Home Exercise vs PT for Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Multicenter Randomized Trial of Home vs. Physical Therapist-Directed Rehabilitation for Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

The primary objective of this study is to compare outcomes between formal clinic based physical therapy (PT) rehabilitation and surgeon directed home therapy (HT) after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) as measured by pain, range of motion, Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE), and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (ASES) scores at 6 weeks, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. The secondary objective of this study is to determine if PT rehabilitation following RSA is associated with a higher level of postoperative complications, specifically acromial stress fractures or dislocation. This information will be useful to discern if PT is effective in providing pain relief more quickly, as well as improved motion and self-reported functional outcomes following RSA, which can assist surgeons and rehabilitation specialists in designing optimal care plans for this patient population. The project will also help to clarify if PT services place patients who have RSA at higher risk for acromial stress fractures or dislocation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Shoulder Arthritis; Rotator Cuff Tear Arthropathy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Physical Therapy; Other: Home Therapy

Detailed Description

Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) is a relatively new solution for the patient with osteoarthritis of the glenohumeral joint with a deficient rotator cuff, or patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis with excessive erosion of the posterior glenoid. Since the approval of RSA in 2003, the utility has increased such that this procedure represented 33% of all shoulder arthroplasties performed in the United States in 2011, and represents greater than 90% in some European countries The RSA prosthesis is effective at providing improved active motion and function due the semi-constrained design--substituting for the centering effect of the rotator cuff and allowing the deltoid to elevate or abduct the arm with fixed-fulcrum kinematics without a functional rotator cuff. Many factors influence the potential for successful outcome following RSA: proper patient selection, surgeon experience level, prosthesis characteristics, surgical technique and approach, and postoperative rehabilitation. Prior researchers have explored the effect of surgical technique, type of prosthesis, and surgery indications on outcome following RSA, however there is no data published on the impact of postoperative rehabilitation following this surgery.

A systematic review of the literature reveals that complications following RSA occur with four times greater incidence than complications following anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Complications following RSA which may be impacted by the exercises associated with physical therapy include instability and acromion stress fractures. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to determine if complication rates following RSA differ due to surgical approach, type of prosthesis (medialized or lateralized center of rotation), and the indication for the procedure. The authors of this review acknowledge that postoperative rehabilitation can impact the clinical and functional outcome of RSA and complication rate, however did not study this variable due to the heterogeneous approach to rehabilitation for the multi-center study.

Experts in the field of shoulder rehabilitation have published clinical guidelines for rehabilitation following reverse shoulder arthroplasty. One set of published guidelines is based on biomechanical and basic science healing timeframes associated with the tissue attrition following RSA. The authors describe precautions to protect the prosthesis from dislocation and acromial stress fractures, and propose a slow progressive approach to restoring motion and functional strength. The clinical guidelines published by these authors contrast with a very progressive criterion based rehabilitation plan that allows early use of the arm and very little immobilization. Neither of these two proposed rehabilitation plans are associated with clinical trials that track clinical or functional outcome measures or complication rate. A chapter devoted to rehabilitation following RSA in the book "Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty" suggests that physician directed video-based rehabilitation may be just as effective as formal physical therapy. The author points out the need for randomized controlled trials to determine the need for physical therapy following a variety of shoulder surgeries. Clarifying the impact of formal clinic based PT intervention following RSA is important in determining the best plan of care for this population following surgery, while ensuring that there is not an increase in complications associated with the therapy.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Colorado
    • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80218
      • Western Orthopaedics
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States, 20007
      • MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60612
      • Rush University Medical Center
  • Maryland
    • Leonardtown, Maryland, United States, 20650
      • Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics
  • Massachusetts
    • Dedham, Massachusetts, United States, 02026
      • New England Baptist Hospital
  • Ohio
    • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106
      • University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
  • Virginia
    • Arlington, Virginia, United States, 22206
      • Anderson Orthopedic Clinic

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have RSA for cuff tear arthropathy, massive irreparable rotator cuff tear with pseudoparalysis, or primary osteoarthritis.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have a non-reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, RSA for fracture, tendon transfers as part of RSA, and revision RSA
• Subjects who had RSA and require discharge to skilled nursing facility, in-patient rehabilitation placement, or use of home health therapy prior to progressing in recovery
• Subjects who cannot speak, read, or write the English language
• Subjects who have cognitive deficits limiting ability to follow directions
• Subjects who have inability to attend physical therapy (i.e. transportation or financial limitations)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physical Therapy (PT) Group; Subjects will attend formal physical therapy after surgery.	Other: Physical Therapy; Subjects who will participate in the physical therapy intervention group will attend therapy 4-6 days after discharge from the hospital, and continue in therapy approximately once a week for three months. The physical therapy progression will follow the standard of care developed at Duke Sports Medicine Physical Therapy for rehabilitation following RSA. Some of the patients in the PT intervention cohort may have physical therapy at an institution outside of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. All patients, whether in the Rush system or outside, will be given a prescription with the identical instructions for "physical therapy, status post (R/L) reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, 1-2 x per week x 12 weeks."; Other Names: PT
Active Comparator: Home Therapy (HT) Group; Subjects will receive instruction from clinical staff regarding home therapy exercises after surgery.	Other: Home Therapy; The surgeon/Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant will advance rehabilitation exercises and activity guidelines at customary scheduled postoperative appointments for this surgical procedure: 2 weeks (+/- 5 days), 6 weeks (+/- 1 week), 3 months and 6 months (+/- 1 month), and 1 and 2 years (+/- 2 months).; Other Names: HT

