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Rotator Cuff Tears in Middle-Aged Tennis Players: Results of Surgical Treatment

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Clinique Sainte Anne Lumière, Lyon, France

* Address correspondence and reprint requests to Gilles Walch, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Clinique Sainte Anne Lumière, 85 Cours Albert Thomas, 69003 Lyon, France

Background: Tennis players, like participants in other overhead sports, are vulnerable to rotator cuff tears. In players who continue to play into their middle-age years, the incidence of such injury increases.

Hypothesis: Surgical treatment of rotator cuff tears in middle-aged tennis players is largely successful in allowing return to tennis.

Study Design: Retrospective review.

Methods: We evaluated the results of surgical treatment of 51 middle-aged tennis players (average age, 51 years) with a rotator cuff tear in their dominant shoulder. Tennis participation among the group had averaged 3.5 hours per week for an average of 25 years. Forty-two patients underwent open repair of the tear with or without biceps tenodesis, whereas 9 patients underwent arthroscopic debridement of the tear with or without a biceps tenotomy. Patients were reviewed at an average of 57 months after surgery with an activities score, a subjective questionnaire, and a questionnaire regarding their postoperative participation in tennis.

Results: The activities score averaged 26.6 of 30 possible points. Forty-seven patients were satisfied with their result, and 40 patients were able to return to tennis at an average of 9.8 months after surgery. No difference was found in the ability to return to tennis between the open repair group and the arthroscopic debridement group.

Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that it is possible for nearly 80% of middle-aged tennis players to return to participation after operative treatment of rotator cuff tears.

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