title: Alteration and recovery of arm usage in daily activities after rotator cuff surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective measurement of dominant/nondominant arm use proportion in daily life may provide relevant information on healthy and pathologic arm behavior. This prospective case-control study explored the potential of such measurements as indicators of upper limb functional recovery after rotator cuff surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on dominant/nondominant arm usage were acquired with body-worn sensors for 7 hours. The postsurgical arm usage of 21 patients was collected at 3, 6, and 12 months after rotator cuff surgery in the sitting, walking, and standing postures and compared with a reference established with 41 healthy subjects. The results were calculated for the dominant and nondominant surgical side subgroups at all stages. The correlations with clinical scores were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Healthy right-handed and left-handed dominant arm usage was 60.2% (±6.3%) and 53.4% (±6.6%), respectively. Differences in use of the dominant side were significant between the right- and left-handed subgroups for sitting (P = .014) and standing (P = .009) but not for walking (P = .328). The patient group showed a significant underuse of 10.7% (±8.9%) at 3 months after surgery (P < .001). The patients recovered normal arm usage within 12 months, regardless of surgical side. The arm underuse measurement was weakly related to function and pain scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provided new information on arm recovery after rotator cuff surgery using an innovative measurement method. It highlighted that objective arm underuse measurement is a valuable indicator of upper limb postsurgical outcome that captures a complementary feature to clinical scores.
authors.affiliation: Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud (HESAV), School of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: claude.pichonnaz@hesav.ch.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pichonnaz
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Movement Analysis and Measurement (LMAM), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cyntia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duc
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Movement Analysis and Measurement (LMAM), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Brigitte M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Jolles
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Movement Analysis and Measurement (LMAM), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kamiar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aminian
authors.affiliation: Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud (HESAV), School of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bassin
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farron
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function; D017006:Rotator Cuff / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D000070636:Rotator Cuff Injuries; D000070599:Shoulder Injuries; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Shoulder; daily measurements; inertial sensors; kinematics; outcome treatment