| Objective: To systematically evaluate the differences between early and conservative functional exercise after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Methods: A number of Chinese and English databases were retrieved until 15th December 2019, and randomized controlled trials meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were collected. After literature quality evaluation, the extracted data were analyzed with REVMAN5.2 software. Results: A total of 9 randomized controlled trials were included, including 901 patients, of whom 474 were in the early activity group and 427 were in the conservative activity group. In terms of the score of shoulder joint function, the SST score in the early rehabilitation group was higher than that in the conservative group at the 4th month, 6th month and 1st year after surgery. In terms of mobility, flexion motion at 6th month and abduction activity at 6th week after operation recovered better in the early rehabilitation group than in the conservative rehabilitation group, and there was no significant difference in internal and external rotation activity between the two groups. In addition, there was no significant difference in postoperative pain and rotator cuff healing integrity between the two groups. Conclusion: Early rehabilitation can promote forward flexion and abduction activity in the early and middle stages of the recovery, but there is no significant difference between early and conservative rehabilitation in its long term efficacy and other indicators. Due to the limited quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be verified by more high quality randomized controlled trials. |
