title: The weight-bearing shoulder. The impingement syndrome in paraplegics.
abstract: The cases of ninety-four patients who had complete paraplegia were studied to determine whether they had complaints about the shoulder during transfer activities. Thirty-one patients reported pain on transferring, and twenty-three of these patients were found to have a chronic impingement syndrome with subacromial bursitis. Arthrography of the shoulder was done for each of these twenty-three patients, and fifteen were found to have a tear of the rotator cuff. Five of the thirty-one patients were found to have aseptic necrosis of the head of the humerus. We also measured the intra-articular pressure in the shoulder in five patients during different activities, including transfer from wheelchair to bed, and found that this pressure exceeded the arterial pressure by two and one-half times. We believe that this high pressure, in conjunction with abnormal distribution of stress transmitted across the subacromial area during transfer or propulsion of a wheelchair, contributes to the high rate of problems about the shoulder in paraplegics.
mesh_terms: D001175:Arthrography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010146:Pain; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011312:Pressure; D012782:Shoulder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging