PERCEIVED SELF-REPORT OF EFFORT DURING ROTATOR CUFF & SCAPULAR REHABILITATIVE EXERCISE IN PATIENTS AFTER SHOULDER SURGERY.

Abstract

Rehabilitation following shoulder surgery involves the use of resistive exercise but dosing of these -exercises historically employs multiple sets of pre-determined repetitions and few reports document the perceived effort encountered by patients during these exercises for both elastic resistance and free-weights. The OMNI-Resistance Exercise Scale (OMNI-RES) has been tested and applied as a measure of perceived exertion (RPE) for resistive exercise but has not gained widespread acceptance as an optimal method for physical therapists to document RPE during rehabilitation of shoulder surgery. To generate descriptive values of RPE encountered during common shoulder exercises of varying resistance in patients following shoulder surgery as well as provide a comparative analysis between perceived exertion ratings of similar exercise movement patterns using elastic and traditional isotonic resistance. Descriptive Cross-sectional Cohort. Sixty-six subjects (mean age 53.3 + 12.8 years) were included in this study following shoulder surgery (RC repair n=22, labral repair n=10, SA n=34). Perceived exertion using the OMNI-RES was recorded during performance of seven rotator cuff and scapular rehabilitation exercises at 6- and 12-weeks following surgery. Mean RPE using OMNI-RES in combined surgical groups ranged between 3.6 and 5.7 (mean = 4.50 + 2.1) across all seven exercises (scale 0 = very easy to 10 = extremely hard). From the external rotation (ER) exercise pair, paired t-tests revealed standing ER w/ Thera-band® (ERB) had a significantly higher OMNI-RES score versus sidelying ER w/ cuff weight (SLERW) (mean: 5.13 vs 4.41, p = 0.001) while the extension exercise pair consisting of standing shoulder extension w/ band (EXTB) and prone extension w/ cuff weight (PEXTW) showed no significant difference in OMNI-RES score (mean: 3.54, 3.67, p = 0.626). Commonly prescribed resistance exercise in the rehabilitation following shoulder surgery show light-moderate ratings of perceived exertion at both 6 & 12 week post-operative timepoints across three surgical procedures. 3b.