Return to work after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair in a worker’s compensation population

Abstract

By focusing on arthroscopic rotator cuff repair in a worker’s compensation patient population that are without personal injuries, previous ipsi-lateral shoulder injury, any concomitant pathologies or being federal employees, the rate of return-to-work (RTW) can be better isolated as an outcome of the surgery. RTW rate for a consecutive 50 patient cohort was 98% with 58% achieving full duty. A single patient with a frozen shoulder was unable to return to work at any level. These RTW rates contrast with several previous studies that reported significantly lower RTW rates for workers with compensation than workers without compensation. All but three patients improved their UCLA scores after the repair.