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Postoperative Pain: Numerical Rating Scale	Pain measured using 0-10 Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NRS) with 0 being a better score	up to 2 years postoperatively
Range of motion	Clinician measure of function using active and passive forward elevation, external rotation with the arm at the side in adduction and at 90 degrees of abduction in the scapular plane, and active internal rotation measured by highest vertebral level reached with thumb	up to two years postoperatively
Patient-reported functional outcome- American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Score	American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES). Survey is scored 0 to 100 with 0 being the lowest possible score indicating a poor outcome and 100 being the highest possible score and indicating a good outcome.	up to two years postoperatively
Patient-reported functional outcome- Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation score	Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) score. Survey is scored 0 to 100 with 0 being the lowest possible score indicating a poor outcome and 100 being the highest possible score and indicating a good outcome.	up to two years postoperatively

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Complication rates	acromial stress fractures and shoulder dislocations monitored by patient report through phone calls, patient visits, clinical exams, and standard of care imaging. All complications will be combined as a composite measure.	up to 2 years postoperatively
Cost of Care	reimbursement for therapy services, total number of therapy visits, estimated travel time per visit, and associated costs. These measures will be combined in a cost-effectiveness analysis with a decision tree model.	up to 2 years after surgery
Quality adjusted life years: PROMIS-29	assessed using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-29. PROMIS Profile instruments are a collection of short forms containing a fixed number of items from seven PROMIS domains (Depression, Anxiety, Physical Function, Pain Interference, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, and Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities).The PROMIS-29 assesses each of the 7 domains with 4 questions. Each of the 7 domains has a raw score range from 4 to 20 with 4 being the lowest score, indicating a poor outcome and 20 being the highest score, indicating a good outcome.(PROMIS-29) surveys	up to 2 years postoperatively
Postoperative Pain Medication Use Duration	duration of narcotic medication usage as documented in the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (Illinois PMP) or equivalent monitoring program for non-Rush centers	up to two years postoperatively
Postoperative Pain Medication Prescription Refills	number of narcotic medication prescription refills as documented in the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (Illinois PMP) or equivalent monitoring program for non-Rush centers	up to two years postoperatively

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center
• Collaborators: Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Grant E Garrigues, MD, Rush University Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Schairer WW, Nwachukwu BU, Lyman S, Craig EV, Gulotta LV. National utilization of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty in the United States. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2015 Jan;24(1):91-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2014.08.026. Epub 2014 Oct 29.
• Boudreau S, Boudreau ED, Higgins LD, Wilcox RB 3rd. Rehabilitation following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2007 Dec;37(12):734-43. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2007.2562. Epub 2007 Aug 28.
• Ecklund KJ, Lee TQ, Tibone J, Gupta R. Rotator cuff tear arthropathy. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2007 Jun;15(6):340-9. doi: 10.5435/00124635-200706000-00003.
• Berliner JL, Regalado-Magdos A, Ma CB, Feeley BT. Biomechanics of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2015 Jan;24(1):150-60. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2014.08.003. Epub 2014 Oct 29.
• Boileau P, Watkinson DJ, Hatzidakis AM, Balg F. Grammont reverse prosthesis: design, rationale, and biomechanics. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2005 Jan-Feb;14(1 Suppl S):147S-161S. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2004.10.006.
• Samitier G, Alentorn-Geli E, Torrens C, Wright TW. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty. Part 1: Systematic review of clinical and functional outcomes. Int J Shoulder Surg. 2015 Jan-Mar;9(1):24-31. doi: 10.4103/0973-6042.150226.
• Alentorn-Geli E, Samitier G, Torrens C, Wright TW. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty. Part 2: Systematic review of reoperations, revisions, problems, and complications. Int J Shoulder Surg. 2015 Apr-Jun;9(2):60-7. doi: 10.4103/0973-6042.154771.
• Kennedy JS, Reinke EK, Friedman LGM, Cook C, Forsythe B, Gillespie R, Hatzidakis A, Jawa A, Johnston P, Nagda S, Nicholson G, Sears B, Wiesel B, Garrigues GE; SHORT Trial Investigators; Hagen C, Hong I, Roach M, Jones N, Mahendraraj K, Michaelson E, Bader J, Mauter L, Mengers S, Renko N, Strony J, Hart P, Steele E, Naylor A, Gaudette J, Sprengel K. Protocol for a multicenter, randomised controlled trial of surgeon-directed home therapy vs. outpatient rehabilitation by physical therapists for reverse total shoulder arthroplasty: the SHORT trial. Arch Physiother. 2021 Dec 10;11(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s40945-021-00121-2.
• Farshad M, Gerber C. Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty-from the most to the least common complication. Int Orthop. 2010 Dec;34(8):1075-82. doi: 10.1007/s00264-010-1125-2. Epub 2010 Sep 25.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 22, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 11, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): December 12, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 16, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 23, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): October 25, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 22, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 15, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical therapy; reverse total shoulder arthroplasty
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Crystal Arthropathies; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Arthritis; Joint Diseases; Chondrocalcinosis; Rotator Cuff Tear Arthropathy; Therapeutics; Drug Therapy; Health Services; Health Care Facilities Workforce and Services; Community Health Services; Rehabilitation; Home Care Services; Physical Therapy Modalities; Home Infusion Therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: 18082102

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No