuff healing. Multiple strategies have been proposed to decrease the incidence of postoperative stiffness. There is evidence to support these preventive strategies, and it has led to author recommendations for treatment of refractory cases and prevention.